The Trade Desk is a global technology company and the world’s leading independent platform for digital advertising, with nearly 4,000 employees across more than 30 offices. Our technology helps advertisers reach the right audiences across the open internet — from streaming TV and podcasts to mobile apps, news, and more.
Advertising powers the content people love. By making it more transparent, effective, and responsible, we help support trusted journalism, quality entertainment, and creators worldwide. The world’s brands and agencies rely on us to reach their customers and grow their businesses responsibly.
The scale of our platform brings unique technical challenges — from processing massive datasets in real time to building systems that operate reliably on a global scale. When you work here, your impact is worldwide. We welcome diverse perspectives, encourage curiosity, and build teams that learn from one another. If you’re driven to solve meaningful challenges, we’d love to meet you.
The Director, Business Development – Growth (Acquire) is a senior, strategic sales role focused on acquiring and unlocking high-impact, net new brand partnerships for The Trade Desk. This individual will lead complex, high-value engagements with global brands and agencies, owning the end-to-end sales cycle from initial engagement through first scaled investment.
This role is designed for experienced sellers who excel in navigating ambiguity, shaping opportunities, and closing sophisticated deals that often require custom solutions, multi-stakeholder alignment, and long-term commercial frameworks.
What You’ll Do:
- Drive acquisition of strategic, net new business opportunities, focusing on high-value brands with complex needs and significant growth potential
- Own the full sales cycle end-to-end, from initial engagement through contract execution and initial scaled spend
- Lead complex, consultative discovery processes, uncovering nuanced business challenges and translating them into tailored solutions on The Trade Desk platform
- Build and cultivate executive-level relationships with senior decision-makers across brands, agencies, and partner ecosystems
- Develop and present customized, outcome-based proposals and frameworks, including bespoke deal structures, joint business plans, and long-term partnership strategies
- Orchestrate internal and external stakeholders across sales, trading, client services, marketing, product, and legal to advance and close opportunities
- Lead competitive deal strategy, positioning The Trade Desk’s differentiation in complex, multi-vendor environments
- Negotiate and close sophisticated commercial agreements, including MSAs, multi-market investments, and strategic partnerships
- Partner cross-functionally to ensure successful onboarding and a strong initial ramp, setting the foundation for long-term success
- Maintain clear visibility into pipeline health, deal progression, and forecast accuracy for strategic opportunities
- Leverage deep market, vertical, and competitive insight to refine messaging and inform go-to-market strategies
- Mentor and support team members, sharing best practices on complex deal navigation and strategic selling
- Contribute to The Trade Desk culture by bringing your full self
Who You Are:
- 10+ years of experience in digital advertising or ad tech sales, with a strong track record in net new business acquisition and strategic deal execution
- Proven success closing complex, high-value deals involving multiple stakeholders, long sales cycles, and customized commercial structures
- Deep experience in programmatic advertising or advertising technology (DSP experience strongly preferred)
- Skilled in leading consultative, solution-oriented sales engagements, translating business challenges into differentiated strategies
- Strong executive presence with the ability to influence and align C-level stakeholders across organizations
- Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity and shape opportunities, not just respond to them
- Highly sophisticated commercial acumen, with strong negotiation and deal structuring capabilities
- Experience building and maintaining long-term, strategic client relationships
- Collaborative leader who can mobilize cross-functional teams to drive outcomes
- Self-starter with a strong bias for action and a passion for building new business from the ground up
- Naturally curious, with a desire to continuously learn and evolve
- High emotional intelligence and strong interpersonal instincts
The Trade Desk does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firm recruiters. Fees will not be paid in the event a candidate submitted by a recruiter without an agreement in place is hired; such resumes will be deemed the sole property of The Trade Desk. The Trade Desk is an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.
The Trade Desk will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Ordinance No. 184652.
In accordance with various US state laws, the range provided is the Trade Desk's reasonable estimate of the base compensation for this role. The actual amount may differ based on non-discriminatory factors such as experience, knowledge, skills, and location. All employees may be eligible to become The Trade Desk shareholders through eligibility for stock-based compensation grants, which are awarded to employees based on company and individual performance. The Trade Desk also offers other compensation depending on the role such as variable compensation-based incentives and commissions. Plus, expected benefits for this role include comprehensive healthcare (medical, dental, and vision) with premiums paid in full for employees and dependents, retirement benefits such as a 401k plan and company match, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, well-being benefits, reimbursement for certain tuition expenses, parental leave, sick time of 1 hour per 30 hours worked, vacation time for full-time employees up to 120 hours thru the first year and 160 hours thereafter, and around 13 paid holidays per year. Employees can also purchase The Trade Desk stock at a discount through The Trade Desk’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
The Trade Desk also offers a competitive benefits package. Click here to learn more.
Note: Interns are not eligible for variable incentive awards such as stock-based compensation, retirement plan, vacation, tuition reimbursement or parental leave
As an Equal Opportunity Employer, The Trade Desk is committed to creating an inclusive hiring experience where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
Please reach out to us at accommodations@thetradedesk.com to request an accommodation or discuss any accessibility needs you may require to access our Company Website or navigate any part of the hiring process.
When you contact us, please include your preferred contact details and specify the nature of your accommodation request or questions. Any information you share will be handled confidentially and will not impact our hiring decisions.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of experience in digital advertising or ad tech sales
- Proven success closing complex, high-value deals with multiple stakeholders and long sales cycles
- Deep experience in programmatic advertising or advertising technology
- DSP experience
- Skilled in consultative, solution-oriented sales and discovery
- Strong executive presence and ability to influence C-level stakeholders
- Highly developed negotiation and deal-structuring capabilities
- Experience building and maintaining long-term strategic client relationships
- Ability to mobilize and collaborate with cross-functional teams
- Self-starter with bias for action and high emotional intelligence
The Trade Desk Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about The Trade Desk and has not been reviewed or approved by The Trade Desk.
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Affordable Benefits — Healthcare premiums are often paid in full for employees and dependents, reducing out-of-pocket costs. Coverage includes medical, dental, and vision alongside mental health and wellness support.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Packages commonly include new-hire stock grants, a generous Employee Stock Purchase Plan, and equity refreshers tied to performance. Feedback suggests equity meaningfully boosts total compensation alongside base pay and bonuses.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Generous PTO, paid holidays, paid sick time, and sabbaticals are available. Paid parental leave and extensive family-planning support broaden time-off and caregiving coverage.
The Trade Desk Insights
What We Do
The Trade Desk is changing the way global brands and their agencies advertise to audiences around the world. Our mission is to transform media for the benefit of humankind. Our media-buying platform helps brands deliver a more insightful and relevant ad experience for consumers — and sets a new standard for reach, accuracy, and transparency.
Why Work With Us
With up to 11 million queries per second and SLAs in the milliseconds, we’re tackling data and software challenges at massive scale. While we’re growing fast, investing in our value based company culture remains one of our top priorities. If you’re talented, driven, and hungry to bring something entirely new and wildly ambitious, let's talk.
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