Director of Ad Operations

Job description

Position at Spiceworks Director of Ad Operations ____________________________________________________________________________ The Opportunity: The Director of Ad Operations will own the end-to-end AdOps function across SWZD’s B2B portfolio—from campaign execution and quality assurance to revenue delivery and margin management. This role is accountable for quarter-on-quarter revenue growth, ad inventory monetization, and operational cost efficiency across display, sponsored content, newsletter, and programmatic channels. The Director will partner closely with Sales, Customer Success, Data & Analytics, Product, and Finance teams to ensure campaigns are delivered on time, against KPIs, and in a way that strengthens client trust, drives renewals, and surfaces upsell and incremental revenue opportunities. This is not a reactive, ticket-queue role—we expect a leader who anticipates problems before they land, proactively identifies revenue levers, and builds systems that scale. Beyond execution, this role carries a strategic mandate: to evolve the AdOps function from a fulfillment engine into a revenue-influence capability—leveraging first-party data, intent signals, AI-driven optimization, and operational intelligence to improve campaign performance, reduce costs, and inform go-to-market decisions. Key Responsibilities: Own complete revenue accountability for the AdOps function, including delivery against quarterly and annual revenue targets with a clear mandate for quarter-on-quarter growth. Proactively identify and surface upsell, cross-sell, and incremental revenue opportunities from campaign performance data, inventory availability, and client engagement patterns. Partner with Sales and Customer Success to build a structured pipeline of incremental asks—packaging underutilized inventory, high-performing placements, and audience extensions into actionable upsell recommendations. Track and report on revenue delivery, at-risk campaigns, and growth opportunities as part of regular leadership and ELT reporting cadences. Develop a commercial instinct within the AdOps team—ensuring every campaign manager understands the revenue impact of their delivery decisions, not just the operational mechanics. Cost Management & Margin Optimization. Maintain a clear-eyed view of operational costs, gross margins, and cost-per-delivery across all campaign types and channels. Continuously evaluate the vendor and ad tech stack for cost efficiency—actively seeking cheaper but equally effective alternatives for ad serving, verification, data, and programmatic partners. Negotiate vendor contracts and renewals with a margin-first mindset, benchmarking costs against industry standards and internal ROI thresholds. Build and maintain a cost-of-delivery model that gives leadership visibility into margin trends, cost drivers, and optimization opportunities. Manage budgets and expenses related to ad operations, working with Finance to ensure accurate forecasting and reporting. Sales Enablement & Display Product Positioning. Take ownership of training the Sales team to effectively position, pitch, and sell Display advertising products in the market—ensuring sellers understand inventory, targeting capabilities, performance benchmarks, and competitive differentiation. Develop and maintain sales enablement materials including product one-pagers, objection-handling guides, case studies, and packaging recommendations for Display products. Conduct regular training sessions and refreshers for Sales on new ad formats, inventory updates, campaign best practices, and market trends. Act as the operational subject matter expert on client and prospect calls when Sales needs support articulating delivery capabilities, SLAs, or technical feasibility. Campaign Execution & Delivery. Oversee the end-to-end execution of digital advertising campaigns, including creative trafficking, targeting, pacing, troubleshooting, and performance reporting across display, native, newsletter, and programmatic channels. Manage and prioritize ad trafficking workload across the team, ensuring campaigns are set up accurately and delivered on schedule. Monitor campaign delivery and performance, providing timely updates and actionable recommendations to Sales, Customer Success, and client-facing teams. Optimize campaigns to ensure delivery against contracted KPIs (impressions, CTR, viewability, engagement) and maximize ROI for clients. Quality Assurance & Issue Escalation Own and enforce end-to-end QA standards across the campaign lifecycle—from creative intake and trafficking setup through delivery, reporting, and close-out—ensuring zero defect handoffs to clients and internal stakeholders. Define and maintain a structured QA checklist and pre-launch verification process for all campaign types, including display, newsletter, sponsored content, and programmatic placements. Establish and manage a formal escalation framework with clearly defined severity tiers, response SLAs, and escalation paths for campaign delivery failures, creative discrepancies, pacing issues, and client-impacting incidents. Lead root-cause analysis (RCA) for all material delivery failures and quality incidents, documenting findings, corrective actions, and systemic fixes to prevent recurrence. Track and report on operational error rates, QA pass/fail metrics, and escalation volume as part of regular team performance reviews and leadership reporting. Drive a measurable reduction in operational error rates quarter-over-quarter by identifying patterns, implementing process safeguards, and building automated validation where feasible. Serve as the senior escalation point for high-priority campaign