Director, Ad Operations & Programmatic Yield

Ranker is seeking a Director or Senior Director, Ad Operations & Programmatic Yield to help guide Ranker’s monetization. This means working internally with Product, Engineering, Audience Development, Finance and Sales, and externally with SSPs, vendors, and other partners. Our team oversees all open auction revenue & partnerships, manages our customized ad tech stack built on prebid, sets up and troubleshoots PMP Deal IDs, and executes the fulfillment of direct campaigns. We average close to 1 billion monthly ad impressions worldwide, so incremental improvements are very meaningful, and understood by senior management of the 110-person company. You will be given the resources you need to excel at this role; Ranker is a very data-driven company. This role will be mostly focused on the open auction / yield optimization / ad technology part of our remit, but we need a candidate who is not afraid to step in and help sales or manage a campaign if it comes down to it.

This role is key in ensuring we remain at the forefront of publisher monetization strategies and utilizing appropriate working practices and technologies. Our ideal candidate will have experience with header bidding and yield optimization and will be excited to “own” monetization. This is a hands-on position combining both tactics and strategy. If you aren’t a metrics-driven thinker looking for a new challenge, this isn’t the role for you.

What you’ll do:

• Oversee our demand stack across all devices and ad types (display, native, video).
• Test and evaluate new strategies, tactics, and partnerships to improve yield.
• Analyze data, summarize and present results to inform decisions.
• Communicate requirements and work with engineering to prioritize ad related tasks
• Serve as the primary point of contact for SSPs and vendors.
• Troubleshoot any issues related to ads – for example: yield declines, misbehaving ads on site, PMP delivery issues.
• Stay abreast of industry issues and trends to identify issues which may impact business (ex. GDPR, Better Ads, Death of the Cookie, Confirm Click)

What you bring to the table:

• BA/BS degree, MS/MBA a plus
• 4+ years industry experience
• A passion for all things digital, including a good understanding of industry trends and web technology developments and how they can be used to deliver category defining media solutions
• Advanced understanding of the adtech ecosystem and the programmatic landscape
• Expert level hands on experience with DFP / GAM. Springserve is a nice to have
• Exceptional analytical and strategic thinking and ability to develop and present optimization recommendations.
• A strong work ethic; able to work under pressure, meet deadlines and deliver results
• Excellent verbal and written presentation and communication skills.
• Exceptional work ethic; you don’t stop until it’s done.
• Demonstrated leadership and people management skills.

About Ranker/Watchworthy:

Ranker attracts more than 30 million monthly unique visitors worldwide and is the leader in fan-powered rankings on just about everything. Whatever the topic – TV, movies, video games, sports, brands, food, lifestyle – Ranker puts the vote into the hands of millions rather than a few critics to answer the questions we are most passionate about. Over 1 billion votes now power Ranker Insights, a treasure trove of psychographic correlation data that delivers personalized consumer recommendations (“if you like X, you’ll also like Y, Z”), and also audience insights to marketers, studios, and platforms seeking a deeper understanding of consumer tastes and preferences. Launched in 2020 and powered by Ranker data, our new Watchworthy app is the only statistically relevant, crowd-sourced TV recommendation app available to consumers. Ranker made #187 on Deloitte’s 2019 Technology Fast 500 featuring the fastest growing companies in North America and Built In LA’s Top 50 Mid-Sized Companies To Work For in 2020. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Ranker has 110 employees and has grown steadily every year.