Director, Activation

Kepler Group; New York (NY); On-site; USD 154,000 - 176,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare/Dental/Vision

Unlimited PTO

401k Contributions

Wellness Stipend

Tuition Stipend

Parental Leave

Work From Anywhere 4 weeks per year

Job summary

Kepler Group in New York seeks a Director of Activation to lead media investment strategy and drive growth for the Client Solutions group. This builder role bridges advanced media execution and ongoing business development.

You will be a cross‑functional leader across the portfolio, translating activation capabilities into strategic client recommendations and managing cross‑channel campaigns. The role emphasizes leadership, mentorship, platform mastery, and a track record of managing large scale

Qualifications

• 8–10+ years of digital media management experience with leadership.
• Experience managing multi-sector accounts with large spend.
• B2B/ABM account experience is a plus.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and strategic thinking.

Responsibilities

• Activation SME across cross‑channel designs that scale client growth.
• Identify organic growth opportunities via cross‑channel expansion and audits.
• Partner with Strategy and DS&A to productize activation capabilities for clients.
• Translate insights into tactical, high‑performing campaign architectures.
• Lead and mentor activation teams during new client engagements.

Skills

Digital media management

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Communication

Analytics

Job description

Kepler executes engineered marketing, where every message and ad delivered helps create a more personalized and productive relationship between brands and their consumers. We do this by acting as clients’ agency of record, as their in‑house team, or some hybrid of the two – and by harnessing data and technology across all paid digital media and data‑driven CRM channels.

Kepler prides itself on being a great place to work. In fact, we’re proud to share that AdAge recognized Kepler among the Best Place to Work in 2022, validating our investment in our team and our clients.

• We’re transparent with our employees. You’ll hear updates on company financials, how we’re performing against bonus goals, and how we’re responding to challenges we face.
• We’re growing. For you, that means unparalleled growth opportunities and a role in shaping the direction of the company.
• We’re fun. You’ll work with and learn from the smartest people in the industry and have a blast doing it.

Role Summary

As Director of Activation, you will be a lead media investment strategist and primary growth engine within our Client Solutions group. Designed for a "builder," this high‑impact role bridges the gap between advanced technical media execution and ongoing business development.

You are an enterprise leader across a global IAT including individual LOBs across the account who sets the standard for client excellence, co‑authors long‑term growth plans with Strategy counterparts, and activates integrated cross‑channel campaigns across your portfolio. In this role, you will translate Kepler’s activation capabilities into strategic client recommendations—treating world‑class execution as our strongest driver of business growth.

Key Responsibilities

Growth & Business Development

• Activation Subject Matter Expert: Serve as the cross‑channel activation SME, designing media plans that scale client growth.
• Revenue Expansion: Identify organic growth opportunities through cross‑channel expansion, media audits, advanced testing frameworks, and tech integrations.
• Proposal Innovation: Partner with Strategy and Data Science & Analytics (DS&A) teams to productize agentic‑powered activation capabilities into market‑leading client offerings.

Strategic Activation & Media Leadership

• Strategy Partnership: Translate audience insights and investment strategies from Strategy and COE partners into tactical, high‑performing campaign architectures.
• Full‑Funnel Ownership: Lead media execution and onboarding for new client engagements, presenting recommendations confidently to senior stakeholders.
• Platform Mastery: Maintain deep expertise across the evolving ad‑tech landscape to ensure activation strategies remain cutting‑edge.

Team Leadership & Operations

• Mentorship & Onboarding: Lead and mentor activation teams during the critical first 90 days of new client engagements, fostering a culture of curiosity, speed, and precision.
• Operational Excellence: Establish and enforce campaign setup and optimization best practices across portfolio teams and new business pitches.
• Tech Innovation: Serve as a key feedback partner for KIP (Kepler Intelligence Platform), shaping platform evolution to meet client needs.

What We’re Looking For

• 8–10+ years of digital media management experience, with 3+ years in a leadership role managing a multi‑sector account with large‑scale spend ($50M+). The Ideal candidate has B2B & ABM account experience.
• Growth Mindset: Motivated by client partnerships, new business, and adept at showing clients how technical execution solves business challenges.
• Channel Agnostic: Holistic media understanding across Social, Programmatic, Search, Video, Audio, and Direct IO. Ideal candidate has had 5+ years of experience managing campaigns across Google Ads (Pmax, DemandGen, Video, Search), Meta, & LinkedIn. Reddit & 6Sense DSP experience is preferred.
• Strong Communicator: Ability to distill complex technical media strategy into clear growth narratives for C‑suite executives.
• Analytical Fluency: Familiarity with measurement models (MMM, MTA) to anchor activation strategies in verifiable data.

Transparency is fundamental to Kepler’s culture. Our compensation strategy is designed to attract, reward, and retain the talented employees that drive Kepler’s growth and success. We aim to offer competitive direct compensation and a rich indirect compensation program that demonstrates the value we place on our employees and their wellbeing.

Total Compensation:

• Target Annualized Discretionary Bonus: 10% ($14,000 - $16,000)
• Target Total Cash: $154,000 - $176,000
• Healthcare/Dental/Vision
• Unlimited PTO
• 401k Contributions
• $75/mo Wellness Stipend
• $2,000/yr Annual Tuition Stipend
• Parental Leave - 16 week primary caregiver / 6 week secondary caregiver leave
• Annual Work From Anywhere 4 weeks per year