Senior Director, Programmatic

About the Product

For more than 30 years, Carnegie has been a leader and innovator in higher education marketing and enrollment strategy, offering groundbreaking services in the areas of Research, Strategy, Digital Marketing, Lead Generation, Slate Optimization, Student Search, Website Development, and Creative that generate authentic connections.

Job Purpose

The Senior Director, Programmatic serves as a senior strategic leader within the Digital team. Working alongside the Programmatic Team Lead, they provide thought leadership, elevate channel excellence, and support revenue growth. They play a key role in shaping programmatic practices across DV360 and other DSPs, video, OTT, and audio channels, ensuring best-in-class delivery. They also lead and manage programmatic strategy for a portfolio of high-value accounts.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Channel Excellence

  • Partner with the Programmatic Team Lead to guide channel direction across DV360 and other DSPs, video, OTT, and audio channels to refine best practices and introduce testing approaches informed by industry and platform trends.
  • Champion the adoption of AI capabilities and emerging platform technologies, driving a structured test-and-learn approach to improve performance, uncover new opportunities,  and keep our media strategies on the leading edge.
  • Serve as a senior agency voice on programmatic, contributing to trainings, thought leadership, and ongoing process improvements.
  • Mentor all team members to strengthen their expertise and drive programmatic excellence.

• Client Strategy & Campaign Performance

  • Elevates data-driven decision-making by interpreting complex performance metrics, translating them into clear strategic recommendations, and articulating how each channel ladders up to client business objectives.
  • Lead and manage programmatic strategy for high-value clients, including audience targeting, campaign structure, creative recommendations, and optimization priorities.
  • Partner with Digital Strategists on proposal development, RFPs, and strategic adjustments to ensure programmatic strategies align with client goals.
  • Provide senior direction on evolving DSP capabilities, programmatic technologies, and emerging formats across video, OTT, and audio channels.

• Internal Collaboration

  • Partners closely with strategy, media, and project teams to ensure a seamless, expertise-driven transition from onboarding to campaign launch, bringing programmatic media-specific leadership that upholds Carnegie’s standards of strategic excellence and client service.
  • Collaborate with the digital team to strengthen integrated strategies and advance programmatic’s broader growth vision.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Strong analytical skills and deep understanding of programmatic performance metrics across DSPs, video, OTT, streaming, and audio.
• Ability to navigate complex client needs and deliver strategic, data-driven recommendations
• Proven leadership and management experience.
• Excellent verbal and written communication for both client-facing and internal contexts.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities in a deadline-driven environment.
• Ability to adapt quickly to new technologies, platform changes, and industry trends.
• Effective time-management skills in a remote work environment.

Credentials and Experience

• 7+ years managing programmatic campaigns across DSPs, video, OTT, streaming, and audio; lead generation experience preferred.
• Agency experience required, with proven success supporting high-value client accounts.
• Experienced leader within a digital or agency environment.
• Strong data analysis background with proficiency interpreting programmatic metrics to inform optimization.
• Experience with major DSPs, video, OTT, streaming, and audio ad platforms.
• Experience with Asana or comparable project management tools; Google Workspace experience preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree required; Marketing/Advertising concentration preferred.

We offer

• We welcome new ideas and allow you to make an immediate impact on the team.
• Flexible Paid time off (PTO for any reason, including sick days (no specified limits) and flexible work schedule.
• Personal laptop.
• Health/Sport Budget.
• Fully remote.