Senior Director, Publisher Partnerships

About Wunderkind:

Wunderkind ads are 'behaviorally triggered', meaning that ads are served on a premium list of publishers only when a user is done consuming content. Our proprietary tag is integrated directly on the publisher page to track on-site user behavior - making 'net new' ad placements. How we serve the ad is why we are different from our competitors in-market.

Rather than placing an ad in front of someone while they're actively trying to read content, our technology patiently waits until a visitor has stopped reading before rendering our ad on the page. And that patience pays off -- it turns out that when an ad experience respects the user's reason for visiting a page, the user respects the ad experience in return. This unique, brand safe approach to ad experience gives an advertiser's message more attention and greater engagement.

About the Role:

The Senior Director, Publisher Partnerships is a high-impact, executive leadership position within our advertising business organization. Reporting directly to the General Manager, Ads (GM), this person will own the overarching commercial and operational strategy for our publisher supply ecosystem. This position is responsible for driving sustainable revenue growth for premium publisher partners while maximizing their yield and monetization outcomes within the programmatic marketplace.

As the strategic lead for the sub-org, you will direct a high-performing, multi-disciplinary team comprising Business Development (Sales) and Customer Success workstreams. You will serve as a foundational voice in corporate headcount planning, overarching go-to-market (GTM) strategy formulation, and performance management, ensuring that our publisher division remains aligned with rapidly evolving marketplace trends. This role demands a visionary professional who operates beyond day-to-day tactical metrics, focusing instead on structural marketplace shifts, long-term supply path optimization (SPO), and the strategic scaling of our programmatic footprint

Role Responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership & Go-To-Market (GTM) Planning

• GTM Architecture: Define, execute, and iterate the comprehensive, multi-year go-to-market strategy for the Publisher Partnerships sub-organization, identifying new market segments, platform integrations, and demand opportunities.
• Resource Allocation: Act as a principal voice and decision-maker in seasonal and annual headcount planning to align organizational talent with scaling revenue opportunities.
• Market Evangelism & Innovation: Synthesize programmatic market trends, competitive intelligence, and publisher yield metrics to steer internal product development feedback loops.

2. Business Development & Supply Acquisition

• Commercial Growth: Directly oversee and guide the Business Development (Sales) team (consisting of 3 headcount) to establish high-value, long-term partnerships with premium digital publishers.
• Executive Negotiations: Provide top-tier commercial support during high-stakes contract negotiations, custom commercial pricing structuring, and programmatic marketplace alignment.
• Pipeline Excellence: Instill an analytical, consultative sales methodology focused on managing multi-quarter pipelines and navigating complex enterprise media deals.

3. Customer Success & Yield Optimization

• Operational Oversight: Provide strategic direction to the Publishers Customer Success organization, steered directly by an Associate Director who manages a dedicated team of 4 account management and optimization professionals.
• Monetization Management: Ensure the delivery of world-class operational service, focusing on net revenue retention, cross-selling, and maximizing publisher monetization via advanced programmatic tactics.
• Data-Driven Yield Rigor: Cultivate a culture of analytical depth to help publishers evaluate auction mechanics, floor price optimization, Open Bidding, header bidding, and buyer demand trends.

4. People & Performance Management

• Accountability & Culture: Own overall performance management across the sub-org, establishing clear OKRs and performance frameworks for both sales acquisition and customer success workflows.
• Leadership Development: Actively mentor and coach direct reports, and inspire managers in the org to successfully manage, build, and lead their own team.

Team Structure & Reporting Line

This role acts as the executive lead for the Publishers sub-organization and operates with a highly balanced span of control designed to separate new business acquisition from long-term relationship cultivation:

• Reports to: General Manager, Ads (GM)
• Direct Reports: 4 Headcount (3 Business Development Managers, 1 Associate Director, Customer Success)
• Indirect Reports: 4 Headcount (Customer Success Managers/Specialists reporting to the Associate Director)
• Total Org Size: 8 Headcount

Required Qualifications:

• Experience: Minimum of 11 years of directly relevant professional experience working within the digital advertising or ad tech ecosystem, with a proven track record of working with publishers to maximize their revenue from the programmatic marketplace.
• Programmatic Marketplace Depth: Expert-level understanding of programmatic auction mechanics (RTB), header bidding, Supply Path Optimization (SPO), SSP/DSP inner workings, and yield/floor management systems.
• Strategic Capability: Documented experience executing a core strategic role, with active contributions to corporate go-to-market planning, corporate headcount planning, and organizational performance management.
• Commercial Acumen: Strong background in corporate negotiation, contract execution, and navigating complex enterprise multi-stakeholder deals.
• Located within regular commutable distance of our office in One World Trade Centre, NYC. The ideal candidate will be thrive from collaborating with the team, in-office, 3 days a week.

Preferred Qualifications:

• People Management: 6+ years of direct people management experience within a high-growth ad tech, SaaS, or media business environment.
• Management of Managers: Proven experience managing other people managers (e.g., directing Team Leads, Associate Directors, or regional leads) with an ability to develop leadership and management capabilities in others.
• Industry Network: Extensive active relationship networks across top-tier global digital media companies and premium publisher ecosystems.
• Technical Fluency: Ability to seamlessly translate publisher marketplace requirements to technical Product and Engineering teams to influence platform features.

The base salary range for this role is $175,000.00 to $210,000.00. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each specific candidate; including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, applicable certifications, and geographic work location. This may vary depending on living location and market rate.