Associate Director, Programmatic

Horizon Media•New York, NY

3d•$115,000 - $135,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Horizon Media is hiring an Associate Director, Programmatic to manage programmatic media planning and activation for client accounts. The role coordinates internal and external stakeholders to align on effective programmatic delivery and requires strong knowledge of advertising platforms to review and approve in-platform architecture against media plan structure. The Associate Director also leads custom algorithm implementation and develops thoughtful inventory and supply path strategies for clients. The position is weighted 60% toward account management and 40% toward learning and development. Account management includes serving as the day-to-day contact and escalation point, ensuring plans support client goals, reviewing DSP setup for launch approval, overseeing in-campaign changes, coordinating makegood responses, and identifying custom algorithm and inventory strategies. The role also monitors the end-to-end process to mitigate risk and maintain positive working relationships with internal teams and clients. Learning and development responsibilities include driving adoption of internal products and solutions, coordinating cross-discipline support, and establishing a framework to track junior team members’ skill development and readiness for additional responsibility. The role also improves workflows, establishes and documents best practices and optimization learnings, produces points of view on programmatic marketplace and technology changes, and anticipates processes and capabilities needed for future client needs. The position has management responsibility for team structure aligned to the account portfolio. Horizon Media describes its work environment as collaborative, fast-paced, and changing, and the job posting includes the hybrid designation #LI-HYBRID. The listed salary range is $115,000–$135,000, with actual base salary varying based on qualifications and other factors. The company also offers a competitive total rewards package, including a discretionary bonus and various benefits.

Requirements

Able to develop, implement, and improve business processes.
Proven ability to thrive in highly collaborative work environments.
Team-oriented manager with strong delegation and organizational skills.
Solutions-oriented problem solver.
Self-starter who takes initiative.
Strong communication and presentation skills, including the ability to craft a story for key stakeholders and management.
Able to seek out and implement feedback.
Flexible and nimble in a fast-paced, changing environment.
Professional and mature, and able to lead by example.
Committed to team success.
Strong leader who is eager to grow and develop team members.
Supports and advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Advanced ability in Microsoft Excel.
Able to manage multiple workstreams and clients in parallel.
At least 5 years of previous in-platform programmatic experience.
Expert-level understanding of programmatic buying and planning.
Effective communication and presentation skills.
Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint.

Nice To Haves

Experience managing a team.
Familiarity with multiple DSPs.

Responsibilities

Serve as the day-to-day point of contact and escalation point for internal partners and external contacts.
Ensure media plans support client goals.
Review DSP setup as the final QA reviewer and approve launch readiness; monitor in-campaign changes.
Coordinate makegood coverage responses and explore solutions with partners and platforms.
Evaluate custom algorithm strategies and bespoke inventory and supply approaches for client plans.
Monitor the full process to identify and mitigate risks and maintain positive relationships with the team, DAT, BST, analytics, and clients.
Lead adoption of internal products and solutions, including the meta DSP, incentives tracker, marketplace solutions, and updated initiatives.
Coordinate cross-discipline product and solution support.
Establish a framework for tracking junior team members’ skill development, knowledge growth, and readiness for greater responsibility.
Help engineer processes to improve operational workflows.
Institutionalize best practices for bidding, budget management, ad operations, and reporting.
Document and share programmatic team learnings from optimization.
Develop and publish points of view about changes in programmatic marketplaces and technology for clients and agency personnel.
Anticipate workflows, processes, and capabilities required for new and future programmatic clients and ensure the team follows established processes.
Manage team structure aligned to the account portfolio.