Associate Director, Programmatic

Responsibilities

• - With support from the Paid Media MD, build Darkroom's programmatic media capability across Amazon DSP, CTV, OLV, RMNs, display, and high-impact media.
• - Lead strategy, planning, activation, optimization, and measurement for programmatic campaigns across key client accounts.
• - Serve as the internal subject matter expert for Amazon DSP, retail media, streaming video, connected TV, online video, and programmatic buying strategy.
• - Develop test plans that connect programmatic investment to business outcomes, not just impressions, reach, or platform-reported conversions.
• - Partner with Analytics and Growth Strategy to design incrementality-minded test structures across geo holdouts, matched-market tests, exposure-log measurement, clean rooms, and lift studies.
• - Build clear client-facing narratives around the role of programmatic in a broader growth system.
• - Evaluate programmatic partners, publishers, DSPs, RMNs, and measurement vendors.
• - Establish programmatic best practices, SOPs, QA standards, pacing rules, and reporting expectations.
• - Collaborate with Creative to define channel-specific creative requirements across video, display, high-impact, and RMN environments.
• - Create case studies that prove programmatic's incremental impact and support future new business.

Requirements

• - 6-8+ years of programmatic media experience, preferably in a fast-paced agency or high-growth brand environment.
• - Deep experience with Amazon DSP is required.
• - Strong experience planning or activating CTV and OLV campaigns.
• - Experience with Retail Media Networks and audience-led media environments.
• - Hands-on Paid Social media buying experience across at least two of Meta, TikTok, Reddit, or Pinterest, comfortable executing and optimizing campaigns when programmatic priorities allow.
• - Ability to build programmatic strategies that connect to business outcomes, incrementality, and budget decisioning.
• - Strong understanding of programmatic buying models, inventory quality, audience strategy, frequency management, supply paths, brand safety, and measurement limitations.
• - Experience working with streaming video, display, high-impact, contextual, publisher-direct, and DSP-based media.
• - Comfort building test plans, media forecasts, budget recommendations, and client-facing measurement readouts.
• - Experience partnering with analytics or measurement teams on incrementality testing, lift studies, clean rooms, exposure logs, or MMM inputs.

Preferred

• - Experience with MMM, MTA, and strong measurement points of view.
• - Ability to not only execute incrementality tests, but to interpret data outputs, translate next steps into media strategy, and get client buy-in.
• - Experience managing programmatic and paid social together on the same account, with a point of view on how the two channels should work together in a full-funnel strategy.
• - Hands-on experience across the full Paid Social set (Meta, TikTok, Reddit, and Pinterest), rather than just one or two platforms.

Benefits

• - Unlimited PTO + US holidays: Rebooting is part of the work. Take the time you need to stay sharp.
• - Remote-First Culture: Many roles are fully remote. Employees based in or near our New York or Lisbon HQs are expected to work hybrid with weekly in-office time. Hub locations include Brazil and Spain.
• - Health & Wellness: Company-sponsored medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• - Finances, growth, and retirement: Darkroom offers a robust 401(k) program with company match and profit-sharing opportunities to help you save and grow as the company grows.
• - Parental Leave: Flexible parental leave to support new parents during this important transition.
• - Growth: Our interdisciplinary model gives every Darkroomer exposure far beyond their core role. Grow your skills, expand your influence, and stay at the forefront of the industry.