Director, Ad Operations

Solstice; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Equity

Flexible PTO

401(k)

Visa sponsorship

Growth stipend

Relocation assistance

High-velocity environment

Job summary

Solstice, a NYC-based company redefining how life sciences brands commercialize therapeutics, seeks a Director of Ad Operations to lead media strategy, execution, and measurement infrastructure at scale.

You will work across media, technology, and product, partnering with engineering and product teams to build platforms for planning, deploying, and measuring media at pace. Expect cross-functional ownership and leadership in a startup environment.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in media strategy, planning, and buying, with at least 2 years in healthcare or pharmaceutical advertising.
• Deep, hands-on experience with major DSPs (The Trade Desk, DV360, DeepIntent, Xandr) and endemic healthcare media platforms.
• Strong command of healthcare media measurement, including NPI targeting, script lift, brand lift, and HCP vs. DTC KPIs.
• Experience partnering with technical teams to build or enhance media infrastructure, tooling, or reporting systems.
• Solid understanding of pharmaceutical advertising regulations and HIPAA/privacy considerations.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end media strategy across paid channels for pharma brand clients, from planning to optimization and reporting.
• Lead trafficking, campaign setup, and activation across key DSPs and healthcare platforms, ensuring QA and compliance.
• Define and lead Solstice’s measurement strategy including MMM, multi-touch attribution, and report pipelines.
• Collaborate with product/engineering teams to architect and build internal measurement infrastructure and support strategic client engagements.

Skills

Media strategy

Media planning

Media buying

Healthcare advertising

DSP expertise

Regulatory compliance

Data privacy

Technical collaboration

Team leadership

Tools

The Trade Desk

DV360

DeepIntent

Xandr

Job description

Why you should join us

Solstice is redefining how life sciences organizations commercialize their therapeutics. We are building a commercial engine that allows pharmaceutical marketers to launch campaigns at 100x the speed.

• Rapid growth: Over the past year, we have been working with some of the top life sciences manufacturers and are working with over 50+ pharma brands.
• Frontiers of technology: We’re building applications and rapidly iterating technical approaches at the frontiers of AI, experimenting with LLMs and new frameworks. We are incorporating new, advanced frameworks to our solution to better define the possibilities of pharmaceutical marketing.
• Top-tier investors: We’ve raised from investors like Transformation Capital, Twelve Below, Virtue and the founders of Datavant, Commure, and Paradigm to supercharge our growth and build an elite team of engineers and operators.

Building anything great requires commitment and dedication. We’re looking for someone who has the fire to prove others wrong

Role

We are looking for a Director of Ad Operations to lead and scale our media operations function, owning the strategy, execution, and measurement infrastructure that powers campaigns for our pharmaceutical brand clients. This is a highly cross‑functional role at the intersection of media, technology, and product: you will work hand‑in‑hand with our engineering and product teams to help build and refine the platforms that underpin how Solstice plans, deploys, and measures media at scale. This role reports directly to the co‑founder and is a critical leadership hire as we grow our capabilities and deepen our relationships with top pharma brands. This individual should have direct programmatic media buying experience and should be able to execute on ad purchases themselves while also having the strategic thinking necessary to scale this file at Solstice.

Key Responsibilities

Media Strategy & Leadership

• Own end‑to‑end media strategy across paid channels for pharmaceutical brand clients, from planning through optimization and reporting.
• Develop channel‑level frameworks and playbooks for HCP and DTC campaigns across programmatic, search, social, endemic, and emerging channels.
• Serve as the senior media authority internally and as a trusted strategic advisor to client brand teams.

Deployment & Operations

• Lead trafficking, campaign setup, and activation across key DSPs (e.g., DV360, The Trade Desk, Xandr, Iqvia, DeepIntent, Pulsepoint) and endemic healthcare platforms.
• Establish and enforce QA standards for campaign deployment, ensuring accuracy and compliance across all pharma regulatory requirements.
• Build and manage scalable operational workflows that enable the team to execute with speed and precision across a growing client portfolio.

Measurement & Analytics

• Define and lead Solstice’s measurement strategy: including media mix modeling, multi‑touch attribution, brand lift, and script lift methodologies.
• Partner closely with product and engineering teams to help architect and build the internal measurement infrastructure and reporting pipelines.
• Translate performance data into clear, compelling insights and recommendations for pharma brand stakeholders.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Act as a bridge between media operations and the product/engineering team, surfacing practitioner needs that can be solved through technology and tooling.
• Collaborate with the product team to define requirements for media planning, buying, and reporting features within the Solstice platform.
• Partner with client success and growth teams to support new business pitches, client expansions, and strategic account planning.

Candidate Requirements

• 3+ years of experience in media strategy, planning, and buying, with at least 2 years in healthcare or pharmaceutical advertising.
• Deep, hands‑on experience working with major DSPs (e.g., The Trade Desk, DV360, DeepIntent, Xandr) and endemic healthcare media platforms.
• Strong command of healthcare media measurement, including NPI targeting, script lift, brand lift, and HCP vs. DTC campaign KPIs.
• Experience partnering with technical teams (engineering, product, or data science) to build or enhance media infrastructure, tooling, or reporting systems.
• Solid understanding of pharmaceutical advertising regulations and compliance requirements (e.g., FDA, OPDP guidelines, MLR review processes).
• Familiarity with data privacy frameworks relevant to healthcare advertising (HIPAA, NAI, and emerging state‑level privacy laws).
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex media and data concepts for non‑technical audiences, including brand marketing teams and senior executives.
• Experience leading or growing a media team; strong people management and mentorship skills.
• Comfortable in a high‑velocity, ambiguous startup environment.

Benefits

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Ground‑floor equity opportunity
• Flexible PTO
• 401(k)
• Visa sponsorship (O‑1, H‑1B, TN) available
• Professional growth stipend
• Relocation support
• Work in a high‑velocity, high‑impact environment

Competitive NYC Compensation

$120-$170k

This role offers a highly competitive NYC salary, calibrated to reflect experience, seniority, and the level of ownership you’ll take on as part of the early team. We benchmark against top‑tier startups and established tech companies to ensure our compensation is both fair and compelling.