Director, Audience Activation

Nielseniq-; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 118,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare plan

401(k) plan

Paid time off

Flexible working environment

Job summary

MRI‑Simmons, a NIQ joint venture, seeks a Director of Audience Activation to lead sales initiatives across agencies and advance data enrichment offerings. The role focuses on growing the Advanced Advertising business through strategic partnerships and executive-level engagements.

You will collaborate with Media, Brand, and Agency teams to develop opportunities, present solutions, and finalize negotiations, with up to 25% travel to client sites and events.

Qualifications

• 5–10+ years of experience in sales or business development within advanced advertising or ad tech.
• Proven success driving audience activation initiatives across agencies or brands.
• Strong ad tech network across programmatic, activation, investment, and digital teams.
• Exceptional relationship management and executive-level communication skills.
• Strategic thinker with ability to identify new use cases and growth opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Identify, develop, and drive new business focused on audience activation and data enablement.
• Lead end-to-end client engagements, including strategy, proposals, and negotiations.
• Own commercial terms in partnership with internal stakeholders to meet customer needs.

Skills

Audience activation

Sales management

Strategic selling

Negotiation

Relationship management

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Salesforce

CRM

Job description

Director, New Business Development - Audience Activation - Agencies

• Full-time
• Compensation: USD 117,500 - USD 160,000 - yearly

R26_0009133

(US role, candidates must reside in US at time of application to be considered for this role)

Who We Are:

MRI‑Simmons, a joint venture majority owned by NIQ, is the leading provider of insights on the American consumer. A leader in consumer insights for over 60 years, MRI‑Simmons possesses one of the few data sets widely used across the media ecosystem for consumer profiling, media planning, audience research, and insight‑driven audience development. Powered by address‑based probabilistic sampling, MRI‑Simmons measures real people, chosen at random, to represent the U.S. population in all its diversity—resulting in the most accurate view of the American consumer.

What We Do:

We empower marketers, advertising agencies and media companies to turn deep consumer understanding into smarter strategies, targetable segmentation, and more effective advertising campaigns across all media channels: linear TV, Connected TV, Digital, and Social. We enrich customer first‑party data to enable more comprehensive consumer profiling and activation.

About this job

The Director, Audience Activation will be a key player in leading the sales initiatives for MRI‑Simmons to grow our Advanced Advertising business, with solutions including data enrichment and audience activation. The ideal candidate will work collaboratively with the Media, Brand and Agency verticals to develop new sales opportunities, lead or participate in Advanced Advertising presentations, assist in developing new Advanced Advertising product initiatives, and finalize negotiations and contracts in relation to closing new business. This position will lead our engagement and penetration of Agency holding companies, specifically with Investment, Programmatic, Video and Activation teams, while supporting our relationships with their Client teams.

Responsibilities:

• Identify, develop, drive new business and upsell existing opportunities focused on audience activation, enrichment and data enablement.
• Manage end‑to‑end customer engagement, including strategy, discussions, proposal and presentations development, negotiation, and contracts where necessary.
• Own commercial discussions and manage deal terms and conditions in partnership with internal stakeholders to ensure audiences meet customer needs to drive utilizations.

Client & Partner Engagement

• Leverage strong, preferably existing, industry relationships across advertising and media agencies, and at times brands, and ad tech partners, with a strong focus on stakeholders in programmatic, digital, video, investment, and account teams.
• Lead advanced advertising, audience activation, and other data‑driven proposals and presentations that clearly articulate the value of MRI‑Simmons audience intelligence.
• Act as a trusted advisor to customers by aligning MRI‑Simmons audience solutions to customer business, media, and campaign activation objectives.
• Requires approximately 25% travel; in‑agency presence expected.
• Partner closely with Commercial, Marketing, Operations and Product teams to provide client feedback and input that informs audience development and utilization prioritization.
• Support the development of new data enablement and activation initiatives, partnerships, and go‑to‑market strategies.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for advanced advertising and audience‑based activation, use cases, both external with customers and internal guiding sales colleagues on cross‑team opportunities.
• Coordinate outreach and engagement where needed with internal sales colleagues across all verticals.