issues, coordinating cross-functional response across AdOps, Sales, Customer Success, Product, and Engineering as needed. Ensure post-incident learnings are codified into SOPs and QA documentation, closing the loop between issue resolution and process improvement. Inventory & Yield Management Maximize ad inventory utilization across properties, tracking sell through rates, monitoring availability, and communicating performance expectations with Sales and Finance stakeholders. Partner with Yield and Programmatic teams to monitor and optimize inventory usage, especially during periods of high direct sell-through or competing demand. Collaborate with Product and Engineering to identify and develop new ad surfaces, placements, and formats that increase monetizable inventory. Process, Operational Excellence & AI Optimization Develop and implement processes to streamline ad operations workflows, increase efficiency, reduce errors, and improve campaign turnaround times. Actively explore and deploy AI and automation tools to optimize campaign setup, pacing, targeting, reporting, and anomaly detection—replacing manual, repetitive work with scalable, intelligent workflows. Champion a proactive operational posture: build early-warning systems for pacing issues, delivery risks, and inventory shortfalls rather than waiting for problems to surface. Build and maintain ad operations documentation, SOPs, and runbooks to ensure consistency and institutional knowledge. Lead month-end actualization processes and submit monthly delivery revenue to Finance. Work with internal and external auditors to ensure ad serving workflows meet SOX compliance requirements. Cross-Functional Collaboration Partner with Sales and Customer Success to translate campaign performance into renewal narratives and upsell opportunities. Collaborate with the Data & Analytics team to leverage first-party audience data, intent signals, and Catalyst insights for campaign targeting and optimization. Work with Product and Engineering teams to improve ad products, user experience, and reporting capabilities. Coordinate with the Newsletter and Webinar operations teams to ensure cross-channel campaign alignment and consistent delivery standards. Vendor & Technology Management Manage relationships with ad tech vendors, SSPs, DSPs, verification providers, and other technology partners. Evaluate and recommend new tools, platforms, and technologies to keep the ad operations stack current and competitive. Stay up-to-date with emerging trends in B2B digital advertising, programmatic, privacy regulations, and ad tech evolution. Team Leadership & Development Lead, mentor, and develop a team of ad operations professionals, providing guidance, feedback, and growth opportunities. Foster a culture of continuous learning—be personally willing and available to train team members across AdOps, Sales, and adjacent functions on tools, processes, products, and industry trends. Set clear team goals and performance expectations aligned with organizational OKRs. Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and operational rigor. Job Qualifications: 10+ years of progressive experience in Ad Operations, with at least 5 years in a people management role. Demonstrated revenue ownership—track record of managing delivery against revenue targets with accountability for growth, not just fulfillment. Proficient in Google Ad Manager 360, including trafficking, reporting, forecasting, and troubleshooting. Hands-on experience with programmatic buying and selling (DSP/SSP ecosystems). Strong analytical skills with advanced Excel proficiency (pivot tables, VLOOKUP, formulas, data modeling). Experience managing revenue pipelines and campaign data in Salesforce or equivalent CRM. Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. Cross-functional adaptability with proven ability to partner effectively across Sales, Finance, Product, and Engineering teams. Cost and margin awareness—experience evaluating vendor economics, negotiating contracts, and optimizing operational spend. Proactive, systems-thinking mindset—builds processes that prevent problems rather than only reacting to them. Strong written, verbal, interpersonal, and presentation skills. Willingness to roll up sleeves and jump into campaign troubleshooting when needed. About Ziff Davis Ziff Davis (NASDAQ: ZD) is a vertically focused digital media and internet company whose portfolio includes leading brands in technology, shopping, gaming and entertainment, connectivity, health, cybersecurity, and martech. Today, Ziff Davis is focused on seven key verticals – Technology, Connectivity, Shopping, Entertainment, Health & Wellness, Cybersecurity and Marketing Technology. Its brands include IGN, Mashable, RetailMeNot, PCMag, Humble Bundle, Spiceworks, RootMetrics, Everyday Health, BabyCenter, Moz, iContact and Vipre Security. Our Benefits Spice Works Ziff Davis ( SWZD) offers competitive salaries in addition to robust, health and wellness-focused benefits. We are committed to work-life balance with paid time off, paid holidays and extended leave of absence, when you need it. At Ziff Davis, we remain dedicated to creating an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to succeed. We offer Employee Resource Groups, company-sponsored events, and regular opportunities for professional growth through educational support, mentorship programs, and career development resources. Our employees are recognized and celebrated through employee engagement programs and recognition awards. If you're seeking a dynamic and collaborative work environment where you can see the direct impact of your performance and thrive both personally and professionally, then SWZD is the place for you.