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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Ad Operations Manager

💰 $ - $

MarketingAdvertisingProgrammaticAd Operations

🎯 Role Definition

The Ad Operations Manager owns campaign delivery and performance for programmatic and direct-sold advertising across display, video, mobile and connected TV (CTV). This role combines technical ad serving expertise, campaign trafficking, inventory optimization, third‑party tag management, data-driven reporting and proactive stakeholder management to ensure campaigns launch on time, meet KPIs and deliver a high-quality ad experience. The Ad Operations Manager collaborates with sales, product, engineering, creative and analytics teams while maintaining SLAs, improving operational playbooks, and scaling cross-channel ad ops processes.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Ad Operations Specialist / Trafficker
  • Campaign Analyst / Junior Programmatic Analyst
  • Digital Media Coordinator

Advancement To:

  • Senior Ad Operations Manager
  • Programmatic Lead / Head of Ad Operations
  • Director of Ad Operations or Ad Tech
  • Head of Yield / Inventory Strategy

Lateral Moves:

  • Account / Client Strategy Manager
  • Programmatic Trader / DSP Specialist
  • Product Manager (Ad Tech)
  • Analytics / Revenue Operations

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead end-to-end trafficking and execution of programmatic and direct-sold display, video (VAST/VPAID), mobile and CTV campaigns in Google Ad Manager (GAM/DFP), Campaign Manager 360 (CM360), and integrated ad servers to ensure accurate targeting, pacing and delivery against campaign KPIs and SLAs.
  • Configure inventory and line items in GAM including key-values, targeting (geo, device, browser, audience segments), frequency caps, priority, creative assignments, and flight dates to ensure campaigns run exactly as contracted.
  • Manage and optimize programmatic deals and PMP setups across DSPs (The Trade Desk, MediaMath, DV360, Xandr) and SSPs, monitor bid floors, deal reporting, and troubleshoot deal delivery issues to maximize yield and guarantee buyer commitments.
  • Execute quality assurance and pre-launch checks for creatives (HTML5, VAST tags, VPAID, third‑party tags, native ad assets) including rendering tests across browsers and devices, ad size verification, and creative fallback handling.
  • Implement and manage header bidding/container solutions with prebid.js or server-side header bidding platforms, coordinate with engineering/product to improve latency and maximize header-bid monetization.
  • Troubleshoot real-time ad failures, discrepant impressions, click discrepancies, latency and creative rendering issues using ad server logs, network traces and browser developer tools; escalate to engineering when necessary.
  • Maintain and optimize ad tag templates, macros, redirects and secure HTTPS/SSL compliance for ad creatives, ensuring tags are GDPR/CCPA compliant and follow industry privacy rules.
  • Setup and validate tracking and third‑party measurement integrations (campaign tracking pixels, conversions, viewability tags) and ensure accurate attribution across platforms including CM360, Adjust, AppsFlyer, and MMPs for app campaigns.
  • Monitor daily campaign pacing, provide proactive remediation for under- and over-delivery, and run traffic re-allocations, supplemental buys or make-goods when required to meet revenue and delivery targets.
  • Produce, maintain and distribute detailed campaign performance reports and dashboards (Looker, Tableau, GA4, Excel/Sheets) for internal stakeholders and clients; translate technical metrics into actionable business insights.
  • Conduct post‑campaign reconciliations and discrepancy analysis across ad servers, DSPs, billing systems and analytics platforms; recommend process changes to reduce future discrepancies.
  • Own change management for ad ops playbooks and operational SOPs — document trafficking standards, escalation paths, SLA matrices, and create training materials for team onboarding and cross-functional partners.
  • Coordinate with creative and production teams on ad build specifications, interactive or rich media requirements, and QA timelines to ensure on-time creative delivery and adherence to technical specs.
  • Manage relationships with ad tech vendors (verification: IAS, MOAT, DoubleVerify; viewability; ad fraud detection; header bidding partners) to troubleshoot implementation issues and evaluate new solutions.
  • Lead cross-functional launch meetings for high-value campaigns, aligning sales, client success, creative, analytics and engineering on targeting, pacing expectations and reporting cadence.
  • Optimize yield and inventory prioritization strategies across direct-sold and programmatic channels through dayparting, placement forecasting, and dynamic allocation to maximize CPMs and revenue share.
  • Drive A/B and multivariate testing on creative formats, placements, and frequency capping to improve CTR, video completion rates (VCR) and viewability while keeping an eye on user experience and performance thresholds.
  • Ensure accurate billing inputs by validating impression counts, clicks and conversions for invoicing teams and support finance during audits or credit adjustments related to delivery discrepancies.
  • Lead incident response for ad ops outages or campaign-impacting technical incidents: coordinate triage, root-cause analysis and communication to stakeholders while documenting remediation steps.
  • Partner with data science and analytics teams to surface audience performance insights, inform targeting strategies (first-party segments, CRM match, lookalike), and operationalize performance optimizations.
  • Establish KPIs and process metrics for the ad ops team (launch time, error rate, discrepancy rate, SLA adherence) and run regular performance reviews to drive continuous improvement and resource planning.
  • Mentor and coach junior traffickers and ad ops analysts, assign workload, and review campaign configurations to maintain high quality and consistent delivery across the team.

