Associate Director, Programmatic Platform Operations

What You'll Do

• Act as the technical programmatic operations team lead for Spotify’s ads business, supporting macro-level deal setup, execution, and optimization for both PG, OMP, and PMP campaigns.
• Manage the Platform Operations group, specializing in programmatic systems, each supporting DSP integrations, exchange health, troubleshooting, and testing workflows.
• Lead operational readiness and cross-functional alignment for major platform transitions, including future state ad tech architecture planning and implementation.
• Partner with Sales and Product to develop, recommend, and activate customized deal strategies using available audiences, contextual signals, and DSP integrations.
• Provide internal guidance on programmatic strategy, budget allocation, pacing, inventory access, and KPIs, turning insights into actionable recommendations that grow spend.
• Serve as the escalation point for sophisticated macro-level troubleshooting, cross-DSP delivery issues, and 3P vendor integration challenges (VAST, measurement, creative hosting, etc.).
• Educate and support partners on Spotify’s programmatic roadmap, platform policies, technical capabilities, and measurement best practices.
• Collaborate with Technical Operations, Client Success, Sales, Product Marketing, and Pricing & Inventory to ensure accurate integration setups, seamless programmatic campaign execution, and helping to future-proof Spotify’s ad tech stack.
• Develop operational frameworks to support programmatic revenue expansion across our partner ecosystem, new DSP onboarding, and expanded programmatic efficiency.
• Contribute feedback to product and platform teams to influence feature development based on client/market needs and technical friction points.

Who You Are

• You have 10+ years of experience in programmatic media, either on the publisher, platform or DSP/SSP side, with proven experience in leading programmatic strategy for an ads' business.
• You are deeply familiar with deal structures like PG, PMP, and Open Market dynamics, and understand DSP bid strategies, optimization levers, and auction behavior.
• You are highly experienced in leading teams and building scalable operational models across global markets.
• You are an expert in programmatic ad serving, bidstream mechanics, deal troubleshooting, delivery optimization, and biddable yield optimization.
• You have extensive knowledge of 3P measurement, brand safety, creative specs, and data onboarding across the programmatic ecosystem.
• You’re a technical problem solver and strategic thinker who is comfortable jumping into platform UIs, parsing delivery data, and translating issues into solutions.
• You understand the importance of building relationships and alignment across internal teams and key partners within the client's organization to get work done.
• You thrive in a cross-functional, fast paced environment and are skilled at balancing client needs with internal process, scale, and product integrity.
• You have excellent communication and storytelling skills and are able to translate complex technical insights into actionable recommendations for internal cross-functional partners and external stakeholders.
• You are comfortable working with DSPs, SSPs, Sales teams, product managers, engineers, support teams, and external vendors.
• You are proficient working in Trade Desk, Magnite, Yahoo and other DSP/SSPs and can work expertly with reporting tools and internal ad support systems.

Where You'll Be

• We offer you the flexibility to work where you work best! For this role, you can be within the North America region as long as we have a work location.
• This team operates within the EST time zone for collaboration.