Operational Excellence

• Manage internal sales and audience revenue tracking processes; ensure tracking sheets, audience taxonomies, and CRM accuracy.
• Support revenue collection team where necessary, aligning communication with all stakeholders.
• Collaborate with Operations and Account Management teams when needed define data, technical, and delivery requirements.
• Ensure client reporting requirements contractual obligations are met.

• 5–10+ years of experience in sales or business development within advanced advertising, programmatic, addressable, data enablement, audience data, or ad tech.
• Proven success driving audience activation initiatives within agencies or brands.
• Strong ad tech industry network across agency stakeholders, including programmatic, activation, investment, and digital teams.
• Deep understanding of the advanced advertising, programmatic activation, and audience data ecosystem, including planning/insights, activation, and measurement/attribution solutions for digital video and CTV.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate the value of audience and data‑driven solutions in a clear, compelling way.
• Experience applying syndicated audience data to activation, planning, and partnership opportunities preferred.
• Exceptional relationship management and executive‑level communication skills.
• Strong negotiation skills with experience navigating complex commercial agreements.
• Highly collaborative, proactive, and self‑directed.
• Consultative, self‑directed seller and evangelist with a “hunter” mindset and the ability to create opportunity where none previously existed.
• Comfortable leading complex, multi‑stakeholder communication efforts, connecting silos in an enterprise environment like a large agency holding company.
• Familiarity with Challenger sales methodology and MEDDICC frameworks preferred.
• Strategic thinker who proactively identifies new use cases and growth opportunities.
• Strong agency presence is preferred with hands‑on experience operating within ad agencies, leading educational programming, thought leadership initiatives, and events for agency planning and buying teams.
• Comprehensive healthcare plan (medical, Rx, dental, and vision).
• Flexible spending accounts and a Health Savings Account (including company contributions).
• Life and AD&DD insurance.
• 401(k) retirement plan including company matching contributions.
• Disability insurance.
• Tuition Reimbursement.
• Discretionary paid time off program and 11 paid holidays.
• Flexible working environment.
• Volunteer time off.

This role has a market-competitive salary with an anticipated base compensation of the following range:$117,250.00 - $160,000.00.Actual salaries will vary depending on a candidate’s experience, qualifications, skills, and location.This role is eligible for a sales-based incentive or performance-based bonus.Other benefits include flexible working environment, comprehensive health insurance, industry-leading parental leave, life insurance, education support and more.

• Flexible working environment
• Volunteer time off

NIQ may utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools at various stages of the recruitment process, including résumé screening, candidate assessments, interview scheduling, job matching, communication support, and certain administrative tasks that help streamline workflows. These tools are intended to improve efficiency and support fair and consistent evaluation based on job‑related criteria. All use of AI is governed by NIQ’s principles of fairness, transparency, human oversight, and inclusion. Final hiring decisions are made exclusively by humans. NIQ regularly reviews its AI tools to help mitigate bias and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. If you have questions, require accommodations, or wish to request human review were permitted by law, please contact your local HR representative. For more information, please visit NIQ’s AI Safety Policies and Guiding Principles: https://nielseniq.com/global/en/info/niqs-ai-safety-policies/

About NIQ

NIQ is the world’s leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. In 2023, NIQ combined with GfK, bringing together the two industry leaders with unparalleled global reach. With a holistic retail read and the most comprehensive consumer insights—delivered with advanced analytics through state‑of‑the‑art platforms—NIQ delivers the Full View™. NIQ is an Advent International portfolio company with operations in 100+ markets, covering more than 90% of the world’s population.

For more information, visit NIQ.com

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At NIQ, we are steadfast in our commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace that mirrors the rich diversity of the communities and markets we serve. We believe that embracing a wide range of perspectives drives innovation and excellence. All employment decisions at NIQ are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws. We invite individuals who share our dedication to inclusivity and equity to join us in making a meaningful impact. To learn more about our ongoing efforts in diversity and inclusion, please visit the https://nielseniq.com/global/en/news-center/diversity-inclusion