Associate Director, Digital Activation
About The Position
The Associate Director of Digital Activation (Programmatic & Direct) is a strategic and hands-on leader responsible for managing activation across a high-profile Financial Services account. This role drives performance, shapes activation strategy, and leads a team through growth and complexity in the digital ecosystem. The Associate Director collaborates with the Senior Director to set priorities, allocate responsibilities, and measure team performance, ensuring best-in-class execution across programmatic and direct channels. The position requires expertise in trading, optimization, and partner management, with the ability to operate at scale and influence senior client stakeholders. As a key leader, this individual will evolve digital activation, drive innovation, and elevate team capabilities while focusing on accountability, precision, and performance outcomes within the financial services sector.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree or relevant post-secondary education, training, or equivalent experience
- 5+ years of experience in programmatic and/or digital activation
- Hands-on keyboard experience with DSPs (Yahoo!, The Trade Desk, DV360, Google Ads) and programmatic ecosystems
- Experience executing across display, video, native, and direct publisher buys
- Strong understanding of financial advertising regulations, data usage, and compliance considerations
- Proficiency in ad serving and measurement tools
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate data into insights and business impact
- Proven team leadership or mentoring experience
- Strong client communication and presentation skills
- Ability to manage multiple workstreams in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment
- Strong negotiation and partner management skills
- Deep expertise in programmatic performance marketing
- Ability to translate data into clear insights and business impact
- Strong client leadership and communication skills
- Proven ability to own strategy and execution in complex environments
- Proactive mindset with a focus on growth, innovation, and continuous improvement
- Having a passion for advertising and establishing yourself as a thought leader within the office
- Staying up to date on industry trends and partner updates
- Proactively bringing new opportunities to the team
- Proactively bring new ideas for the account for broader business impact
- Day-to-day lead on client communications
Responsibilities
- Lead and mentor Programmatic/Direct Investment team members, setting clear expectations and performance standards
- Manage team resourcing and ensure efficient use of talent across workstreams
- Support onboarding, training, and development of team members
- Establish and reinforce best practices, processes, and frameworks
- Foster a collaborative, accountable, and solutions-oriented team culture
- Own Investment performance and identify opportunities to drive incremental growth
- Develop strategies aligned to client business goals across awareness, consideration, and conversion, with a focus on bottom-funnel tactics
- Identify and test new partners, products, and approaches
- Contribute to broader practice development and innovation initiatives
- Own end-to-end execution of programmatic and direct publisher campaigns
- Translate client strategy into actionable activation plans, ensuring alignment with business goals across awareness, consideration, and conversion
- Drive in-platform optimization including bidding strategies, audience refinement, inventory selection, and creative testing
- Ensure effective and compliant use of data signals (1P, 3P, contextual), particularly within Financial Services guidelines
- Maintain rigorous pacing, delivery management, and troubleshooting across all campaigns
- Build and maintain strong relationships with programmatic platforms, SSPs, data providers, and premium publishers
- Manage large-scale partner relationships alongside the Senior Director to anticipate future needs and unlock value
- Identify and test new partners, products, and deal structures to drive incremental performance
- Stay ahead of industry trends and evolving programmatic capabilities, particularly as they relate to privacy and financial advertising
Benefits
- Equal employment opportunities
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
