Sr. Manager, Supply Activation

FreeWheel, a Comcast company, provides comprehensive ad platforms for publishers, advertisers, and media buyers. Powered by premium video content, robust data, and advanced technology, we’re making it easier for buyers and sellers to transact across all screens, data types, and sales channels. As a global company, we have offices in nine countries and can insert advertisements around the world.

Job Summary

The Senior Manager, Supply Activation is a strategic leader within FreeWheel's Global Programmatic Operations organization, responsible for building and leading the Supply Activation function and driving the programmatic optimization strategy for FreeWheel's publisher partners.

This role leads a team of Account Managers focused on enabling publisher success across the FreeWheel Marketplace through supply optimization, product adoption, and activation of advertiser demand. The Senior Manager acts as a cross-functional partner to Publisher Relationship teams, Product, Product Marketing, Sales Marketing, and Engineering - ensuring publishers are equipped with the tools, insights, and strategies needed to maximize programmatic revenue and marketplace performance.

Sitting within the Programmatic Activation pillar, this leader will work in close coordination with Demand Activation to ensure cohesive supply-demand strategy across deal lifecycle management, optimization, and troubleshooting. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in CTV programmatic dynamics, strong people leadership, and a proven ability to translate complex technical concepts into actionable business recommendations.

Job Description

Core Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development
• Build, lead, mentor, and develop a team of Supply Activation Account Managers, providing coaching, strategic direction, and performance feedback.
• Establish clear team goals, KPIs, and operational processes to ensure consistent execution and high-quality publisher support.
• Oversee team workload, prioritization, and resource management to ensure coverage aligned with business goals.
• Foster a collaborative team culture that emphasizes ownership, accountability, adaptability, and pride in the quality of work.

Supply Strategy & Publisher Optimization
• Set the strategic direction for publisher supply optimization across the FreeWheel Marketplace, ensuring scalable, data-driven approaches to improving demand activation and revenue performance.
• Partner with senior Publisher Relationship leads to align on supply strategy, marketplace opportunities, and key improvement areas for each partner.
• Guide the team in conducting in-depth analysis of publisher performance and delivering actionable insights and optimization strategies.
• Maintain expert-level understanding of CTV demand patterns, DSP buying behaviors, auction dynamics, and how advertiser demand is activated across the marketplace.

Cross-Functional Partnership & Product Influence
• Collaborate closely with Product, Product Marketing, and Sales Marketing to drive adoption of new programmatic products and features, ensuring publisher teams clearly understand value propositions.
• Provide structured, insight-driven feedback to Product and Engineering teams, representing the voice of the publisher and marketplace needs.
• Participate in strategic planning forums, roadmap discussions, and cross-functional working groups to advocate for publisher-focused enhancements.
• Coordinate with Demand Activation leadership to ensure cohesive activation strategy across the full deal lifecycle - from supply readiness through demand fulfillment and optimization.

AI-Assisted Operations & Workflow Innovation
• Champion the adoption of AI-assisted workflows across the Supply Activation function, driving the team to leverage tools like Microsoft Copilot, Glean, and large language models for operational scalability.
• Identify and implement AI-driven approaches to streamline processes such as reporting, documentation, publisher analysis, knowledge management, and cross-functional communications.
• Develop AI-enhanced frameworks, templates, and best practices that enable the team to operate with greater speed, consistency, and analytical depth.
• Stay current on emerging AI capabilities and evaluate their applicability to programmatic operations workflows, advocating for adoption where business value is clear.

Stakeholder Engagement & Escalation
• Join Publisher QBRs, strategy sessions, and escalations as a senior programmatic expert and leader.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for complex programmatic challenges impacting publisher performance or marketplace behavior.
• Partner with senior publisher stakeholders to provide programmatic insights, trend analysis, and strategic gui