Senior Business Strategy and Activation Director

thetradedesk

New York

Posted Aug 6, 2026

Full-time
Sales Operations

Job description

The Trade Desk is a global technology company and the world’s leading independent platform for digital advertising, with nearly 4,000 employees across more than 30 offices. Our technology helps advertisers reach the right audiences across the open internet — from streaming TV and podcasts to mobile apps, news, and more.

Advertising powers the content people love. By making it more transparent, effective, and responsible, we help support trusted journalism, quality entertainment, and creators worldwide. The world’s brands and agencies rely on us to reach their customers and grow their businesses responsibly.

The scale of our platform brings unique technical challenges — from processing massive datasets in real time to building systems that operate reliably on a global scale. When you work here, your impact is worldwide. We welcome diverse perspectives, encourage curiosity, and build teams that learn from one another. If you’re driven to solve meaningful challenges, we’d love to meet you.

The NAMER Business Strategy and Activation team is seeking a Senior Director, Business Strategy and Activation to lead the strategy and operating model for our Agency business. This leader will serve as a senior strategic partner to GTM Sales and Client Services leadership and will play a central role in shaping how the business prioritizes opportunities, evaluates performance, and executes against commercial goals.

The role sits within the Global Revenue Operations organization. Business Strategy and Activation is responsible for translating commercial priorities into clear plans, scalable processes, and measurable outcomes. The team connects strategy, data, operating discipline, and execution to improve field productivity and accelerate growth.
In this role, you will partner closely with senior Agency leaders to define priorities, establish the rhythm of the business, and build the infrastructure needed to support a growing and evolving organization. You will identify trends within the book of business, surface risks and opportunities, and convert data into clear recommendations that influence commercial strategy and leadership decisions.

This is a builder role. The right candidate will be comfortable creating structure where little exists, testing and refining new approaches, and moving from strategy to execution without waiting for perfect information. Success requires strong agency knowledge, sound business judgment, analytical depth, and the ability to lead through influence in a complex organization.

What you will do

Serve as the senior strategy and operations leader for the Global Agency Business Development organization, partnering with executive leadership to define priorities, improve operating effectiveness, and drive execution against growth goals.
Shape the Agency business strategy, including market priorities, growth opportunities, client and partner segmentation, resource allocation, and performance management.
Establish and lead the rhythm of the business, including forecasting, pipeline reviews, performance analysis, leadership meetings, planning cycles, and accountability mechanisms.
Partner with Business Intelligence and Analytics teams to uncover trends, seasonality, client behavior, and performance patterns across agencies, holding companies, regions, and advertiser portfolios.
Translate commercial data into clear insights and recommendations that help leadership understand performance, diagnose underlying drivers, identify emerging risks, and act on growth opportunities.
Build scalable operating infrastructure for the Agency business, including processes, governance models, decision frameworks, reporting, and tools.
Lead complex, cross functional initiatives spanning Sales, Client Services, Marketing, Product, Finance, Legal, Training, Sales Strategy, and Business Intelligence.
Represent the needs of the NAMER Agency commercial organization in the design of global and regional processes, systems, and tools.
Ensure forecasting, pipeline, account, and performance data are accurate, consistent, and useful for decision making.
Proactively identify business needs and advance initiatives independently, without relying on fully defined requirements or established processes.
Develop and implement best practices that improve consistency, productivity, and commercial execution across the Agency organization.
Lead change management for new operating models, processes, systems, and organizational structures, with a strong focus on adoption and business impact.
Manage a portfolio of interconnected strategic initiatives, balancing immediate commercial needs with longer term capability building.
Build strong partnerships with senior leaders across the company and influence decisions through clear thinking, business results, and trusted relationships.
Develop talent and create a high performing team culture grounded in ownership, curiosity, collaboration, and strong business judgment.

What you bring to the table

12+ years of experience in Business Strategy, Sales Operations, Revenue Operations, Business Operations, Consulting, or a related field.
Meaningful experience working directly within, alongside, or in service of advertising agencies, agency holding companies, or agency focused commercial organizations is required.
Strong understanding of the agency ecosystem, including holding company structures, client relationships, commercial models, planning cycles, investment decisions, and the dynamics between agencies, brands, and media platforms.
Experience operating in a start up, scale up, transformation, or builder environment where processes, roles, and operating models were still being defined.
Demonstrated ability to create structure from ambiguity, develop practical solutions quickly, and refine them as the business evolves.
Experience serving as a strategic partner to senior Sales, Client Services, or commercial leaders.
Proven ability to shape business strategy, set priorities, define success measures, and translate strategy into operating plans and execution.
Strong analytical skills, including the ability to interpret complex data, identify underlying business drivers, and communicate clear recommendations.
Experience leading major cross functional initiatives in a matrixed organization.
Strong executive communication and presentation skills, with the ability to simplify complex issues and influence senior stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with Vice President level leaders and above and drive alignment across competing perspectives.
Strong technical and operational judgment, with experience designing processes, reporting, governance, and performance management systems.
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and strong working knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite.
Ability to prioritize and manage multiple high impact initiatives in a fast moving environment.
A high degree of ownership, initiative, adaptability, and comfort making decisions with incomplete information.
Experience in programmatic advertising, digital media, advertising technology, consulting, banking, or corporate strategy is preferred.

#LI-JS1

The Trade Desk does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firm recruiters. Fees will not be paid in the event a candidate submitted by a recruiter without an agreement in place is hired; such resumes will be deemed the sole property of The Trade Desk. The Trade Desk is an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

[LA JOBS ONLY] The Trade Desk will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Ordinance No. 184652.

[SF JOBS ONLY] Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

In accordance with various US state laws, the range provided is the Trade Desk's reasonable estimate of the base compensation for this role. The actual amount may differ based on non-discriminatory factors such as experience, knowledge, skills, and location. All employees may be eligible to become The Trade Desk shareholders through eligibility for stock-based compensation grants, which are awarded to employees based on company and individual performance. The Trade Desk also offers other compensation depending on the role such as variable compensation-based incentives and commissions. Plus, expected benefits for this role include comprehensive healthcare (medical, dental, and vision) with premiums paid in full for employees and dependents, retirement benefits such as a 401k plan and company match, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, well-being benefits, reimbursement for certain tuition expenses, parental leave, sick time of 1 hour per 30 hours worked, vacation time for full-time employees up to 120 hours thru the first year and 160 hours thereafter, and around 13 paid holidays per year. Employees can also purchase The Trade Desk stock at a discount through The Trade Desk’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

The Trade Desk also offers a competitive benefits package. Click here to learn more.

Note: Interns are not eligible for variable incentive awards such as stock-based compensation, retirement plan, vacation, tuition reimbursement or parental leave

At the Trade Desk, Base Salary is one part of our competitive total compensation and benefits package and is determined using a salary range. The base salary range for this role is

$166,200—$304,700 USD

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, The Trade Desk is committed to creating an inclusive hiring experience where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Please reach out to us at accommodations@thetradedesk.com to request an accommodation or discuss any accessibility needs you may require to access our Company Website or navigate any part of the hiring process.

When you contact us, please include your preferred contact details and specify the nature of your accommodation request or questions. Any information you share will be handled confidentially and will not impact our hiring decisions.