Director, Programmatic Ad Sales

Position Summary

Hearst News is Hearst’s unified programmatic team across Hearst Newspapers and Television, bringing premium local news, lifestyle, sports, entertainment, and video supply across Web, App, and CTV together in a single omnichannel marketplace. As Director, Programmatic Ad Sales, you will help define and execute the commercial strategy for this growing business, translating the scale and quality of our owned-and-operated inventory into meaningful outcomes for agencies, brands, and trading desks.

This is a senior sales leadership role for a modern programmatic seller who can move fluidly between strategy and execution. You will build trusted relationships with senior agency and brand stakeholders, create demand for Hearst News’ differentiated supply, develop direct and curated opportunities, and help clients understand how our premium content, first-party signals, addressability, contextual intelligence, and cross-screen reach can work together in a cohesive activation. You will also lead and develop a sales team, with a focus on coaching, operational excellence, accountability, and building lasting customer trust.

Reporting to the SVP, Programmatic Strategy, you will collaborate across Sales, Strategy & Operations, Technical Ad Management, Analytics, Product, Data, and Marketing. You will bring a strong point of view to the market, create clarity for internal partners, and translate customer insight into scalable commercial opportunities. This is an opportunity to help shape the next phase of Hearst News’ growth and define how advertisers access premium, omnichannel supply at scale.

What You'll Do

Commercial Strategy & Revenue Growth

• Own and execute a growth strategy across national agencies, brands, holding-company trading desks, and programmatic buying teams.

• Develop new business and expand existing relationships through programmatic direct, private marketplace (PMP), preferred, programmatic guaranteed, and curated deal opportunities.

• Position Hearst News as one premium, omnichannel marketplace spanning local and national audiences across Web, App, and CTV.

• Build a disciplined pipeline with clear account priorities, business hypotheses, revenue potential, and next steps.

Agency, Advertiser & Partner Leadership

• Build trusted relationships with agency investment teams, programmatic leads, data and activation teams, and senior brand stakeholders.

• Lead consultative conversations that connect client objectives to Hearst News' inventory, audience, data, and measurement capabilities.

• Create compelling solutions that combine display, video, and CTV supply with addressable audiences, contextual signals, suitability controls, and first-party data where appropriate.

• Represent customer needs internally and ensure that opportunities move from discovery to proposal, activation, optimization, and renewal with strong ownership throughout.

Omnichannel Product & Market Expertise

• Stay current on the programmatic ecosystem, including DSP and SSP dynamics, identity, privacy, CTV, data collaboration, supply-path efficiency, measurement, and evolving buyer expectations.

• Translate Hearst News' capabilities into clear, differentiated narratives for sellers and buyers, including our premium O&O supply, audience scale, addressability, contextual and suitability solutions, and cross-divisional packages.

• Partner with Strategy & Operations, Technical Ad Management, Analytics, Product, and Data to align pricing, packaging, inventory allocation, deal execution, and performance insights.

• Bring the voice of the customer into product development and help identify the next opportunities to improve our commercial proposition.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Collaborate across Hearst News and broader Hearst teams to create larger, more integrated opportunities for advertisers.

• Work closely with technical and operational partners to troubleshoot issues, improve the buyer experience, and protect campaign performance.

• Coach and develop junior sellers, establish strong sales operating habits, and contribute to a culture of accountability, curiosity, and shared ownership.

What You'll Bring

• Significant experience in programmatic advertising, digital media, publisher sales, ad technology, or a related commercial role, ideally 5+ years in a selling role.

• A strong understanding of programmatic buying and selling, including PMPs, curated supply, direct deals, audience activation, and the agency decision-making process.

• A proven record of building senior agency and advertiser relationships and converting those relationships into durable revenue.

• The ability to sell both the strategic story and the operational details, from market positioning and packaging through deal setup, delivery, and optimization.

• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and organizational skills, with a bias toward action and follow-through.

• A collaborative leadership style and the ability to create momentum across teams in a changing, cross-divisional environment.

• A deeper understanding of CTV inventory is also a plus.

Why Hearst News?

You will join a team building a more connected, data-informed, and buyer-friendly way to access Hearst's premium owned-and-operated news supply. Hearst News combines the trust and local relevance of Hearst Newspapers with the reach and premium video capabilities of Hearst Television, giving advertisers a differentiated omnichannel platform with meaningful scale and quality. This role offers the opportunity to shape the commercial strategy, influence product direction, and help define what modern programmatic advertising looks like at Hearst.

Our Benefits: At Hearst Newspapers we not only support our employees through personal and professional development, but we also believe in promoting each individual’s physical, financial and emotional wellbeing (and that of their family). Our industry-leading benefits include:

• Physical Wellbeing: Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage to keep you and your family healthy.

• Invest for the Future: Competitive retirement plan with matching program in most markets.

• Generous Paid Time Off: Recharge with ample time off, including holidays and vacation.

• Paid Parental Leave: Support for growing families, with paid leave for new parents.

• Monthly Child & Dependent Care Reimbursement: Financial support for the care of your loved ones.

• Emotional Wellbeing: Be your best self with our mental wellness benefits.

• LGBTQ+ & Inclusive Health Services: Inclusive healthcare designed for every individual’s unique needs.

• Fertility Coverage & Menopause Support: Helping you along every step of your family journey.

• Pet Wellness Reimbursement & Rover Credits: We care about your pets, too – helping you keep them happy and healthy.

• And more, click here for additional benefits and details.

This position does not provide sponsorship. All applicants should have the right to work in the U.S. without immigration sponsorship.

In accordance with applicable law, Hearst is required to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role if hired in New York, NY. The reasonable estimate is $165,000 - $169,000. A final decision on the successful candidate’s starting salary will be based on a number of permissible, non-discriminatory factors, including but not limited to skills and experience, training, certifications, and education.