Paid Media Director-Programmatic

Paid Media Director - Programmatic

Location: Atlanta, GA

Department: Paid Media

Reports To: Head of Paid Media

Who We Are

Acadia is a trusted digital growth agency for mid-market disrupters. We help brands out-flank their competition through paid media, retail media and marketplaces, analytics, SEO and CRO, and content and creative services. Headquartered in Atlanta with a team across the globe, we’re a tight-knit and fast-growing team of marketing strategists and analysts, driven to make a real impact for our clients and communities.

About the Job

Acadia is looking for a highly proficient collaborator, motivator, and thought leader to serve as the senior leader of the Paid Media department.

Reporting directly to the Head of Paid Media, this position plays a pivotal role in shaping the broader agency offering, working alongside various departments including Integrated Media, Influencer Marketing, Organic Social, SEO, CRO, Analytics, Account Management, and Retail Media.

You will lead the execution of the paid media department’s strategic direction across all accounts and verticals, own the department’s budget and operational structure, manage and develop the Associate Director and Sr Manager leadership team, and represent the agency’s paid media expertise in new business pitches and senior client engagements. The ideal candidate is comfortable owning paid search, social, and programmatic strategy and execution end-to-end, excels at optimizing internal operational efficiency, and is skilled at developing senior talent.

Responsibilities

Note: Items below referring to broad ownership should be interpreted as the director group’s collective responsibility to own team strategic direction. Individual levels of ownership for overarching items will vary based on expertise, interest, and workload.

• Lead execution of the paid media department’s strategic direction across all accounts and verticals, ensuring account strategies ladder up to agency positioning

• Partner with BU leadership to pressure-test strategic direction and flag emerging opportunities and risks

• Own the department’s budget allocation across teams, tools, and resources, and report financial performance and resource utilization to BU leadership

• Own optimization outcomes and performance standards across the department, setting portfolio benchmarks and holding teams accountable to them

• Oversee rollout of approved optimization platforms, AI tools, and automation, and manage the associated vendor relationships

• Own targeting and audience strategy outcomes department-wide, including data partnerships, vendor relationships, and privacy compliance

• Own creative asset management standards and creative technology partnerships, and drive leadership-level alignment across Performance Creative, Integrated Media, Account Management, Ad Ops, and Analytics

• Own reporting standards and BI infrastructure across the department, and drive adoption of advanced analytics techniques such as MMM and incrementality

• Lead senior client conversations on measurement strategy, and mentor Associate Directors and Sr Managers on executive-level data storytelling

• Own the department’s platform expertise strategy and make final adoption decisions on emerging platforms and technology

• Manage strategic platform relationships, including access decisions, betas, and escalation pathways

• Own competitive intelligence standards department-wide and synthesize portfolio signals into vertical and industry insight for BU leadership

• Manage and develop all Associate Director and Sr Manager direct reports, and execute the departmental people strategy set by BU leadership

• Conduct and calibrate performance reviews across the leadership team, and ensure clear ownership and accountability at every level

• Serve as the senior paid media contact for the portfolio’s largest accounts, build VP and C-level relationships, and own department-level escalation resolution

• Lead the media component of major new business pitches in partnership with BU leadership

• Own the operational structure and day-to-day workflow of the paid media department, and resolve cross-departmental friction points

• Own AI adoption outcomes and cultural accountability across the department, and embed AI skill criteria into hiring and performance reviews

Programmatic Buying

Note: This role is focused on building Acadia’s in-house programmatic buying capability. Deep expertise across the areas below is required; broader knowledge of the media buying landscape and adjacent platforms is a plus.

• Own programmatic strategy and buying across Google Marketing Platform (DV360, CM360) and other DSPs including The Trade Desk and Amazon DSP, spanning CTV, online video, audio, and display

• Direct the balance of managed-service and in-house buying, and own DSP and trading partner relationships (e.g., MIQ, Zeta) to secure preferred rates, beta access, and premium inventory

• Protect client working media by managing the programmatic supply chain (platform and tech fees, audience data costs, and DSP and trading margins), and hold partners to transparent, no-markup pass-through of data costs

• Own deal structure and inventory strategy across private marketplaces, programmatic guaranteed, and open exchange, and approve insertion orders before they commit client budget

• Set the standard for how the team briefs Ad Ops: accurate tactical and traffic sheets, correct naming taxonomy, and QA completed before trafficking begins

• Maintain working fluency in the CM360 ad server, including campaign hierarchy, placements, Floodlight configuration, UTMs, and third-party verification tags, sufficient to diagnose discrepancies and arbitrate tracking issues

• Decide when an engagement warrants ad serving at all, weighing ad serving and ad ops fees against the measurement value returned

• Keep the workflow connected end-to-end across Ad Ops, Analytics, Creative, and Dashboarding, ensuring Ad Ops runs as a defined process rather than a catch-all for cross-team logistics

• Represent Acadia’s programmatic capability and supply-chain transparency in new business pitches and senior client conversations