Job Description
Reporting to the Global Operations Director and based in our new office near Victoria in London, this role is responsible for leading and evolving the UK programmatic function.
The core focus covers strategic leadership, operational excellence, audience strategy, regional enablement (UK), product, analytics & technical collaboration, creative integration, and future readiness within the UK market.
The Programmatic Director (UK) sets and drives the UK programmatic strategy, ensuring operational excellence, audience-led planning, and close collaboration with Product, Analytics, Insights, Technical Solutions and Creative.
While global frameworks may be defined centrally, this role is accountable for implementing, refining and optimising them for the UK market — driving client revenue growth and performance through excellence in programmatic delivery.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Market Planning
(UK)Define and evolve the UK programmatic strategy in alignment with global commercial, operational and product priorities
Translate global strategic priorities into actionable UK frameworks, standards and KPIs
Anticipate and prepare the UK function for industry shifts (privacy, identity, AI, media, creative, tech)
Act as senior advisor to the Global Operations Director on UK programmatic innovation, performance and competitive positioning
Lead structured innovation and test-and-learn initiatives within the UK market
Ensure UK programmatic strategy is commercially aligned to revenue growth and margin improvement
Lead and mentor the UK Programmatic team (regional leads, managers, traders and hub teams where applicable)
Set clear expectations to drive UK programmatic performance and revenue growth through excellence in execution
Ensure global frameworks, standards and audience strategies are embedded effectively within the UK market
Foster a culture of accountability, communication and knowledge sharing across UK teams
Partner with other regional leads to share best practice and elevate standards
Audience & Media Strategy (UK Market)
Develop and oversee a UK audience strategy aligned to global principles, with clear frameworks for segmentation, targeting, data usage and measurement
Collaborate with Analytics and Insights to build predictive, privacy-compliant audience approaches tailored to the UK market
Ensure audience insights inform planning, optimisation and performance measurement
Identify opportunities for smarter buying, improved efficiency and increased client revenue through audience refinement
Creative Integration
(UK)Partner closely with the Global Creative Production Director and UK Creative leads to align audience strategies, media activation and creative approaches
Develop structured creative testing frameworks (variant testing, DCO, contextual creative strategies) for deployment within UK programmatic channels
Ensure media performance insights inform creative strategy, and creative learnings feed back into media activation
Champion innovative creative activations in programmatic environments within the UK market
Operational Excellence & Governance
(UK)Own and evolve UK programmatic operating workflows including trafficking, targeting, optimisation, QA, reporting and performance frameworks
Ensure adherence to global playbooks and SLAs, adapting where necessary to UK market realities
Monitor UK performance dashboards, proactively resolving issues and driving continuous improvement
Partner with Technical Solutions and Product to improve workflows, tooling and automation within the UK function
Ensure high standards of delivery, accuracy, compliance and efficiency
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Work closely with Product, Analytics, Insights, Technical Solutions and Creative to ensure UK executional excellence:
Product
Provide UK operational and strategic input into product roadmaps
Influence feature prioritisation based on UK market needs
Support beta testing and ensure new tools meet UK programmatic requirements
Analytics & Insights
Partner on UK measurement frameworks (incrementality, attribution, cost of sale optimisation)
Integrate insights into audience strategies and creative testing
Technical Solutions
Collaborate to troubleshoot delivery issues
Support adoption of new tools and integrations within the UK
Creative
Align creative storytelling and programmatic activation through structured testing and performance insight
Performance Oversight & Commercial Impact
(UK)Oversee UK programmatic performance against agreed KPIs
Drive improvement in Cost of Sale while balancing scale, efficiency and margin
Identify systematic opportunities to increase UK client revenue through:
Audience optimisation
Creative testing
Smarter buying strategies
Capability Building & Culture
Drive UK capability development through structured training, certification and coaching
Build a culture of excellence, collaboration and innovation
Ensure strong alignment between UK and global programmatic standards
Establish clear career pathways and skills development opportunities within the UK function
Ideal Background
7–10 years in programmatic advertising with UK market leadership experience
Strong hands‑on campaign management experience across major DSPs
Proven experience establishing and managing operational processes, including remote or hub teams
Demonstrated success in strategic programmatic leadership, audience strategy and operational excellence
Experience collaborating closely with Product, Analytics, Insights, Technical Solutions and Creative teams
Strong commercial acumen and ability to drive revenue growth through frameworks, innovation and capability building (rather than direct client ownership)
Strategic thinker with deep programmatic expertise
Excellent communicator, able to influence senior stakeholders
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