Senior Programmatic Operations Lead

Location: South Africa – Remote
Hours: 14:00–23:00 SAST, Monday–Friday, aligned with U.S. Eastern business hours
Employment: Permanent, Full-Time

Role Purpose

Lead the dedicated programmatic delivery function and serve as the senior execution authority across the campaign portfolio. The role owns campaign architecture, complex optimisation, QA governance, troubleshooting, escalation, supply/PMP oversight, and coaching of junior operators.

Requirements

Key Responsibilities

• Architect complex programmatic campaign structures across multiple DSPs and channels.
• Oversee campaign execution, pacing, optimisation, inventory quality, and troubleshooting.
• Own QA standards and approve complex or high-risk campaigns before launch.
• Provide senior-level troubleshooting and diagnose delivery issues beyond basic pacing problems.
• Guide PMP and deal activation, supply troubleshooting, and inventory quality management.
• Coach Programmatic Campaign Operations Specialists and establish repeatable SOPs and operating standards.
• Partner with the Client Account Manager on technical client issues.
• Join client or agency calls when senior programmatic expertise is required.
• Work with Data Engineering and Dashboard teams to ensure campaign structures and reporting definitions remain aligned.
• Identify opportunities for automation, workflow improvements, and increased delivery capacity.
• Provide senior oversight across the wider programmatic delivery team.

Must-Have Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on programmatic trading or campaign operations experience.
• Ideally 7–10 years of relevant experience.
• Significant independent responsibility for programmatic campaign delivery.
• Deep practical experience across multiple DSPs.
• Strong preference for experience with:
• DV360
• Basis
• Simpli.fi
• Amazon DSP
• Meta
• YouTube
• Proven experience managing high-volume, multi-line-item campaign builds.
• Strong troubleshooting, optimisation, and QA judgment.
• Ability to identify and resolve complex delivery issues.
• Strong written and verbal communication.
• Ability to coach and develop junior programmatic operators.
• Comfortable working in a high-volume, deadline-driven environment.

Preferred Experience

• SSP and PMP curation.
• PMP/deal troubleshooting.
• Ad servers and verification vendors.
• CTV/OTT and online video.
• Regulated-category policy escalations.
• Previous team-lead or management experience.
• Experience working with U.S. or international agency clients.

Success in the Role

• Campaigns launch accurately and on time.
• High-risk work is identified and corrected before reaching the client.
• Pacing and performance issues are proactively addressed.
• QA standards are consistently maintained.
• Junior operators become increasingly independent while maintaining quality.

Important: This is a senior technical delivery and operations role, not a sales position. The role does not own commercial negotiations, pricing, renewals, upselling, or DSP vendor contracts.

Originally posted on Himalayas