Director of Media Buying

829 Studios

2d•$120,000 - $150,000•Remote

About The Position

The Director of Programmatic & Media Buying is a senior strategic leader responsible for driving client success, media planning excellence, and operational performance across the agency’s Programmatic Media practice. This role serves as the primary programmatic subject matter expert, ensuring that client strategies, media plans, and campaign execution consistently deliver measurable business outcomes while meeting the agency’s standards for quality, innovation, and service excellence. Working closely with Client Services and Marketing teams, this role leads strategic planning for key client accounts, elevates programmatic capabilities across the organization, and establishes best practices that drive consistent performance and operational efficiency. This individual plays a critical role in supporting client retention and growth by providing senior-level consultation, thought leadership, and strategic guidance across Display, Video, CTV, Audio, Native, and emerging programmatic channels. The Director of Media Buying also leads and mentors a team of programmatic professionals, fostering a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and professional development. While partnering with agency leadership on service evolution, staffing, and operational priorities, this role is primarily focused on ensuring exceptional client outcomes, scalable delivery processes, and best-in-class programmatic planning and execution.

Requirements

10+ years of digital media buying and programmatic advertising experience.
5+ years leading teams, departments, or agency service lines.
Extensive expertise managing multimillion-dollar media investments across programmatic channels.
Proven experience leading enterprise-level client relationships.
Strong understanding of agency operations, resource management, and financial performance.
Experience owning departmental budgets, forecasting, and profitability targets.
Deep experience across Demand Side Platforms (StackAdapt, DV360, TTD, etc.), Ad Servers (Campaign Manager), Web Analytics (Google Analytics), and MTA/MMMs.
Excellent written and verbal communication and presentational skills
Exceptional time management and organization skills
Knowledge of remarketing and advanced targeting tactics, including dynamic creative, CRM, site retargeting, search retargeting, keyword contextual, affinity, look-a-like, predictive, etc.

Responsibilities

Serve as senior strategic lead across key enterprise programmatic relationships.
Guide annual, quarterly, and campaign-level media planning to ensure plans align with client business objectives.
Provide executive-level consultation on audience strategy, channel mix, measurement frameworks, and budget allocation.
Partner with Client Services leadership to support retention, growth, and overall client satisfaction.
Lead escalations, performance reviews, and strategic recommendations for high-priority accounts.
Ensure programmatic strategies are integrated with broader marketing initiatives.
Establish and uphold best practices for programmatic planning across Display, Video, CTV, Audio, Native, and emerging channels.
Review and elevate media plans, audience strategies, testing frameworks, and measurement approaches.
Drive consistency in planning methodologies, forecasting, and performance evaluation.
Ensure planning recommendations are grounded in data, business objectives, and market opportunities.
Act as a senior reviewer and quality assurance lead for major programmatic initiatives.
Lead day-to-day operational health of the programmatic team.
Drive workflow efficiency, delivery consistency, quality standards, and process improvements.
Partner with department leadership on capacity planning, staffing recommendations, and resource allocation.
Coach and mentor Associate Directors, Strategists, and Media Buyers.
Support onboarding, training, and development initiatives to strengthen team capabilities.
Ensure operational processes support both client success and scalable growth.
Identify emerging technologies, platforms, and opportunities that enhance client performance.
Partner with executive leadership on evolving programmatic offerings, positioning, and go-to-market strategies.
Champion adoption of new capabilities, measurement approaches, and planning methodologies.
Represent the agency as a thought leader internally and externally when appropriate.