Associate Director, Programmatic

Job description

ABOUT DARKROOM Darkroom is the leading next-generation growth marketing firm engineering the brands of tomorrow. Founded in 2017, we set out to redefine what a modern agency could be, by replacing the inertia of legacy advertising behemoths with a model built for speed, intelligence, and measurable impact. At our core, Darkroom is a human services company powered by Shadow, a universal AI commerce layer that integrates executive-level strategy with proprietary agentic technology. This fusion enables our teams to deliver outsized returns by enhancing creative output, operational efficiency, and revenue generation across every stage of the customer journey. Our track record speaks for itself: billions in attributable revenue driven across e-commerce marketplaces, media networks, DTC ecosystems, and social commerce platforms. Every engagement feeds into our proprietary data infrastructure, enabling a continuous feedback loop that accelerates growth, improves margins, and compounds results across our client portfolio. What began as a boutique design studio has evolved into one of the fastest-growing private companies in America and among the most effective performance media agencies of the 2020s. Our founders were recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 for advancing the intersection of technology, marketing, and advertising, cementing Darkroom's role as a defining player in the future of media innovation. ABOUT THE ROLE We are hiring an Associate Director, Programmatic to build and lead Darkroom's programmatic capability inside the Paid Media function. This is a foundational hire, not a standard channel-management role. Today, Darkroom is strongest across Meta and Google. Our next stage requires deeper expertise across Amazon DSP, CTV, OLV, Retail Media Networks, high-impact display, and privacy-safe media environments, and you'll be the person who builds that sub-function from the ground up. The ideal candidate is a senior programmatic strategist with hands-on experience activating and scaling programmatic media across high-growth brands, someone who knows how to use Amazon DSP, streaming video, OLV, CTV, and broader programmatic channels to create demand, prove incrementality, and connect media investment back to business outcomes. Programmatic is the primary focus of this role, but it's not a full-time channel on every account at every point in time. When programmatic work is light or between test cycles, you'll flex into Paid Social execution across Meta, TikTok, Reddit, and Pinterest, so the role is built for someone who wants deep specialization without losing a holistic, hands-on media skill set. You'll report to the Managing Director of Paid Media and partner closely with Paid Social, Paid Search, Creative, Growth Strategy, and Analytics. WHAT WE'RE BUILDING We're empowering small teams with technology that makes it easier to market and grow businesses. Our current focus is to help consumer brands shift from "workflow automation" to "agent management" within their marketing operations. Shadow is the AI coordination layer, providing shared AI memory, centralized agent control, and model orchestration for marketing teams. THE AGENCY BEHIND THE PRODUCT Shadow is built alongside Darkroom, a performance marketing agency that's been operating for 10 years, employs 100+ people, runs 100+ clients at a time, and has worked with over 1,000 consumer brands. The agency is both our proving ground and our first user, which means the programmatic function you build here gets tested against real client budgets and real business outcomes from day one, and feeds directly into Shadow's programmatic backbone. WHAT YOU'LL OWN - With support from the Paid Media MD, build Darkroom's programmatic media capability across Amazon DSP, CTV, OLV, RMNs, display, and high-impact media. - Lead strategy, planning, activation, optimization, and measurement for programmatic campaigns across key client accounts. - Serve as the internal subject matter expert for Amazon DSP, retail media, streaming video, connected TV, online video, and programmatic buying strategy. - Develop test plans that connect programmatic investment to business outcomes, not just impressions, reach, or platform-reported conversions. - Partner with Analytics and Growth Strategy to design incrementality-minded test structures across geo holdouts, matched-market tests, exposure-log measurement, clean rooms, and lift studies. - Build clear client-facing narratives around the role of programmatic in a broader growth system. - Evaluate programmatic partners, publishers, DSPs, RMNs, and measurement vendors. - Establish programmatic best practices, SOPs, QA standards, pacing rules, and reporting expectations. - Collaborate with Creative to define channel-specific creative requirements across video, display, high-impact, and RMN environments. - Create case studies that prove programmatic's incremental impact and support future new business. - Educate the broader Paid Media team on programmatic