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 ROLE
The Trade Desk is seeking a strategic and commercially oriented General Manager (GM) Business Development, to lead one of the company's most important enterprise client partnerships.This role sits at the intersection of business development, product strategy, commercial leadership, and executive relationship management. The successful leader will own the vision and growth strategy for one of The Trade Desk's largest enterprise clients.This is not a traditional sales leadership role. The GM will serve as the senior commercial leader for this client's business, bringing together cross-functional stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Sales, Client Services, and Executive Leadership to drive long-term growth and innovation.The ideal candidate combines enterprise partnership experience, deep advertising and technology expertise, strong executive presence, and the ability to align complex organizations around a common vision.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Define and execute the long-term growth strategy for The Trade Desk's client partnership ecosystem.
- Serve as the senior commercial leader and executive sponsor for key Walmart relationships.
- Drive alignment across Business Development, Product, Engineering, Client Services, and Executive Leadership.
- Identify and develop new opportunities for partnership expansion, product innovation, and business growth.
- Lead complex commercial discussions and strategic partnership negotiations.
- Enable broader sales teams to effectively position and grow the enterprise client's opportunities.
- Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across the client's, agencies, and key advertisers.
- Partner closely with the GM, Client Services to deliver a seamless experience across the client's business ecosystem.
QUALIFICATIONS
- 15+ years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, enterprise sales, commercial strategy, general management, consulting, or related leadership roles.
- Significant experience in advertising, digital media, programmatic, ad tech, martech, retail media, commerce media, enterprise technology, or consulting.
- Proven track record owning or materially scaling a large enterprise client, partner, platform, or business line.
- Experience managing complex commercial models across multiple revenue paths, stakeholder groups, and operating structures.
- Strong understanding of media agencies, brand advertisers, retail media networks, platform partnerships, data-driven advertising, and measurement.
- Experience influencing Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, Sales, Client Services, and executive stakeholders.
- Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity, business transition, and matrixed team environments.
- Experience working with retail media, CPG, shopper marketing, commerce media, or large retailer ecosystems is a plus, but not required.
- Prior P&L ownership, business unit leadership, or GM-style accountability is strongly preferred.
WHAT YOU’LL BRING
- A business owner’s mindset for one of The Trade Desk’s most strategically important partnerships.
- The ability to turn a fragmented commercial ecosystem into a unified enterprise strategy.
- Experience growing complex partnerships that involve media, technology, data, agencies, advertisers, and product roadmaps.
- Credibility with senior executives and the ability to represent the business internally and externally.
- Strong commercial instincts around deal strategy, growth pathways, and sales enablement.
- The ability to align Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, Client Services, and Sales around a shared TTD - client roadmap.
- A clear, confident narrative for why The Trade Desk is doubling down on this client and how the partnership can become significantly larger over time.
- The judgment to balance immediate business needs with long-term platform and partnership potential.
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.
[LA JOBS ONLY] 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.
[SF JOBS ONLY] Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
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
- 15+ years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, enterprise sales, commercial strategy, general management, consulting, or related leadership roles
- Significant experience in advertising, digital media, programmatic, ad tech, martech, retail media, commerce media, enterprise technology, or consulting
- Proven track record owning or materially scaling a large enterprise client, partner, platform, or business line
- Experience managing complex commercial models across multiple revenue paths, stakeholder groups, and operating structures
- Strong understanding of media agencies, brand advertisers, retail media networks, platform partnerships, data-driven advertising, and measurement
- Experience influencing Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, Sales, Client Services, and executive stakeholders
- Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity, business transition, and matrixed team environments
- Experience working with retail media, CPG, shopper marketing, commerce media, or large retailer ecosystems
- Prior P&L ownership, business unit leadership, or GM-style accountability
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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