Director, Ad Operations

Stack Overflow is seeking a Director of Ad Operations to lead and mature the operational engine behind our advertising business. This leader will oversee a multi-disciplinary team, including Ad Ops Specialists, a Yield Manager, and an Ads Engineering Associate, responsible for ensuring our direct and programmatic channels deliver high-quality, high-performing experiences for our advertisers and users.

This role will sit on the Ads Customer Success leadership team and will be a critical partner in shaping how we package, deliver, measure and scale advertising across Stack Overflow. You will own the systems, processes and technical foundation that power our ads business while collaborating deeply with Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Revenue Operations, Finance, Legal and Data Science.

The ideal candidate brings strong expertise in programmatic monetization, publisher ad tech stacks, yield optimization and operational strategy. You're equally comfortable overseeing trafficking excellence as you are driving experimentation, evaluating new partners and influencing the evolution of our ad products.

What You'll Do

• Lead, mentor and develop a multi-disciplinary Ad Ops team (Specialists, Yield Manager, Ads Engineering Associate) while fostering operational rigor, experimentation and cross-functional collaboration.
• Own end-to-end ad tech stack and evaluate new partners and technologies that enhance delivery, measurement, targeting, reporting and workflow efficiency.
• Oversee inventory strategy and forecasting across all placements and formats to ensure optimal utilization across direct and programmatic channels (PG, PD, PMP, Open Auction).
• Drive yield strategy in partnership with the Yield Manager, optimizing pricing, demand mix, auction dynamics and revenue quality.
• Identify and influence new ad types, audience segments, packaging and inventory configurations that improve performance and support revenue growth.
• Partner with Product and Engineering to influence the roadmap and support technical implementation of new features, placements and optimizations.
• Collaborate with Data Science to guide forecasting, audience strategy, insights development and performance modeling.
• Support scalable go-to-market and customer delivery processes in partnership with Customer Success, Sales, Marketing, RevOps and Finance.
• Monitor performance, pacing, discrepancies and delivery health and proactively recommend experiments, workflow improvements and system enhancements.
• Oversee reporting and operational frameworks to ensure accurate delivery, best-in-class campaign management and visibility into performance, sell-through and supply/demand dynamics.

What You Need to Have

• 7+ years of experience in digital advertising, predominantly on the publisher side, with 4+ years leading Ad Ops or Ad Tech teams.
• Deep expertise in programmatic monetization, deal structures (PG, PD, PMP, Open Auction), SSP/Exchange integrations and yield strategy.
• Strong understanding of publisher ad tech stacks, including trafficking, ad serving, measurement, reporting and data activation.
• Hands-on familiarity with tools such as Google Ad Manager, SSPs (e.g., Magnite, PubMatic, Index), measurement tools (MOAT, IAS) and workflow/sales systems (Salesforce, AdBook).
• Proven experience partnering with Product, Engineering and Revenue organizations to influence and execute technical ad initiatives.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate data into insights, forecasts and recommendations.
• Demonstrated success building scalable processes, documentation and operational systems.
• Excellent communication skills with ability to collaborate with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Thrives in a fast-paced, evolving environment and can lead teams through change. #LI-Remote #LI-KS1

The base salary for the position is up to $178k + annual bonus + stock options + generous benefits