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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Media Operations Specialist

💰 $65,000 - $95,000

MediaAdvertisingTechnologyOperations

🎯 Role Definition

The Media Operations Specialist is the technical backbone of the digital advertising team, serving as the crucial link between sales, client services, and technology. This role is responsible for the flawless execution of digital media campaigns, from the initial setup and trafficking to ongoing optimization and final reporting. You are the go-to expert for all things related to ad serving, creative implementation, and troubleshooting. Success in this position means ensuring that every campaign is delivered accurately, on time, and to the complete satisfaction of our clients, all while maximizing revenue and performance across our digital properties. You are the guardian of our ad tech stack and the problem-solver who keeps the revenue engine running smoothly.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Ad Operations Coordinator
  • Digital Media Assistant or Planner
  • Technical Account Coordinator

Advancement To:

  • Senior Media Operations Specialist
  • Media Operations Manager
  • Ad Tech & Yield Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Technical Account Manager
  • Programmatic Strategist or Trader

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Expertly manage the end-to-end trafficking of complex digital advertising campaigns across a variety of platforms, including display, video, mobile, and native formats.
  • Serve as the primary technical point of contact for campaign-related inquiries from both internal teams (Sales, Account Management) and external clients or agencies.
  • Rigorously conduct quality assurance (QA) on all ad creatives and tags to ensure they meet site specifications, technical requirements, and industry best practices before launch.
  • Proactively monitor live campaigns for pacing, performance, and delivery, making necessary adjustments to ensure goals are met and revenue is maximized.
  • Troubleshoot a wide range of technical issues, including ad serving discrepancies, creative rendering problems, tag implementation errors, and site-level conflicts.
  • Implement, test, and manage a variety of third-party ad tags, including rich media, tracking pixels, and VAST/VPAID video tags, ensuring full functionality.
  • Become a subject matter expert in our primary ad server (e.g., Google Ad Manager) and other ad tech platforms within our stack.
  • Manage and prioritize a queue of campaign implementation requests, ensuring adherence to strict launch deadlines and service-level agreements (SLAs).
  • Generate and distribute detailed campaign performance reports, providing insights and analysis to account teams and clients on delivery metrics.
  • Collaborate closely with the Sales and Planning teams during the pre-sales process to advise on technical feasibility, inventory availability, and creative capabilities.
  • Manage the setup and execution of programmatic deals, including Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) and Private Marketplace (PMP) arrangements.
  • Maintain meticulous records of campaign setups, modifications, and communications within our order management system (e.g., Operative, Salesforce).
  • Reconcile third-party reporting discrepancies, investigate the root causes, and work with partners to resolve financial and delivery variances.
  • Onboard new advertising partners and vendors, ensuring their technology is compatible and properly integrated with our systems.
  • Stay current with the latest developments in ad technology, digital advertising standards, and privacy regulations (like GDPR and CCPA) to ensure compliance and innovation.
  • Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation of ad operations processes, technical specifications, and best practices.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to uncover performance trends or investigate anomalies.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap by providing frontline insights on ad server capabilities and reporting needs.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements for new tools or reporting dashboards.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering or ad tech teams when working on joint projects.
  • Assist in evaluating and testing new ad products, formats, or technology vendors to enhance our advertising offerings.
  • Provide training and support to junior team members and other internal stakeholders on ad operations processes and systems.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Ad Server Proficiency: Deep, hands-on expertise with major ad serving platforms, particularly Google Ad Manager (GAM 360). Experience with other servers like Freewheel or Xandr is a significant plus.
  • Order Management Systems (OMS): Experience with industry-standard OMS platforms such as Operative.One, FatTail, or Salesforce for order entry and management.
  • Ad Tech Literacy: Strong understanding of the digital advertising ecosystem, including SSPs, DSPs, DMPs, and the role of various third-party vendors.
  • Troubleshooting & Debugging: Proficiency with web debugging tools like browser developer consoles (e.g., Chrome DevTools), Charles Proxy, or Fiddler to diagnose ad-related issues.
  • Data Analysis: Advanced skills in Microsoft Excel (Pivot Tables, VLOOKUPs, complex formulas) for reporting and data reconciliation. Basic SQL knowledge is highly desirable.
  • Web Fundamentals: Working knowledge of HTML, CSS, and basic JavaScript, specifically in the context of how they relate to ad creative functionality and tag implementation.
  • Video Ad Standards: Familiarity with digital video standards such as VAST, VPAID, and MRAID is essential for troubleshooting and trafficking video campaigns.

Soft Skills

  • Meticulous Attention to Detail: An exceptional ability to execute tasks with precision and accuracy, recognizing that small errors can have a large impact.
  • Systematic Problem-Solving: A logical and analytical mindset, capable of deconstructing complex technical problems, identifying the root cause, and implementing effective solutions.
  • Resilience Under Pressure: The capacity to manage multiple high-priority projects simultaneously, stay calm, and deliver quality work against tight deadlines.
  • Clear & Concise Communication: Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, understandable terms for non-technical stakeholders, both verbally and in writing.
  • Collaborative Spirit: A proactive team player who builds strong working relationships with sales, account management, product, and engineering teams.
  • Proactive & Accountable: A self-starter who takes ownership of their work, anticipates potential issues, and actively seeks to improve processes without waiting to be asked.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree or equivalent, relevant work experience in a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree in a quantitative, technical, or marketing-related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Marketing / Advertising
  • Business Administration
  • Communications
  • Information Systems

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2-5 years of direct experience in a digital advertising operations role.

Preferred: We are ideally looking for a candidate with hands-on experience in an ad trafficking or media operations capacity at a digital publisher, media agency, or ad tech company. A proven track record of managing complex campaigns and solving technical ad-related problems is highly valued.

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