Director, Ad Operations — Independent Creative Agency (Brooklyn, NY)
Our client is an independent, full-service creative agency built to create the unexpected — with creative, entertainment, media and production operating as one lean, cross-functional company rather than a holding-company patchwork. Compact teams in strategy, creative, media, account management and production work as a single unit, which lets the agency produce and optimize content at the pace modern algorithms demand.
The agency is intentionally entrepreneurial and highly collaborative. You'll flourish there if you're proactive, hands-on, energized by fast deadlines, and ready to pitch in beyond your core remit.
The Role
At our client, Ad Operations drives insights and partner accountability. They're looking for a digital ad ops leader with expertise in ad servers, dynamic creative platforms, tag management and data strategy. Embedded in the media team, you'll work daily with planning, buying, analytics, client leads and the LA creative teams, based in the Brooklyn office at least two days a week.
Core Ad Operations
- Own the day-to-day mechanics of taking campaigns live — trafficking, ad serving, QA, pacing and reconciliation.
- Direct accountability for all media campaigns across setup, activation, daily management, performance and optimization.
- Manage trafficking and campaign setup across programmatic, social, search, CTV, retail media and direct buys.
- Ad server management: placements, creative assignments, rotation and flighting.
- Creative and tag QA before launch, plus troubleshooting when something breaks.
- Monitor pacing and delivery, with fast fixes when campaigns under- or over-deliver.
- Resolve discrepancies between ad servers, platforms and publishers.
- Partner with finance on billing and budget reconciliation.
- Own the platforms and ad tech partners (DSPs, ad servers, verification, tag management) — be the person they know to call.
- Set standard operating procedures: naming conventions, taxonomy, QA, launch checklists and documentation for consistency and reliable downstream reporting.
- Lead vendor and platform transitions so nothing falls through the cracks, in delivery or in data.
Keeping the Data Clean
- Own tracking setup and overall data quality across platforms, establishing consistent standards and taxonomies for cross-channel reporting.
- Oversee implementation and QA of tracking pixels, conversion events, UTM parameters and third-party measurement tags, ensuring accurate capture and attribution.
- Manage setup and QA of MikMak and other commerce measurement links, including product destinations, tracking parameters and integrations.
- Align with planning and analytics before launch on measurement objectives and reporting requirements.
- Validate tracking and measurement functionality pre-launch and troubleshoot throughout, working with activation partners, analytics and tech vendors.
- Support analytics on tests and lift studies by handling the operational setup.
Making Things Simpler
You'll continually improve ad ops by streamlining workflows, templates and automation across campaign setup, data flows and reporting — easing the media team's workload and giving clients clarity. Working with planning, buying, analytics and account leads, you'll resolve bottlenecks and present process improvements to clients.
Experience Required
- 8+ years in ad operations, media activation or digital media.
- Hands-on with major DSPs, ad servers, search/social platforms and verification tools.
- Strong knowledge of tracking, attribution and data integrity for reliable reporting.
- Able to link operational detail to business outcomes and communicate clearly with stakeholders.
- Proven track record streamlining processes and establishing multi-brand standards.
- Collaborative mindset and strong communication skills.
- Calm, organized and accountable under tight deadlines.
Bonus Points
- CPG or food and beverage experience, especially with retail media networks.
- Exposure to measurement work such as lift studies, clean rooms or media mix modeling.
- Experience leading a platform or vendor migration.
- Comfortable getting into the data yourself with SQL or BI tools.