Secondary Functions

  • Produce ad-hoc analyses, campaign deep-dives and exploratory reporting requests to support sales negotiations and executive business reviews.
  • Collaborate with engineering and product managers to translate operational ad server requirements into technical tickets, define test cases, and participate in QA of ad tech releases.
  • Implement and maintain automation where possible (scripts, macros, API-driven trafficking with GAM/CM360 APIs) to speed up setup, reduce errors and scale operations.
  • Contribute to the organization’s ad tech roadmap by identifying gaps, evaluating new vendors (SSPs, biddable platforms, measurement) and providing operational feasibility and ROI analysis.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies as the ad operations representative to prioritize ad-serving and reporting initiatives.
  • Support compliance and privacy readiness efforts (consent management, TCF, cookie-less strategies), working with legal and privacy teams to align trafficking practices.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Google Ad Manager (GAM/DFP) — advanced trafficking, targeting, line-item setup, forecasting and reporting.
  • Campaign Manager 360 (CM360) / DoubleClick — tag setup, floodlight implementation, and verification.
  • Programmatic ecosystem knowledge — DSPs (The Trade Desk, DV360), SSPs, RTB mechanics and PMP/deal flows.
  • Header bidding and prebid.js (client or server-side) configuration and troubleshooting.
  • Creative formats — VAST/VPAID for video, HTML5 rich media, native creative templates and CTV ad specs.
  • Ad verification and viewability tools — DoubleVerify, IAS, MOAT; familiarity with fraud detection and invalid traffic mitigation.
  • Data and reporting tools — Excel/Google Sheets (advanced formulas, pivot tables), SQL for ad log analysis, Looker/Tableau for dashboards.
  • Ad tag management, macros, redirects, and knowledge of HTTPS/SSL ad serving best practices.
  • Basic web technologies — HTML5, JavaScript debugging (browser dev tools), and understanding of network requests for troubleshooting tags.
  • Tracking and attribution platforms — pixel implementation, Floodlight, MMPs (Adjust, AppsFlyer) and post‑click/post‑view tracking.
  • APIs and automation — experience with GAM/CM360 APIs or scripting to automate trafficking and reporting tasks.
  • Privacy and compliance — working knowledge of GDPR, CCPA, TCF and consent management platforms.

Soft Skills

  • Strong stakeholder communication: translate technical ad ops issues into business impacts and clear, client-friendly updates.
  • Detail orientation and accuracy: meticulous validation of tags, reporting and billing inputs to minimize discrepancies.
  • Project management and organizational skills: manage multiple simultaneous campaigns and cross-team deliverables with strict SLAs.
  • Problem solving and triage mindset: prioritize and resolve issues quickly under pressure and coordinate multi-disciplinary teams.
  • Analytical thinking: interpret campaign data and recommend optimizations that improve performance and revenue.
  • Collaboration and team leadership: mentor junior staff, lead launch meetings and foster cross-functional partnerships.
  • Time management and prioritization: balance urgent operational fire-fighting with long-term process improvements and automation.
  • Adaptability and continuous learning: stay current on ad tech trends, new product features and privacy changes.
  • Client-facing professionalism: able to represent ad ops in executive calls and prepare concise performance summaries.
  • Negotiation and commercial awareness: understand revenue impacts when proposing make-goods, credits or inventory repricing.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree (or equivalent experience) in Marketing, Advertising, Computer Science, Business, Communications or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's or Master's in Advertising Technology, Data Analytics, Computer Science, or Digital Marketing; certifications in Google Ad Manager/GADS/Campaign Manager are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Marketing / Digital Advertising
  • Computer Science / Information Systems
  • Data Analytics / Statistics
  • Business Administration / Finance

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3–7 years in digital advertising, with progressive hands-on ad operations, trafficking or programmatic experience.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years managing cross-channel ad operations, proven experience with GAM/CM360, programmatic deal management, header bidding, and ad tech integrations; experience supervising junior staff and driving operational process improvements.
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