Agency:
Hearts & Science
Job Function:
Media
Job Subfunction:
Media Planning and Buying
Job Description:
Associate Director, Digital Activation
Broad digital activation leadership with deep programmatic expertise
FUNCTION
Digital Activation
LEVEL
Associate Director
ORGANIZATION
Hearts & Science
Position Overview
The Associate Director, Digital Activation is the day-to-day shopper activation lead for assigned clients and brands. This role translates business and media strategy into high-quality digital activation plans, oversees campaign execution and stewardship across channels, and ensures investment is paced, optimized , measured, billed, and reconciled accurately.
The Associate Director sets the strategic and operational direction for the activation team, serves as a trusted client partner and point of escalation, and ensures the Digital Activation Process and departmental standards are understood, appropriately tailored, and consistently applied. The role requires broad digital activation leadership, strong programmatic and ad technology expertise , direct people management, and the ability to move fluidly between strategic counsel, operational detail, and advanced troubleshooting.
A proactive, collaborative, and solution -oriented approach is essential. The successful candidate is comfortable rolling up their sleeves, leading through ambiguity, and developing new relationships and solutions that create value for clients and the agency.
Key Responsibilities
Client Leadership and Strategic Direction
Lead client relationships. Build trusted relationships with mid- to senior-level client stakeholders and serve as the day-to-day activation lead and customer relationship manager.
Connect activation to business outcomes. Develop clear strategic frameworks that ladder to client business and marketing goals, using consumer insight to inspire strong tactical recommendations.
Provide proactive counsel. Bring forward opportunities, risks, platform developments, emerging media capabilities, and actionable recommendations rather than waiting for client direction.
Lead client communications. Own daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly conversations related to digital activation, investment, performance, pacing, optimization, measurement, and next steps.
Make complexity accessible. Distill technical, platform, data, and measurement concepts into clear implications and decisions for digitally centric and non-digitally centric audiences.
Develop new business relationships and solutions. Identify , cultivate, and advance new client relationships, partnerships, and activation solutions that address business needs and strengthen the account.
Digital Activation and Investment Management with a Focus on Amazon and TTD
Oversee campaign design and implementation. Direct the development, setup, launch, stewardship, optimization, and closeout of digital campaigns across relevant channels, with a focus on Amazon and TTD Shopper campaigns
Guide buying-path decisions. Provide direction on campaign design, tactic implementation, manual insertion order versus programmatic buying paths, platform selection , success requirements, and the optimal use of demand-side platforms.
Own campaign performance and pacing. Maintain accountability for the quality, pacing, delivery, and performance of campaigns within assigned brands, ensuring issues are identified early and resolved decisively.
Serve as an escalation point. Provide advanced guidance for complex setup, troubleshooting, optimization, platform nuances, and delivery challenges; engage directly in platforms when needed to diagnose issues and guide resolution.
Manage campaign investment. Effectively manage campaign budgets, allocations, pacing, and changes while maintaining appropriate controls and documentation.
Coordinate across activation teams. Work side by side with broader activation, planning, analytics, operations, and investment teams to ensure…