Senior Manager, Audience Strategy & Activation

Hearst; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

Disability

Life insurance

401(k)

Paid holidays

Paid time off

Employee assistance programs

and more

Job summary

Hearst is seeking a Senior Manager, Audience Strategy & Activation to bridge Hearst’s enterprise audience platform with commercial teams. You will partner with Ad Sales and the Corporate Data Team to create scalable audience products, enable revenue opportunities, and operationalize activation across Hearst’s advertising ecosystem.

In this role, you will translate capabilities into advertiser-ready solutions, develop standardized audience offerings, and drive cross-functional programs to

Qualifications

• 6–10 years in audience strategy, advertising technology, or digital media.
• Strong understanding of digital advertising ecosystems and audience activation.
• Experience partnering with Ad Sales, Marketing, Product, or Analytics teams.
• Ability to translate business needs into scalable audience products and workflows.
• Experience with ad sales and audience activation platforms (CDPs, DMPs, DSPs, clean rooms).
• Excellent project and stakeholder management and executive communication.
• Bachelor's degree; advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Identify advertiser needs and develop scalable audience solutions.
• Maintain a portfolio of audience products and reusable segments.
• Create sales enablement materials and pitch decks.
• Collaborate with leadership to evaluate performance and optimize offerings.
• Coordinate activation across GAM, DSPs, DMPs, and clean rooms.
• Serve as liaison across Audience Analytics, Ad Sales, Product, and Engineering.
• Manage end-to-end lifecycle of enterprise audience products.
• Establish governance, documentation standards, and best practices.

Skills

Audience strategy

Advertising technology

Cross-functional PM

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Sales collaboration

Data-driven decisions

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

CDPs

DMPs

DSPs

GAM

Identity platforms

Job description

About the Role

The Hearst Corporate Data Team is seeking a Senior Manager, Audience Strategy & Activation to serve as the strategic link between Hearst's enterprise audience platform and the commercial teams that bring its value to market. Reporting to the VP, Audience Analytics, this role will partner closely with Ad Sales and the Corporate Data Team to develop scalable audience products, enable revenue-generating sales opportunities, and operationalize enterprise audience activation across Hearst's advertising ecosystem.

Job Description

About the Role

The Hearst Corporate Data Team is seeking a Senior Manager, Audience Strategy & Activation to serve as the strategic link between Hearst's enterprise audience platform and the commercial teams that bring its value to market. Reporting to the VP, Audience Analytics, this role will partner closely with Ad Sales and the Corporate Data Team to develop scalable audience products, enable revenue-generating sales opportunities, and operationalize enterprise audience activation across Hearst's advertising ecosystem.
As Hearst continues to expand its enterprise identity and audience capabilities, this role will ensure those capabilities are translated into advertiser-ready solutions. You will identify audience opportunities, develop standardized audience offerings, create sales enablement materials, coordinate audience activation, and work across business and technical teams to maximize the commercial value of Hearst's audience assets.
The ideal candidate combines expertise in audience strategy, advertising technology, and cross-functional program management with a strong understanding of digital advertising, consumer data, and audience activation platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with Ad Sales, and client-facing teams to identify advertiser needs and develop scalable audience solutions that support revenue growth.
• Develop and maintain a portfolio of enterprise audience products, including standardized audience definitions, audience packages, and reusable audience segments that can be leveraged across Hearst's consumer divisions.
• Create compelling sales enablement materials—including audience one-pagers, audience profiles, methodology documentation, and pitch materials that clearly communicate audience composition, scale, insights, and business value.
• Collaborate with the VP, Audience Analytics to evaluate audience performance, identify new audience opportunities, and optimize audience offerings based on advertiser demand and campaign outcomes.
• Coordinate the activation of enterprise audiences across advertising platforms (GAM), clean rooms, demand-side platforms (DSPs), data management platforms (DMPs), and other activation technologies.
• Serve as the primary liaison between Audience Analytics, Ad Sales, Product, and Engineering, to ensure audiences are accurately built, documented, governed, and delivered.
• Manage the end-to-end lifecycle of enterprise audience products, including intake, prioritization, governance, documentation, activation, and ongoing optimization.
• Establish best practices, documentation standards, and governance processes for enterprise audience development and activation across Hearst.

Qualifications

• 6–10 years of experience in audience strategy, advertising technology, marketing technology, customer analytics, audience development, sales strategy, or digital media.
• Strong understanding of digital advertising ecosystems, audience segmentation, identity resolution, audience activation, and consumer data products.
• Experience partnering with Ad Sales, Sales Strategy, Marketing, Product, or Analytics teams to develop advertiser-facing solutions and support revenue-generating initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to translate business needs into scalable audience products and operational workflows.
• Experience working with ad sales and other audience activation platforms, including CDPs, DMPs, DSPs, clean rooms, identity platforms, or other advertising technology solutions.
• Strong analytical skills with experience evaluating audience performance, campaign effectiveness, and audience utilization.
• Excellent project management and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to coordinate cross-functional initiatives across business and technical teams.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including experience creating executive presentations, sales collateral, and client-facing documentation.
• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• Preferred experience in publishing, digital media, advertising technology, audience measurement, first‑party data strategies, or enterprise audience platforms.

Compensation & Benefits

In accordance with applicable law, Hearst is required to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role if hired in New York City. The reasonable estimate, if hired in New York City, is $180,000 to $200,000. Please note this information is specific to those hired in New York City. For candidates outside New York City, the salary range will be aligned with the specific location. A final decision on the successful candidate’s starting salary will be based on a number of permissible, non-discriminatory factors, including but not limited to skills, experience, training, certifications, and education.

• medical
• dental
• vision
• disability
• life insurance
• 401(k)
• paid holidays
• paid time off
• employee assistance programs
• and more