Sr. Specialist, Ad Sales Ops, Sys & Svcs

At DIRECTV, you will join a team committed to innovation, operational excellence, and delivering exceptional value to our advertising partners. We invest in our people through continuous learning opportunities, cross-functional collaboration, and a culture that values data-driven decision making. This role offers the opportunity to make significant impact on our advertising technology ecosystem while developing expertise across multiple platforms and business functions.

Join DIRECTV's Product & Partnerships organization as a Senior Specialist on the Operative.One Systems Operations and Services team. This role sits at the intersection of technology, operations, and strategy, enabling DIRECTV Addressable TV and DIRECTV STREAM Advertising through robust system solutions and data-driven decision making.

You will spend approximately 40% of your time on product launches and system implementations, 30% on operational support and troubleshooting, 20% on stakeholder management and training, and 10% on strategic planning and process optimization. This position requires a strategic thinker who can balance tactical execution with long-term solutions while maintaining DIRECTV's commitment to innovation and customer excellence.

Success in This Role Looks Like:

• Successfully launching 3 – 5+ new product offerings annually with minimal post-launch issues.
• Reducing system-related escalations by 20% through proactive monitoring and knowledge base development.
• Achieving 95%+ stakeholder satisfaction scores through effective communication and timely project delivery.

Primary Responsibilities

Product Operations & Launch Management

• Lead end-to-end product rollouts by developing streamlined operational processes, collaborating with technical teams, creating training materials, and presenting to stakeholders.
• Create system requirements for digital and linear addressable products based on end-to-end process flow analysis.
• Review vendor and internal functional specifications and design documents to ensure alignment with business requirements.
• Scope, test, and validate new features and enhancements for Operative.One Order Management systems, FreeWheel ad server integration, and proprietary data segmentation tools.
• Partner with Product team to understand all aspects of program partner onboarding and ongoing maintenance activities.

Systems Strategy & Solution Development

• Develop strategic technical solutions that streamline operational processes and achieve business-critical objectives through system implementations.
• Provide subject matter expertise on Operative.One, FreeWheel, and proprietary tools to support Ad Sales, Planning, Ad Operations, Business Analytics, and Inventory teams.
• Identify root causes of system issues through data analysis and architect sustainable long-term solutions.
• Monitor data integrity across business systems to ensure all data feeds perform successfully and accurately.

Project & Stakeholder Management

• Manage high-profile project initiatives in partnership with Ad Tech Engineers, Data & Analytics, Ad Sales Pricing & Planning, Product, Finance, and Marketing teams.
• Communicate project status to senior management with regular timeline updates, clearly articulating issues, blockers, and wins.
• Coordinate cross-functionally with Product and Engineering teams to identify, report, and resolve product issues.
• Advocate for internal clients through organized, data-backed communications regarding escalations and recurring issues.

Operations Support & Training

• Provide systems support to DIRECTV Advertising Sales, Pricing & Planning teams, and internal business partners to optimize advertiser experiences.
• Resolve customer support cases by analyzing data, diagnosing problems, and implementing sustainable solutions.
• Deliver training to Sales Planning and Ad Operations groups on new systems, processes, and product offerings.
• Maintain knowledge base of known issues, solutions, and training materials for team reference.

Required Qualifications

Experience & Background

• 3 – 5 years required, 5+ years desired in TV or digital advertising/media sales operations.
• Demonstrated product launch success including cross-functional collaboration, process development, and stakeholder management.
• Ad Operations experience with advanced analytics and rich ad-server trafficking preferred.
• Hands-on FreeWheel ad server experience or comparable advertising tec