Programmatic Manager

SmartNews is a leading global information and news discovery company dedicated to delivering quality information to the people who need it. Thanks to our unique machine-learning technology and relationships with more than 3,000 global publisher partners, we provide news that matters to millions of users.

Founded in 2012 in Tokyo, SmartNews also has offices in Osaka (Kansai Office), Palo Alto, New York and Singapore.

If you share our vision and are passionate about our mission, we encourage you to apply!

The Global Programmatic Inventory and Yield Management (PIYM) team at SmartNews is responsible for expanding programmatic revenue by developing and enabling demand, execute strategies across the open exchange, third-party demand partnerships and SDK integrations by optimizing existing deals, identifying and establishing new opportunities and fostering strong relationships with all SmartNews partners. This team is also responsible for day-to-day management of Google Ad Manager operations and yield management by optimizing the pricing rules of monetizing partners (DSP, SSP, Header Bidding, Open Exchange etc).

This position is responsible for expanding programmatic advertising revenue in the Japanese market at SmartNews, one of Japan's largest news apps.

A series of areas including building strategies with various partner companies in programmatic buying, promoting integration in collaboration with Product Manager (PM), yield and revenue management to increase sales.  

In this role you will be a subject matter expert for programmatic account management as it pertains to the buyers participating in our real-time auction. You will work closely with the Ads Product lead and Ad Operations lead to make sure new and existing revenue opportunities are realized. You will leverage your programmatic knowledge to work cross-functionally alongside Ad Operations to troubleshoot any issues with ad delivery or revenue impacting events. Your role will be the main point-of-contact with our external programmatic buyers, and you will maintain and grow these relationships. 

• Optimize Yield: Manage inventory monetization across SSPs and DSPs to maximize digital advertising revenue.
• Maintain Relationships: Oversee daily technical and commercial partnerships with external programmatic platforms and ad networks.
• Manage PMPs: Set up, monitor, and troubleshoot Private Marketplace deals and Preferred Deals for our premium inventory.
• Analyze Performance: Track key metrics like fill rates, eCPMs, and floor prices to identify revenue blockages.
• Configure Ads: Work alongside Ad Operations to manage the publisher's ad server configurations, price floors, and unified auction wrappers within Google Ad Manager (GAM).
• Protect Brand: Work alongside our Ad Quality team to enforce strict ad quality standards to prevent malware, bad user experiences, or competing content.

Minimum requirements

• Minimum of 3-5 years of experience in programmatic advertising: to demonstrate a solid understanding of the programmatic landscape and how to navigate its complexities.
• Strong analytical and data-driven mindset: essential for analyzing performance, identifying trends, and making informed decisions.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and negotiation skills: for building relationships with partners (external) and stakeholders (internal).
• Experience working with programmatic platforms and ad technologies: familiarity with key platforms such as Google Ad Manager, SSPs and/or DSPs (TTD, PubMatic, Magnite, etc).
• Proficiency in Japanese, business English
• Fluency in Japanese for understanding JP market and communicating effectively with partners
• Business-level English to communicate strategy and ideas with internal stakeholders.

Nice to have experiences/skills

• Header Bidding: Technical knowledge of Prebid SDK configuration and managing wrapper auction dynamics.
• Yield Optimization: Mastery of setting dynamic floor prices within SSPs to prevent content undervaluation.
• Direct Deals: Proven track record of executing Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) and Private Marketplace (PMP) campaigns.
• SaaS Analytics: Familiarity with yield analytics dashboards like Adomik, or Looker, to track programmatic revenue.
• Data Monetization: Experience packaging publisher first-party data via clean rooms or curation platforms for premium SSP deals

Related Links

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Working condition

• Office Location: Tokyo
• Click here or visit our careers site for more info.

Benefits available at the SmartNews Tokyo Office

• All healthcare and social insurance required by the Japanese labor law, plus annual health check
• Visa sponsorship and overseas relocation support available for eligible candidates
• Click here or visit our careers site for more info about our benefits.