Senior Director, Programmatic

WE HAVE CREATED A WORLD WHERE ART AND SCIENCE ARE BEST FRIENDS

Known is what happens when a data science firm and a creative agency stop arguing and start collaborating. We were built from scratch with PhD data scientists and award-winning creatives working on the same briefs, from day one. That structure earned us an Ad Age #3 A-List ranking, back-to-back Data & Insights Agency of the Year wins, plus Emmys, Cannes Lions, Clios, and Effies across clients in finance, tech, entertainment, consumer goods, and real estate. We're distributed across the U.S. and unapologetically ambitious.

If you're tired of choosing between doing smart work and doing creative work, you'll fit right in here.

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT US, LET'S TALK ABOUT YOU

About the role:

Known's Media Science team uses analytics, machine learning, and statistics to plan and optimize advertising dollars. We work with clients to turn business goals into measurable outcomes, then buy media across every channel to hit them. The math tells us what's working. The magic is knowing what a brand should look and feel like while it works. This job requires both.

As Senior Director, Programmatic, you own performance and optimization for your campaigns, and you protect the brand while you do it. You lead programmatic team members through daily account management, strategy, performance tracking against goals, and deadlines.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Own the programmatic discipline at Known: its P&L, growth targets, service offering, and reputation in the market.
• Set the strategic direction for programmatic across the client portfolio, and make the calls on where the practice invests and where it doesn't.
• Build and lead the organization. Hire senior leaders, design the team structure, own succession planning, and develop the managers who develop everyone else.
• Serve as the senior programmatic voice with client executives, including C-suite and CMO relationships, and own the health of those partnerships.
• Drive new business. Lead programmatic strategy in pitches, shape scopes and pricing, and identify organic growth opportunities across existing accounts.
• Set the R&D agenda for automation, measurement, and machine learning, and decide which bets get funded.
• Own the vendor and partner strategy, including DSP and data partnerships, commercial negotiations, and preferred-partner decisions.
• Define the operating standards for the practice: campaign setup, QA, optimization frameworks, and reporting. Hold the organization to them.
• Partner with leaders across search, social, analytics, and strategy to make programmatic work as part of an integrated media approach rather than a silo.
• Represent Known externally through industry speaking, published thinking, and partner relationships.
• Act as the final escalation point on the most complex client and performance issues.
• Report on the practice's performance to agency leadership, including revenue, margin, client retention, and team health.
• Own the programmatic and video strategy, including CTV, online video, and audio, for every buy that runs through biddable channels. Decide which formats and inventory the practice leads with and which it walks away from.
• Balance performance and brand in how the practice buys. Efficiency targets get met, and the media plan still lands the brand in environments a CMO would be proud to see it in. You set where that line sits and defend it with clients when cheap impressions look tempting.
• Define the quality standards for inventory and measurement: brand suitability, viewability, fraud thresholds, and supply path decisions. Make the tradeoff between reach and quality an explicit choice rather than a default.

WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU HAVE

• 12 years in programmatic media, with at least 5 years leading teams and experience managing managers.
• A track record of building a practice or discipline, not just running campaigns. You've grown headcount, revenue, or both.
• Deep experience across verticals and both direct response and brand campaigns, including enterprise-scale budgets.
• Substantial experience buying video programmatically, including CTV, OLV, and audio, and a view on where those dollars should sit relative to linear and direct publisher deals.
• Experience running campaigns where brand outcomes carried real weight, not only cost-per-action. You've set inventory quality standards and held to them when a cheaper path was available.
• Proven ability to own executive client relationships and defend strategy in the room.
• Experience with new business: pitch leadership, scoping, and pricing.
• Fluency in how programmatic connects to search, social, SEO, mobile, and attribution, plus a point of view on where measurement is heading.
• Hands-on background in The Trade Desk or DV360, with enough command of the platforms to pressure-test your team's work.
• A degree from a well-regarded college or university. 

SKILLS, ABILITIES, AND KNOWLEDGE

• Command of the statistics and math behind media buying, and the ability to explain both to a non-technical executive.
• Executive-level communication and presentation skills.
• Expertise designing high-performance programmatic campaigns, including allocation, measurement design, and scaling budgets.
• Skill in building video and CTV plans that hold up on both counts: reach and frequency a brand team recognizes, efficiency a performance team accepts.
• Working knowledge of brand measurement, including lift studies, incrementality testing, and brand suitability tools, and the judgment to know which one answers the question in front of you.
• Commercial fluency: pricing, margin, and resourcing models.
• Experience working closely with data scientists and engineers on product or tooling development.
• Comfort going in-platform when the situation calls for it.

COMPETENCIES

• You translate ambiguous business challenges into quantitative problems and get them solved.
• You hold the line on brand quality when the efficiency math argues for cheaper inventory, and you can explain the tradeoff to a CMO and a CFO in the same meeting.
• You build leaders. Your former reports have been promoted, and you can name them.
• You make decisions with incomplete information and own the outcome.
• You hold a high bar on analytical rigor and accuracy, in your work and everyone else's.
• You work across functions without turf battles.

SOME OF OUR PERKS

• Unlimited paid time off
• 401k with company matching and no vesting period
• Annual bonuses
• Generous medical plan
• Paid parental leave

ONE LAST THING TO ASK YOURSELF

All this might sound great, but you’re probably still wondering, “Would I be a good fit for Known?” or “Would Known be a good fit for me?” Our culture is propped up by four values that we aspire to every day: We are one team. We see the good. We never stop learning. There’s always a better way. At Known we are setting out to build something more than just a company. We are building a legacy filled with exceptionally talented people with a kaleidoscope of backgrounds, experiences, and origin stories who feel encouraged and empowered to bring their whole selves to work, and to partner with us in molding and shaping our culture through our values.

Known is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against employees or qualified job applicants on the basis of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or locally protected class.

The base salary for this position is $170K - $185K.

            This range is posted in compliance with state and municipal Pay Transparency laws. In addition to base compensation, this role is eligible to receive additional Known benefits.

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