Programmatic Manager 

Overall Purpose of the Programmatic Manager Role:

This role sits in our Digital team, working closely with the Planning and Data teams, and other activation specialists (e.g. across AV, Paid Social & Paid Search). The Programmatic Manager runs campaigns end-to-end and implements best-in-class strategy and processes to maximise growth for our clients.

This is a comprehensive Planner/Buyer position, responsible for the planning and output of programmatic campaigns. This will involve managing the campaign planning and delivery process end-to-end, including, responding to client briefs, crafting media plans, setting up campaigns, trading & optimising delivery, as well as crafting & presenting reports and post-campaign analyses to clients.

The Programmatic Manager will work with the Programmatic Director and Commercial Director to continually evaluate the market and onboard the best technology, data partners and media vendors. Alongside this, you’ll own key vendor relationships - championing new opportunities and training within the agency, and you’ll lead client trading and optimisation initiatives, ensuring activation is closely aligned to our clients business needs and objectives.

Analytics, attribution and data visualisation are a key part of this role. You’ll be intrinsic in the agency’s evaluation and implementation of measurement, test and learn frameworks and targeting solutions, in the short and long term.

This role is very client-facing and requires someone who can see ‘the bigger picture’ and understand how all channels fit together to deliver our clients’ objectives, not only their specialist disciplines. Your programmatic activity is often part of an integrated media plan featuring both “offline” and “online” channels, and must work cohesively with these touchpoints, as well as owned and earned communications.

The role will always cover a mix of advertisers across different verticals. As a young independent agency, we regularly work with start-up and scale-up brands, occasionally launching advertisers’ very first media activity. Therefore, you will lead the onboarding/account setup processes comprehensively and deliver expertise on the technical setup for our clients.

Although this is a programmatic specialist role, we’d strongly encourage and invest in training in other channels (such as AV) to support the development of our overarching activation function within Bicycle.

This role reports into the Programmatic Director, who in turn reports into the Head of Digital.

Essential Skills & Experience:

• 3+ years’ experience in programmatic trading; you’re highly proficient in planning, activating, optimising and reporting across diverse campaign types and advertiser categories (ideally across brand & performance objectives). This doesn’t have to be solely agency-side, but some agency experience is strongly preferred.
• Strong technical knowledge of the Programmatic specialism - you’ve implemented programmatic strategies, traded across multiple DSPs and activated tests across campaigns.
• Strategic capabilities: you’re able to translate clients’ business problems into suitable media KPIs, thinking beyond media metrics. This is not solely an implementational role - you need to be able to translate briefs and brands’ challenges into effective programmatic plans.
• Skilled in analytics: you identify and interpret meaningful insights, and proactively ensure they’re acted upon. You have experience running brand uplift studies and working with reporting dashboards.
• Able to build and develop strong, positive and productive relationships with clients, as well as vendor contacts, internal teams and other external stakeholders (e.g. creative agencies).
• Good technical understanding of tagging and tracking systems, ideally with hands-on experience in CM360. Experience in managing Dynamic Creative Optimisation is a plus.
• You have experience managing campaigns across multiple DSPs - DV360, StackAdapt, and AdForm are preferred.
• Good knowledge of the latest techniques, developments and challenges in the market, e.g. new ad products, data opportunities, tracking developments, and audiences. You monitor and communicate programmatic developments to the wider agency, and ensure they’re integrated into media recommendations and plans. Experience in dashboarding and data querying is a plus.
• You’re proactive, positive, collaborative, well-organised, adaptable, numerate, commercially-minded and have strong attention to detail.
• You have excellent written and verbal communication skills, and show an aptitude to presenting to senior clients and stakeholders.
• You’re able to contribute to internal resources, process development and the upskilling of both colleagues and junior clients.
• You ensure that billing is completed accurately and quickly.
• You’re passionate about media and communications, and want to do great work that will make our clients and the agency famous.
• You’re enthusiastic and proactive about your development, actively working with your line manager and the wider agency to make the most of the training on offer and continually enhance your skillset.
• You’re able to participate in pitches, and manage the onboarding of new clients within your channels.

Remuneration

Up to £45k, depending on experience plus flexible, extensive benefits post probation.