Manager, Client Operations

Roku•Chicago, IL

21h•Hybrid

About The Position

Client Operations is a newly formed function within Ad Revenue Solutions that brings the operational spine of the campaign lifecycle — owning pre-sale planning support, IO close and billing, programmatic deal setup, campaign trafficking, launch management, and cross-functional communications — under a single team of Client Associates working across Direct IO, Sponsorship, Programmatic Guaranteed (PG), and Private Marketplace (PMP) campaigns. As a Manager, Client Operations, you will lead a team of 8-10 Client Associates and own the operational performance of the campaign lifecycle from pre-sale through upsell and renewals. This is a build role as much as a leadership role: the workflows, quality standards, SLAs, and escalation paths this function runs on are being defined now, and you will help define them. You will be equally effective in the details - unblocking a launch, resolving a trafficking issue, pressure-testing a programmatic setup, and above them, setting standards, reporting on performance, and representing the function to Client Services, Sales, Ad Operations, Marketing, senior leadership and more. Success looks like campaigns that launch on time and correctly, clients and XFN partners who are informed before they have to ask, and Client Associates who grow into Account Managers.

Requirements

7+ years in client services, account management, campaign operations, sales planning, ad operations, or customer success, including hands-on ownership of the campaign lifecycle
People management or formal mentorship and coaching experience, with a proven track record of developing early-career talent
Deep, current knowledge of the digital, streaming, and programmatic landscape, including DSPs, SSPs, DMPs, and programmatic guaranteed and private marketplace deal mechanics
Command of the full pre- and post-sale process: media planning, IO and contract flow, trafficking and tagging, launch management, billing, and reporting
A build-it mindset - comfort with adaptability, a bias toward standardizing and documenting, and the judgment to know when a process is worth formalizing
Strong project management skills and a proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives to completion
Strong AI fluency and a real appetite for automation and efficiency across a team
A data-driven mindset: you set KPIs, track them, and report on them
Excellent communication, presentation, and problem-solving skills, and the ability to work effectively with senior leaders and cross-functional teams
An empathetic leadership style with the ability to engage, inspire, and motivate associate-level professionals
Hands-on experience with CRM, order management, and creative trafficking platforms in an ad sales environment
Familiarity with the streaming, linear TV, and CTV advertising landscape, and with working alongside offshore or outsourced operational partners

Nice To Haves

AI agents and smart tools help power drafts, analysis, and repetitive workflows, while our people bring direction, judgment, and accountability. We value curious, adaptable builders, who can show how they've used AI, agents, or automation to move faster, improve quality, and scale their impact. Strong candidates know how to frame problems, guide AI-assisted work, check the output, and learn quickly. Above all, they bring curiosity, adaptability, and sound judgment.

Responsibilities

Own on-time, accurate campaign delivery across all deal types for every account your team supports, from media plan intake through launch, in-flight support, and wrap reporting
Serve as the ultimate operational escalation point for the team: IO-to-system discrepancies, pricing and product exceptions, tag QA failures, trafficking blockers, programmatic deal setup issues, billing disputes, and any risk to on-time launch
Maintain a comprehensive command of the pre- and post-sale process - CRM opportunity and case management, order management system flighting, avails and audience segment creation, IO term verification, launch and demand operations cases, creative trafficking, and tag mapping and QA - deep enough to teach it, QA it, and fix it
Define what "done" looks like at every handoff and hold the bar through spot QA of campaign setups, launch readiness, and client-facing deliverables
Understand and be able to teach how our platform and ad products deliver business value against client advertising goals, so the team operates with context rather than instruction
Supporting the continuous refinement and optimization of our operating model: clear ownership across Client Associates in partnership with Account Managers, Account Executives, Ad Operations, Brand Activation, Measurement, Inventory, and offshore partners; documented workflows by deal type; and defined SLAs and escalation paths
Find friction and remove it: reduce manual touches, standardize repeatable work, and drive automation and AI-enabled workflows to increase team throughput without adding headcount
Own the enablement library for the function: onboarding paths, playbooks by deal type, and process documentation that stays current as products, systems, and deal structures change
Partner with Account Management, Ad Operations, Business Automation, GTM and systems owners on tooling and workflow changes, testing what is proposed and representing the operational reality of the team
Manage, coach, and develop 8-10 direct reports; run consistent 1:1s, set clear goals, give direct feedback, and own performance management, recognition, and career pathing
Balance workload and account coverage across the team, matching capacity to campaign complexity, deal volume, and seasonality
Build the Client Associate career path: define the skills that earn the next role and create the opportunities, reporting ownership, client communication, strategic work that let people demonstrate them
Design and deliver skill-based learning tailored to Client Associates, covering both systems fluency and client-facing judgment
Recruit, interview, and onboard new Client Associates; set and hold the hiring bar for a growing function
Foster an inclusive, high-trust, high-performing team culture with equitable access to growth opportunities
Partner directly with the Head of Client Operations; you will report into the Head of Client Operations and act as a core member of their leadership team in running the function - giving leadership a current, unfiltered read on delivery risk, team capacity, performance, and cross-functional friction; escalating early with a recommendation attached rather than waiting for a problem to surface on its own; knowing which decisions are yours to make and which need to come up; and translating leadership priorities into what the team does day to day
Act as the connective tissue between the team and Sales, Account Management, Ad Operations, Inventory, Billing, Measurement, Brand Activation, Partnerships, and offshore vendors, closing loops and resolving issues before they reach the client
Join client conversations when the operational stakes warrant it and represent the team credibly in front of agencies and advertisers
Represent the function's capacity, risks, and wins to senior leadership, and advocate for the resourcing the team needs
Report and optimize the KPIs for the function - on-time launch rate, error and rework rate, cycle time from IO to launch, case aging, billing accuracy and use them to decide where to invest
Measure and analyze the progress of each direct report and run working sessions that convert performance data into concrete development
Translate operational data into recommendations for leadership on process, tooling, staffing, and workflow design