Associate Programmatic Director

This role is within The Goat Agency, a leading brand within WPP Media, where you will be instrumental in helping global brands harness the power of social and creator-led content to deliver measurable impact. Recognised as a global leader in the space, we deliver award-winning campaigns in more than 70 countries. With over 650 social natives worldwide, we create ambitious influencer programmes from tactical activations to long-term partnerships, designed to drive awareness, engagement and conversions across the full marketing funnel.

Responsibilities

Own the vision, roadmap and day-to-day leadership of programmatic at Goat; Take responsibility for the output of the team, ensuring high standards, strategic alignment and commercial impact; Line manage and/or coach senior and junior programmatic team members as the team evolves; Champion programmatic within Goat, building strong relationships with client services, strategy, influencer, paid social and creative teams to deliver integrated Influence Everywhere solutions; Lead programmatic strategy for key clients and new business, including proposal and pitch work; Personally plan, build and optimise campaigns where needed, from briefing through to reporting; Integrate programmatic with influencer and social activity to extend reach, frequency and performance beyond organic and paid social; Identify opportunities to evolve programmatic product, including influencer-driven programmatic, new formats, data partnerships and measurement approaches; Oversee (and where required, directly manage) end-to-end campaigns across formats and platforms, including Display and video (including YouTube), CTV and online video, Amazon/retail media, Digital OOH and other emerging programmatic channels; Use DSPs such as The Trade Desk, DV360 (and others as relevant) for campaign setup, optimisation and reporting; Optimise towards agreed KPIs, managing budgets, pacing, bidding and audience strategies; Ensure brand safety, viewability and fraud prevention standards are consistently met; Produce clear, actionable performance reports and post-campaign analyses; Present insights and recommendations to internal stakeholders and clients in a commercially meaningful way; Use historic data and platform insights to inform planning, forecasting and future proposals; Share best practice with other markets and support global or multi-market clients where required

Requirements

Strong experience planning, executing and optimising programmatic campaigns, ideally in an agency or digital media environment; Hands-on proficiency with key DSPs (e.g. The Trade Desk, DV360) and audience/data tools; Experience leading or overseeing programmatic specialists (formal line management or clear senior escalation responsibility); Solid understanding of programmatic fundamentals: targeting, bidding, inventory buying, optimisation and measurement; Comfortable working across multiple formats and environments (e.g. display, video, YouTube, CTV, Amazon/retail media, digital OOH); Strong analytical skills, with the ability to turn data into clear, practical recommendations; Proven ability to manage budgets and deliver against performance and ROI targets; Confident communicator, able to educate and influence internal teams and clients on programmatic best practice; Willingness to work on cross-market projects, with the bulk of work focused on the UK and US; Right to work in the UK

Benefits

Competitive medical; group retirement plans; vision insurance; dental insurance; significant paid time off; preferential partner discounts; employee mental health awareness days