strategy, terminology, platform capabilities, measurement expectations, and client use cases. - Help define the long-term roadmap for building a programmatic practice inside Darkroom. - Work closely with the Shadow product team to enhance Shadow's programmatic backbone. - Step in on Paid Social campaign management and optimization across Meta, TikTok, Reddit, and Pinterest when programmatic priorities are lighter, acting as a flexible resource for the broader Paid Media team. MUST HAVE - 6-8+ years of programmatic media experience, preferably in a fast-paced agency or high-growth brand environment. - Deep experience with Amazon DSP is required. - Strong experience planning or activating CTV and OLV campaigns. - Experience with Retail Media Networks and audience-led media environments. - Hands-on Paid Social media buying experience across at least two of Meta, TikTok, Reddit, or Pinterest, comfortable executing and optimizing campaigns when programmatic priorities allow. - Ability to build programmatic strategies that connect to business outcomes, incrementality, and budget decisioning. - Strong understanding of programmatic buying models, inventory quality, audience strategy, frequency management, supply paths, brand safety, and measurement limitations. - Experience working with streaming video, display, high-impact, contextual, publisher-direct, and DSP-based media. - Comfort building test plans, media forecasts, budget recommendations, and client-facing measurement readouts. - Experience partnering with analytics or measurement teams on incrementality testing, lift studies, clean rooms, exposure logs, or MMM inputs. - Strong client communication skills. You can explain complex programmatic concepts in plain English and make a clear recommendation. - High ownership mindset. This is a new function, so you should be excited to build systems, not just inherit them. - Comfort operating in a remote, fast-moving, high-accountability environment. NICE TO HAVE - Experience with MMM, MTA, and strong measurement points of view. - Ability to not only execute incrementality tests, but to interpret data outputs, translate next steps into media strategy, and get client buy-in. - Experience managing programmatic and paid social together on the same account, with a point of view on how the two channels should work together in a full-funnel strategy. - Hands-on experience across the full Paid Social set (Meta, TikTok, Reddit, and Pinterest), rather than just one or two platforms. CULTURE FIT - You're fluent in Amazon DSP, CTV, OLV, and programmatic media, and can explain why programmatic matters beyond reach and impressions. - You know how to pressure-test whether a channel is actually creating incremental impact. - You're excited by the idea of being the first dedicated programmatic lead inside a growing Paid Media department, and want to help build the operating system: SOPs, best practices, QA, partner POVs, case studies, internal training. - You want to help Darkroom expand beyond Meta and Google into a more sophisticated full-funnel media practice. - You're comfortable moving between deep specialization and hands-on execution. Building a new function some weeks, running paid social campaigns across a broad channel mix the next, without treating either as beneath you. Not the bar: no Amazon DSP experience, no meaningful CTV or OLV experience, execution-only backgrounds with no strategic or client-facing ability, an inability to explain programmatic measurement beyond platform-reported metrics, or no interest in building a function from the ground up. WHAT IT'S LIKE TO WORK AT DARKROOM Darkroom is not a typical agency. We are looking for A players who want to build something great. We move fast, think deeply, and expect every team member to bring insight and rigor to everything they touch. We hold a high bar for performance, creativity, and ownership, but we also support each other relentlessly. No egos, no red tape, just world-class talent building something remarkable. We believe in autonomy with accountability, truth over comfort, and outcomes over optics. - Unlimited PTO + US holidays: Rebooting is part of the work. Take the time you need to stay sharp. - Remote-First Culture: Many roles are fully remote. Employees based in or near our New York or Lisbon HQs are expected to work hybrid with weekly in-office time. Hub locations include Brazil and Spain. - Health & Wellness: Company-sponsored medical, dental, and vision coverage. - Finances, growth, and retirement: Darkroom offers a robust 401(k) program with company match and profit-sharing opportunities to help you save and grow as the company grows. - Parental Leave: Flexible parental leave to support new parents during this important transition. - Growth: Our interdisciplinary model gives every Darkroomer exposure far beyond their core role. Grow your skills, expand your influence, and stay at the forefront of the industry. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT Darkroom is an equal opportunity workplace. We are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.