Torchora
Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Ad Sales Assistant

💰 $35,000 - $55,000

SalesAdvertisingMediaMarketing

🎯 Role Definition

The Ad Sales Assistant is an operational and client-facing support role within a media sales organization. Reporting to Ad Sales Managers or Account Executives, this role coordinates campaign setup and trafficking, prepares proposals and insertion orders, maintains CRM data, generates performance reports, resolves daily campaign issues, and communicates clearly with clients and internal teams. The ideal candidate is organized, tech-savvy, familiar with digital ad platforms and ad operations processes, and eager to grow into senior media sales or ad ops positions.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Sales Coordinator or Sales Administrative Assistant
  • Media/Advertising Intern or Marketing Intern
  • Customer Service Representative with media/marketing exposure

Advancement To:

  • Senior Ad Sales Executive / Account Executive
  • Ad Operations Specialist / Ad Ops Manager
  • Account Manager / Client Success Manager
  • Sales Manager or Revenue Operations Analyst

Lateral Moves:

  • Programmatic Trafficker or Campaign Manager
  • Client Success / Client Services Specialist
  • Marketing Coordinator or Digital Marketing Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Coordinate end-to-end campaign trafficking and delivery across display, video, mobile and programmatic channels, ensuring creative assets, tags, third-party tracking and targeting are configured accurately before launch.
  • Manage the preparation, review and processing of insertion orders (IOs), contracts and billing documentation, verifying rates, flighting, targeting and delivery KPIs with sales and finance teams.
  • Serve as primary operational liaison between Account Executives, clients and ad operations teams to resolve campaign delivery, creative or tracking issues quickly and professionally.
  • Maintain and update CRM (e.g., Salesforce) records, pipeline notes, contacts and campaign statuses to ensure sales forecasts and reporting are accurate and audit-ready.
  • Produce daily, weekly and post-campaign performance reports using Google Sheets/Excel and BI tools, translating metrics (impressions, clicks, CTR, viewability, conversions) into clear insights for account teams and clients.
  • Support the proposal and RFP process by compiling rate cards, audience data, inventory availability and historical performance examples to help sales close deals.
  • Tag and QA creatives, verify creative specifications (file size, format, click-through URLs), set up third-party tags and troubleshoot rendering or tracking discrepancies.
  • Monitor campaign pacing against goals, raise pacing alerts to account teams, and recommend pacing adjustments or make-flight changes to achieve KPIs.
  • Execute trafficking and targeting changes in ad servers and DSPs (e.g., Google Campaign Manager, The Trade Desk, DV360, Adform), ensuring targeting parameters and frequency caps are implemented correctly.
  • Coordinate technical QA with engineering or product teams for custom integrations, API-based reporting or new ad formats to ensure reliable delivery.
  • Reconcile delivery and billing with finance teams by comparing ad server logs, DSP reports and billing statements to IOs, and flagging variances for resolution.
  • Build and maintain standardized report templates and dashboards that facilitate quick insight sharing and scale across accounts.
  • Support upsell and cross-sell efforts by preparing audience extension recommendations, add-on inventory options and performance case studies for client presentations.
  • Execute trafficking for complex campaigns involving regional targeting, dayparting, creative sequencing, geo-fencing or multi-platform delivery.
  • Manage creative asset intake, version control and creative refresh schedules, coordinating with internal design or third-party creative partners to meet deadlines.
  • Facilitate onboarding of new clients by coordinating system access, ad server tags, QA timelines and training on reporting dashboards.
  • Track and document client feedback, incidents and troubleshooting outcomes in ticketing systems to improve operational playbooks and reduce repeat issues.
  • Maintain up-to-date knowledge of industry standards (IAB, MRC viewability), ad verification vendors and blocking/filtering practices to protect campaign delivery and measurement integrity.
  • Assist in compiling competitive and market intelligence on ad inventory trends, pricing and product availability to support strategic pricing and packaging decisions.
  • Support compliance and privacy requirements by ensuring ads comply with publisher/industry policies and coordinating consent or data usage checks as required.
  • Participate in pre- and post-sale campaign reviews to extract learnings, standardize best practices and improve internal trafficking checklists.
  • Coordinate with publishers and supply partners to troubleshoot delivery issues, confirm inventory allocation and provide transparent updates to account teams and clients.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc reporting requests and exploratory data pulls for account teams or senior leadership.
  • Help maintain and document trafficking playbooks, SOPs and onboarding guides for new hires.
  • Assist with administrative tasks including calendar management for sales team client meetings, drafting client-facing emails and preparing slide decks.
  • Contribute to small testing initiatives for new creative formats, targeting tactics or audience segments and document performance outcomes.
  • Participate in cross-functional meetings with product, finance and legal teams to support contract execution and product launches.
  • Support CRM hygiene initiatives, deduplication efforts and data enrichment to improve sales outreach and reporting accuracy.
  • Provide front-line support for escalation tickets during campaign outages or publisher errors until resolution.
  • Aid in training new sales or ad ops hires on basic trafficking and reporting procedures.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Proficient with CRM platforms (Salesforce preferred) for pipeline management, IO tracking and contact management.
  • Strong Excel and Google Sheets skills (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, conditional formatting) for reporting and reconciliation.
  • Hands-on experience with ad servers and trafficking platforms (e.g., Google Campaign Manager / Campaign Manager 360, Ad Manager).
  • Familiarity with DSPs and programmatic platforms (The Trade Desk, DV360, Adform) and basic programmatic concepts (bidding, PMP, open auction).
  • Experience producing and automating performance reports using BI tools or Google Data Studio / Looker Studio.
  • Understanding of ad formats and creative specs (display, rich media, VAST/VPAID video tags, HTML5 creatives).
  • Basic knowledge of ad verification and viewability vendors (Moat, Integral Ad Science, DoubleVerify).
  • Experience with campaign tagging, third-party tracking, click macro implementation and troubleshooting tracking discrepancies.
  • Comfortable using project management and ticketing tools (Jira, Asana, Trello) to manage operational tasks and escalations.
  • Familiarity with digital analytics fundamentals and tools (Google Analytics, conversion tracking, KPI attribution).
  • Basic SQL or ability to work with engineering/BI teams to pull raw logs for reconciliation is a plus.
  • Experience working with billing and finance reconciliation processes related to media delivery and IOs.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills to interact professionally with clients and internal stakeholders.
  • Strong attention to detail and quality assurance mindset to catch creative, trafficking and reporting errors before they impact campaigns.
  • Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple campaigns and competing priorities concurrently.
  • Problem-solving orientation with a bias for investigating root causes and proposing practical solutions.
  • Customer-service focus and client-facing poise when delivering updates, explaining technical issues or managing expectations.
  • Team player who collaborates across sales, ad ops, product and finance teams and shares knowledge proactively.
  • Time management and prioritization skills in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
  • Adaptability and eagerness to learn new tools, ad technologies and industry best practices.
  • Data-driven mindset with the ability to translate metrics into actionable next steps for clients and sales teams.
  • Initiative and ownership—able to drive items to completion with minimal supervision.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent; strong preference for candidates with some college coursework.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Advertising, Business, Communications, Media Studies, or related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Marketing
  • Advertising
  • Business Administration
  • Communications
  • Media Studies
  • Data Analytics (beneficial)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 1–3 years in advertising, media sales support, ad operations, or a related administrative sales role.

Preferred:

  • 2–4 years supporting digital advertising campaigns, with demonstrated experience in trafficking, reporting and CRM management. Prior exposure to programmatic platforms, ad servers and client servicing preferred.
Explore More Careers