Associate Director, Digital Activation (Financial)

The Associate Director of Digital Activation (Programmatic & Direct) is both a strategic thinker and hands-on leader responsible for owning activation across a high-profile Financial Services account. This individual will drive performance, shape activation strategy, and lead a team through continued growth and complexity within the digital ecosystem.

The Associate Director will work closely with the Senior Director to set priorities, allocate responsibility, and measure team performance, ensuring best-in-class execution across all programmatic and direct channels. This role requires a strong command of trading, optimization, and partner management, coupled with the ability to operate at scale and influence senior client stakeholders.

As a key leader on the business, this individual will help evolve digital activation, drive innovation, and elevate team capabilities while maintaining a strong focus on accountability, precision, and performance outcomes within a highly regulated financial category.

The Opportunity

This is a high-impact leadership role on one of the world’s most recognized financial brands. You will have the opportunity to own foundational performance channels, shape how Programmatic and Direct evolves, and play a key role in advancing full-funnel strategy, innovation, and measurement. This role offers immediate visibility, ownership, and the ability to make a meaningful mark on both the account and broader practice.

Your responsibilities will include:

Team Leadership

• Lead and mentor Programmatic/Direct Investment team members, setting clear expectations and performance standards
• Manage team resourcing and ensure efficient use of talent across workstreams
• Support onboarding, training, and development of team members
• Establish and reinforce best practices, processes, and frameworks
• Foster a collaborative, accountable, and solutions-oriented team culture

Grow Business

• Own Investment performance and identify opportunities to drive incremental growth
• Develop strategies aligned to client business goals across awareness, consideration, and conversion, with a focus on bottom-funnel tactics
• Identify and test new partners, products, and approaches
• Contribute to broader practice development and innovation initiatives

Activation Ownership & Performance Delivery

• Own end-to-end execution of programmatic and direct publisher campaigns
• Translate client strategy into actionable activation plans, ensuring alignment with business goals across awareness, consideration, and conversion
• Drive in-platform optimization including bidding strategies, audience refinement, inventory selection, and creative testing
• Ensure effective and compliant use of data signals (1P, 3P, contextual), particularly within Financial Services guidelines
• Maintain rigorous pacing, delivery management, and troubleshooting across all campaigns

Partner & Marketplace Management

• Build and maintain strong relationships with programmatic platforms, SSPs, data providers, and premium publishers
• Manage large-scale partner relationships alongside the Senior Director to anticipate future needs and unlock value
• Identify and test new partners, products, and deal structures to drive incremental performance
• Stay ahead of industry trends and evolving programmatic capabilities, particularly as they relate to privacy and financial advertising

Do you have experience in Video advertising campaigns?, Do you have a Bachelor’s degree?, * Deep expertise in programmatic performance marketing

• Ability to translate data into clear insights and business impact
• Strong client leadership and communication skills
• Proven ability to own strategy and execution in complex environments
• Proactive mindset with a focus on growth, innovation, and continuous improvement
• Having a passion for advertising and establishing yourself as a thought leader within the office
• Staying up to date on industry trends and partner updates
• Proactively bringing new opportunities to the team
• Proactively bring new ideas for the account for broader business impact
• Day-to-day lead on client communications

What you’ll need to succeed:

• Bachelor’s degree or relevant post-secondary education, training, or equivalent experience
• 5+ years of experience in programmatic and/or digital activation
• Hands-on keyboard experience with DSPs (Yahoo!, The Trade Desk, DV360, Google Ads) and programmatic ecosystems
• Experience executing across display, video, native, and direct publisher buys
• Strong understanding of financial advertising regulations, data usage, and compliance considerations
• Proficiency in ad serving and measurement tools
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate data into insights and business impact
• Proven team leadership or mentoring experience
• Strong client communication and presentation skills
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment
• Strong negotiation and partner management skills

Why This Role

This is a rare opportunity to step into a true leadership role on a global account at a moment of change. You will have immediate ownership, influence, and visibility, with the ability to shape strategy, mentor a team, and leave a meaningful mark on how performance media is delivered. This role offers both scale and impact, making it a strong next step for candidates looking to accelerate their growth.

Pulled from the full job description

• Paid parental leave
• Parental leave
• 401(k)
• Health insurance
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending account, This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on relevant experience, other job-related qualifications/skills, and geographic location (to account for comparative cost of living). The Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. For this role, benefits include: health insurance, vision insurance, dental insurance, 401(k), Healthcare Flexible Spending Account, Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account, vacation days, sick days, personal days, paid parental leave, paid medical leave, and STD/LTD insurance benefits.

Compensation Range

$70,000 - $125,000 USD

This role is hybrid, requiring three (3) days per week in the office. The remaining two (2) days may be worked remotely. Specific in-office days will be discussed during the interview process, with flexibility to align with team needs. Please note that the number or required in-office days may be adjusted over time, potentially increasing the number of required in-office days based on business needs.

PHD is a global communications planning and media buying agency network delivering smart strategic thinking and creative innovation for the world’s leading brands. Brilliant media thinking is in our DNA. A culture of thought-leadership, creativity and innovation has seen us grow from a challenger agency in the UK, to a global leader with over 6,000 employees in over 100 offices worldwide. We combine the latest industry insight with the best creative minds to produce planning innovation and create award-winning work for some of the world’s largest advertisers. Finding a better way is our ethos and sums up how we approach everything - from a new client brief to the way we work.