Senior Director, Programmatic Strategy & Operations

Senior Director, Programmatic Strategy and Operations

About

The New York Times' mission is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. This role is part of the Advertising team, focused on programmatic monetization across all digital platforms.

Responsibilities

• Vision & Strategy: Develop and execute the long-term vision and enterprise-level strategy for programmatic monetization across all digital platforms (Web, App, Video, Newsletter, Audio), driving innovation in the ad tech stack, supply path optimization, and privacy-safe addressability solutions.
• Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and develop a high-functioning team of managers and analysts supporting advertising growth, elevating organizational performance across Revenue Operations and Sales Enablement.
• Executive & Cross-Functional Influence: Serve as a principal advisor to executive leadership on programmatic trends. Partner with Finance, Strategy, and Product leadership on quarterly forecasting, pricing models, and annual operating planning tied to programmatic revenue streams.
• Yield & Optimization: Act as the ultimate owner and decision-maker for programmatic optimizations, rate card development, and day-to-day yield management across direct-sold, PMP, and open exchange channels.
• Advanced Partner Diligence & Negotiation: Lead high-level negotiations with top SSPs, DSPs, and tech providers. Build a rigorous partner evaluation framework assessing technology fit, transparency, auction competitiveness, and operational excellence.
• Insights & Analytics: Build and utilize dashboards to deliver data-driven insights encompassing market trends and supply/demand dynamics. Establish the measurement framework to evaluate changes across the programmatic stack.
• Go-To-Market Integration: Stakeholder the go-to-market sales strategy for all programmatic offerings in close partnership with the Direct Sales and Product Marketing teams to integrate programmatic into the broader commercial strategy.
• Industry Thought Leadership: Act as the external face of the company’s programmatic strategy—presenting at industry events and engaging with trade organizations to elevate the company’s market position.
• Quality Assurance: Aid in data reconciliation and QA across programmatic data sources. Be an avid reader who regularly audits our site for programmatic ad experiences below our expectations.
• Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in digital advertising, with at least 6+ years focused on programmatic monetization at a premium publisher, platform or agency.
• 5+ years of experience leading high-performing teams, including people managers, in revenue operations, yield management or programmatic strategy.
• Deep expertise with the programmatic ecosystem, including SSPs, DSPs, ad servers, header bidding and identity / addressability solutions.
• Demonstrated experience building and executing programmatic yield strategies across direct-sold, PMP and open exchange channels.
• Advanced analytical skills and fluency with data tools (e.g., Excel, BI dashboards); comfort using data to inform decisions and communicate trade-offs to senior stakeholders.
• Experience partnering with Finance and Strategy teams on forecasting, pricing, and revenue planning.