Sr. manager, retail media ad operations

RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership:

• Be able to coach and mentor specialists and managers to become retail media solution experts.
• Train Retail Media Sponsored Ad and Programmatic Specialists in best practices and operational processes.
• Inspire your direct reports to reach their quarterly, annual, and long-term goals.
• Foster a culture of open communication and 360-degree feedback.
• Ability to manage horizontally across matrixed organizations and collaborate with key departments to drive mutually beneficial results for organization.
• Lead technical projects aimed at improving customer experience and introducing new e-commerce features and offerings with a focus on retail media.
• Support Senior Director of Retail Media Operations with team development, team routines, and team vision.

Retail Media Strategy:

• Develop and execute retail media strategies aligned with overall business goals, focusing on driving sales and increasing visibility.
• Guide and manage the strategy and campaign planning for mid and upper funnel channels, like CTV, OLV, Display, and Paid Social.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including media agencies, client teams, retailer partners, and ad technology partners.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including brand management, product, and integrated marketing to align advertising strategies with overall business objectives.
• Ensure that merchandise plans support key retail media initiatives, including product launches, top sellers, seasonal campaigns, and emerging trends.
• Create proposals and presentations to represent solutions designed around client goals.
• Lead client meetings to understand client needs.
• Prepare and present quarterly and annual business reviews for top-tier clients.

Campaign Management:

• Support the management of sponsored search and programmatic ad campaigns for top tier clients, including keyword research, campaign setup, targeting, bidding, budget management and performance analysis.
• Review campaign billing for accuracy.
• Aid in keyword research and competitive analysis to uncover new marketing opportunities.
• Identifies opportunities to streamline process and creates supporting documentation.

Optimization & Performance Monitoring:

• Support campaign monitoring and performance, leveraging data insights to optimize targeting, keywords, bids, and ad placements.
• Support post-campaign analysis, providing recommendations to promote repeat business.
• Provide reporting and insights updates on client performance to stakeholders, leadership and clients.
• Conduct A/B testing and experiment with different advertising approaches to identify successful strategies.
• Identify opportunities for upselling, inclusive of improvement and innovation, proactively implementing changes to drive performance and efficiency.
• Monitor competitors' advertising strategies and industry trends, recommending adjustments to maintain a competitive advantage.

Industry Knowledge & Proficiency:

• Be the resident expert on all things retail media, maintaining platform certifications and staying up to date on industry trends in both the Retail and DTC verticals.
• Expertise with one or more DSPs (e.g., Google DV360, The Trade Desk, Amazon DSP).
• An expert across 3 or more retail media solutions (Amazon, Walmart, Target/Roundel, Instacart) and associated ad technology (AMC, Criteo, Citrus Ads, Skai) and adapt recommendations based on advertiser needs.
• Strategic partner management across key Retail Media Networks (Amazon, Walmart) and technology partners (The Trade Desk, Skai, etc.).
• Understand programmatic buying, real-time bidding, and audience segmentation.
• Stay current with industry trends, algorithm updates, and competitive landscape to proactively adapt strategies; helps develop competitive analysis as needed.
• Undertake additional responsibilities as needed to support team and client requirements.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 8+ years of experience in managing retail media sponsored search and programmatic ad solutions (Amazon, Walmart, Target, Instacart) with a track record of achieving client objectives.
• 5+ years of experience leading and coaching a team, ideally with 3-5 direct reports.
• Understanding of SEM to pair with Programmatic.
• A strong player / coach team member, with the ability to roll up their sleeves to help specialists.
• Proficiency in performance marketing, conversion optimization, and online customer acquisition.
• Expert of ad technology that supports retail media solutions, such as Skai, Hellium10, Pacvue, Analytic Index, Amazon Marketing Cloud, Intentwise.
• An exceptional eye for detail, analytical and ability to solve problems given the fast-paced nature of our division, the aptitude to multitask.
• Strong communication and team collaboration skills, with the ability to operate in a client-facing role across diverse client groups.
• Command of essential Microsoft Office applications, Excel with the ability to use formulas, functions, and pivot tables at advanced level.
• Adept in project and campaign management across concurrent clients and campaigns.
• Strong verbal and written communication.
• Comfortable leading and presenting recommendation to clients.
• Ability to nurture collaborative relationships, collaborative and curious spirit.
• Ability to work and resolve issues cross-functionally.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and concurrent deadlines.