Manager, Data Acquisition & Partnerships

Blend360•Columbia, MD

9d•Remote

About The Position

Blend 360 is partnering with a leading national telecommunications and media company to build a large-scale data intelligence platform. The platform combines first-party network, security, and media consumption signals from tens of millions of households to generate behavioral insights, audience segments, and predictive models for commercial and advertising applications. A key component of this initiative is the acquisition and integration of third-party outcome data that enriches the platform’s first-party signals. This role is central to that effort—owning the strategy, sourcing, negotiation, and integration of external data assets that power propensity models, audience analytics, and data monetization use cases. Role Summary We are looking for a W2 contractor to work with us through 2026 with the strong possibility of extension who will own the end-to-end third-party data acquisition strategy for a high-profile data platform initiative. Your primary mission is to source outcome and behavioral data—purchase transactions, financial indicators, automotive, real estate, and other conversion signals—that can be matched at the household level to build propensity models and enrich audience profiles. This is not a role about maintaining existing vendor relationships. We are looking for someone who will proactively explore the evolving data marketplace, identify emerging and non-traditional data sources, and bring a forward-thinking perspective on what outcome data is available today and what will be available tomorrow. The ideal candidate is deeply networked in the data ecosystem and has a keen eye for novel datasets that others may overlook.

Requirements

3+ years of professional experience in data acquisition, data partnerships, data licensing, or a closely related role
Deep knowledge of the third-party data marketplace, including major providers, aggregators, and data exchanges across multiple verticals
Hands-on experience evaluating and procuring outcome or behavioral data (purchase transactions, auto registration, financial indicators, real estate data, etc.) for analytics or modeling use cases
Experience negotiating data licensing agreements and managing vendor relationships
Strong understanding of identity resolution, household-level data matching, and how third-party data gets linked to first-party graphs
A forward-looking mindset—demonstrated ability to identify and evaluate new, emerging, or non-traditional data sources beyond established providers
Familiarity with data privacy regulations (CCPA, CPRA, and emerging state-level laws) as they relate to third-party data usage
Excellent communication skills; ability to translate data marketplace concepts for both technical and business stakeholders
Hands-on experience with Snowflake Marketplace, including evaluating, trialing, and integrating data listings (e.g., Affinity Solutions, TransUnion TruIQ, Precisely, Acxiom, SafeGraph)

Nice To Haves

Experience with AWS Data Exchange, LiveRamp Data Store, or other data commerce platforms
Background in AdTech, media, telecom, or audience analytics industries
Experience working with clean room technologies (Snowflake Clean Rooms, Habu, InfoSum) for privacy-safe data collaboration
Familiarity with Snowflake architecture, data sharing, and native app capabilities
Understanding of propensity modeling, audience segmentation, or lookalike modeling as downstream consumers of acquired data
Experience working in a consulting or contractor engagement model

Responsibilities

Develop and execute a third-party data acquisition strategy focused on outcome data that can be resolved to households for propensity modeling
Continuously scan the data marketplace landscape for both established and emerging providers of outcome-based data, including: Purchase/transaction data (e.g., Affinity Solutions, Numerator, Consumer Edge, Catalina, Facteus) Automotive data (e.g., S&P Global Mobility/Polk, J.D. Power, Arity, TrueCar) Real estate and mortgage data (e.g., ATTOM Data Solutions, CoreLogic, HouseCanary) Financial and credit signals (e.g., TransUnion TruAudience, Experian, Equifax) Retail and CPG purchase data (e.g., Circana/NCS, NielsenIQ, SPINS) Travel and hospitality spend (e.g., Sojern/Adara, Amadeus) Healthcare and wellness indicators (e.g., PurpleLab, Crossix/Veeva, IQVIA)
Proactively identify non-traditional and emerging data sources beyond conventional providers, including: App usage and mobile behavioral data (e.g., App Science/Sabio) Connected TV and ACR viewership data (e.g., Samba TV, VideoAmp) Location intelligence and foot traffic attribution (e.g., Foursquare, Placer.ai, Gravy Analytics) IoT and smart home device signals (e.g., Plume) Geospatial and point-of-interest data (e.g., SafeGraph, Precisely)
Evaluate data quality, household match rates, coverage, recency, and analytical value of each potential source
Leverage Snowflake Marketplace, AWS Data Exchange, LiveRamp Data Store, and other data commerce platforms to identify data products available for rapid integration
Lead commercial negotiations with data vendors, securing analytics-only or modeling-use licensing terms
Structure data licensing agreements with appropriate use-case restrictions and compliance guardrails
Manage vendor relationships, renewal schedules, and an evaluation pipeline for ongoing procurement decisions
Track and optimize data acquisition spend across providers and use cases
Partner with data engineering teams to define integration requirements and delivery mechanisms (S3 ingestion, Snowflake data shares, API feeds, etc.)
Coordinate with the identity resolution team to ensure third-party data can be matched to household-level identity graphs
Collaborate with data scientists on validating data utility for propensity models, embeddings, and audience segmentation
Work with product and go-to-market teams to align acquired data with commercial use cases
Ensure all data acquisitions comply with applicable privacy regulations (CCPA, state-level privacy laws) and client data governance policies
Document data provenance, licensing terms, permitted use cases, and renewal schedules for all third-party datasets
Coordinate with legal and compliance teams on contract review and data usage approvals