Director, Demand - Sovrn Exchange
About Sovrn
Every interesting company solves important problems for other people. Sovrn is a Software and Data business that helps Open Web businesses be and remain independent. We help them understand their business better, operate more efficiently, and make & keep more money.
We believe in the freedom and free-flow of information.
We believe the Open Web is the largest source of this information.
We believe in helping Open Web businesses be and remain Independent.
Through Software products and Data solutions we help our customers:
Understand their business better, so they can make better decisions
Operate their business more efficiently, so they can invest in what matters most
Make (and Keep) more money, so they control their own destiny
Sovrn Core Values : Candid, Customer Empathy, Learning, Scrappy, Second Order Thinking
About the Opportunity
Sovrn's Exchange business is an omnichannel SSP connecting publisher supply to 40+ demand-side partners — from top-tier DSPs like The Trade Desk, DV360, and Amazon down to a long tail of direct DSP and SSP-reseller relationships. The Director of Demand leads our effort to acquire new demand sources, expand with existing partners, and owns the operational playbook — onboarding, identity, QPS, IVT, deal troubleshooting, RFPs — that the Demand team runs on. Reporting to the VP, Demand Partnerships, this role manages a small team and works closely with Sales, Product, and Engineering, and Legal, serving as a cross-functional operator as Sovrn scales its demand business.
What You'll Own
Lead and grow a portfolio of strategic partners, spanning DSPs, SSP resellers, and 3rd party curators accountable for driving new demand acquisition and expansion with existing partners.
Manage a team, including hiring, performance, coaching, and workload distribution, building the team as the book of business scales.
Run regular (monthly/quarterly) partner cadence calls tracking opportunities, challenges, roadmap, and commercial terms for each account.
Own Salesforce account/opportunity data hygiene for the demand book of business.
Set the standard for the full partner lifecycle: endpoint setup, QPS cap negotiation, bundle/domain and ads.txt/app-ads.txt approvals, and geo/format targeting.
Shape deal activation strategy with DSP partners including deal UI structuring, floor pricing, and open-auction pushes to maximize yield across your portfolio.
Direct incident response for demand-side issues — performance drops, discrepancies, endpoint/config changes — as first-line escalation through resolution with Engineering and Support.
Resolve IVT, fraud, and supply-chain (schain) escalations raised by demand partners, including publisher/bundle blocking decisions.
Lead partner RFI/RFP responses, representing Sovrn's technical, commercial, and compliance posture.
Champion Demand/Exchange interests in cross-functional forums with Operations, Product, and Engineering contributing to decisions that affect your partners and contributing to roadmap items.
Mentor and serve as a resource across adjacent teams, including publisher account management and agency/advertiser sales.
Provide partner-market input into broader commercial hiring and strategy decisions.
What You'll Need
7+ years in programmatic/ad tech, in a demand-side account management, partnerships, or technical account management role at an SSP, DSP, or exchange.
Working fluency in OpenRTB, SSP/DSP auction mechanics, and identity solutions (EIDs, UID2, RampID, ID5, and similar).
Experience owning partner escalations end-to-end — comfortable being the point person when something breaks and revenue is on the line.
Familiarity with IVT/fraud tooling (e.g., HUMAN Security) and ads.txt/app-ads.txt compliance.
CRM discipline (Salesforce) and comfort owning commercial data hygiene for a large account portfolio.
Strong cross-functional communicator — this role sits at the intersection of Sales, Operations, Product, Engineering, and external partners daily.
Demonstrated people-management experience — you’ll manage an existing team of account managers.
Nice to have: experience responding to formal partner RFIs/RFPs; CTV/OTT demand experience.
Location: New York. We believe shared purpose and collaboration lead to deeper relationships, more creative problem-solving, and more learning, faster. For employees located near one of our offices, working in-person is our default. We trust people to use judgment when focused work or life circumstances call for flexibility.
Compensation and Benefits: The annual base salary for this position is $150,000 to $175,000 in New York. This range represents the good-faith estimate of compensation at the time of posting. Individual compensation decisions are based on job-related education, experience, skills, and work location. In addition to base salary, this role may also be eligible for bonus opportunities, commission earnings, and/or equity awards, subject to the terms of the applicable plans.
Benefits available to eligible employees include medical, dental, and vision insurance; paid holidays; flexible paid time off; paid medical leave; paid parental leave; short- and long-term disability coverage; life insurance; 401(k) plan participation with company match; commuter benefits; and other wellness and employee support programs.