Associate Director, Programmatic

About this role

At Real Chemistry, making the world a healthier place isn’t just an aspiration—it’s our everyday reality. Our drive to transform healthcare is informed by our blend of deep scientific expertise, human-centred creativity, and AI-driven insights, fostering a unique environment where innovation thrives and our people are impact-obsessed. As a global agency, we provide a full suite of services across healthcare communications and marketing to our clients, including top players in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Our #LifeatRealChem culture is rooted in our people—we believe we are best together and are committed to excellence for both our clients and colleagues. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your career, if you share our passion for healthcare and connection, we invite you to explore our opportunities.

Discover your purpose. Embrace innovation. Experience #LifeatRealChem.

Job Summary

Real Chemistry is looking for a Associate Director, Programmatic join our growing team!

The Associate Director, Programmatic is responsible for programmatic activation strategy and end-to-end management of digital media campaigns across key accounts. This role oversees planning, setup, QA, launch, optimization, troubleshooting, reporting, and day-to-day campaign management across programmatic display, video, audio, CTV, and emerging media.

This role serves as a primary activation lead for internal teams, ensuring campaigns are accurate, on time, aligned to media plans, and optimized against client KPIs, budgets, business objectives, and timelines. The Associate Director should be comfortable operating independently, managing priorities, delegating work, and turning performance data into clear recommendations.

The ideal candidate has deep digital media and campaign management experience, strong analytical and communication skills, hands-on programmatic platform expertise, and the ability to manage multiple clients, brands, campaigns, and deadlines in a fast-paced agency environment. Healthcare, pharmaceutical, or agency media experience is preferred.

This role can be remote within the United States or based in any of our U.S. office locations, including New York City, Boston, Chicago, Lambertville, NJ, San Francisco, or Carmel, IN.

What you’ll do:

• Lead tactical strategy, planning, execution, optimization, and day-to-day management of programmatic and digital media campaigns across key accounts.

• Manage campaign setup, QA, launch, maintenance, pacing, targeting, optimization, troubleshooting, and reporting across programmatic display, video, audio, CTV, and emerging channels.

• Ensure campaigns are activated on time, aligned with media plans and flighting, and optimized to meet client KPIs, business objectives, scope, and budget.

• Serve as the primary activation lead for internal teams, providing clear communication, timely updates, and accurate project management across campaign deliverables, requirements, timelines, and next steps.

• Analyze campaign performance to identify trends, surface issues, recommend optimizations, and translate results into actionable insights.

• Develop client-facing and internal deliverables, including planning materials, performance recaps, optimization summaries, recommendations, reporting slides, and wrap-up materials.

• Partner with Integrated Media, Analytics, Strategy, Ad Operations, Creative, Client Services, and vendors to ensure campaign needs are understood, executed smoothly, and measured appropriately.

• Manage vendor relationships, evaluate offerings and capabilities, support product trials and ad technology partnerships, and identify workflow improvements that improve quality and efficiency.

• Oversee creative QA, vendor specs, UTM creation, campaign taxonomy, tracking requirements, trafficking needs, platform setup, billing, and actualization in partnership with cross-functional teams.

• Maintain and improve operational processes, SOPs, QA standards, and best practices to drive consistency, accuracy, client satisfaction, and team efficiency.

• Manage, mentor, train, and support Managers, Associates, and junior team members while establishing clear roles, responsibilities, priorities, and delegation.

• Stay current on industry trends, platform updates, optimization algorithms, emerging ad technology, and programmatic best practices.

This position is a perfect fit for you if:

• Our Company values, Best Together, Impact Obsessed, Excellence Expected, Evolve Always, and Accountability with an "I" , genuinely resonate with how you work and lead.

• You demonstrate the Real Chemistry Can mindset by approaching challenges with optimism, accountability, creativity, and a solutions-oriented attitude, always looking for ways to make a meaningful impact for our clients, colleagues, and communities.

• You are adaptable, resilient, and comfortable adjusting your scope, responsibilities, and priorities in a fast-paced, evolving environment. As our business grows and changes, so do we.

• You are proactive, driven, and resourceful, with strong prioritization skills, intellectual curiosity, and a desire to leverage data to inform decisions and drive outcomes.

• You are energized by innovation and the transformative potential of AI, actively exploring new technologies, identifying opportunities to work smarter, and championing practical, responsible AI adoption that drives meaningful business impact.

What you should have:

• 5-7+ years of experience in digital media buying, trading, campaign management, media activation, ad operations, or digital media operations; equivalent experience may be considered.

• 3-5+ years of hands-on, in-platform programmatic experience.

• Strong understanding of digital media channels, including programmatic, CTV, display, video, and audio.

• Advanced knowledge of buying platforms and ad operations tools such as GCM/DoubleClick, DSPs, The Trade Desk, DeepIntent,Pulsepoint, DV360, MediaOcean

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