Sr. Strategic Partnership Manager - Buyer Cloud DSP - FreeWheel

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 We are seeking a Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager to own and advance Buyer Cloud’s supply-side partner ecosystem, including third-party SSPs, exchanges, and inventory integrations that power omni-channel access for buy-side customers globally. This role is designed for someone who can operate at the intersection of commercial strategy, technical programmatic expertise, and hands-on partner execution. You will manage strategic partner relationships, optimize a tiered portfolio of supply integrations, lead commercial and contractual discussions, and help ensure Buyer Cloud clients have efficient access to high-quality inventory while balancing operational complexity, platform performance, and cost tradeoffs. The ideal candidate brings direct experience in an SSP, DSP, exchange, or marketplace environment and is comfortable moving between executive partner conversations, OpenRTB and programmatic troubleshooting, KPI analysis, roadmap input, and cross-functional process improvement. This person should be curious enough to diagnose root causes, analytical enough to identify trends, and influential enough to drive better processes and outcomes across teams that do not report directly to them. Job Description Responsibilities: Act as the primary business owner and executive-facing contact for Buyer Cloud’s third-party SSP and exchange relationships.   Develop and maintain a tiered partner management approach that focuses the highest level of attention on strategically important partners while creating scalable processes for the broader partner ecosystem.   Evaluate new partner opportunities, feature requests, and integration priorities through a structured lens that considers revenue opportunity, client demand, technical feasibility, operational burden, and strategic fit.   Lead partner-facing roadmap discussions, business reviews, commercial negotiations, and renewal conversations, including coordination on legal redlines and internal approval processes.   Partner with Product and Technical Solutions to plan and operationalize product or feature rollouts such as seat migrations, new creative or inventory formats, audio and CTV capabilities, high-impact units, and other supply-side enhancements.   Analyze partner performance and operational data to identify trends, diagnose issues, recommend QPS or efficiency adjustments, and assess whether partner activity is aligned with business objectives .   Lead root-cause analysis and resolution of partner issues, coordinating with support and technical teams while looking for opportunities to reduce repeat escalations through better process, documentation, tooling, or ownership models.   Support billing, reporting, privacy, ad quality, IVT, and data-related partner matters by coordinating with the appropriate internal teams and ensuring clear ownership, prioritization, and follow-through.   Translate client needs and market feedback into clear recommendations for Product, Marketplace, and Revenue leadership.   Prepare concise strategy documents, business cases, and executive-ready updates that clarify tradeoffs, recommended actions, and expected business impact.   Required Qualifications: 6+ years of experience in ad tech, programmatic advertising, digital media, or platform partnerships, preferably within or closely partnering with an SSP, DSP, exchange, marketplace, or CTV advertising platform.   Hands-on understanding of OpenRTB specifications, DSP and SSP workflows, programmatic supply chains, PMP/deal execution, auction mechanics, and common causes of integration or transaction issues.   Strong knowledge of the CTV ecosystem, publisher advertising stacks, omni-channel supply, and the operational realities of managing programmatic inventory integrations at scale.   Demonstrated analytical ability, including experience pulling reports, interpreting KPI trends, identifying anomalies, manipulating data, and converting findings into clear recommendations.   Experience managing partner performance through revenue, spend, adoption, operational efficiency, QPS, SLA, or other business and technical metrics.   Proven ability to lead cross-functional work across Product, Revenue, Technical Solutions, Marketplace Operations, Finance, Legal, Privacy, Compliance, and Support teams.   Experience leading commercial conversations and supporting contract negotiation, redline review, business case development, and executive stakeholder alignment.   Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical programmatic concepts, business tradeoffs, and partner strategy to both technical and non-technical audiences.   Working familiarity with privacy, compliance, ad quality, and measurement standards relevant to programmatic advertising, including CCPA/CPRA, GDPR basics, COPPA, MRC, TAG, and IVT considerations.   What You will Own: Partner portfolio strategy: Manage a portfolio of dozens of strategic and emerging supply partners, ensuring clients have efficient access to both the premium CTV inventory our platform is renowned for, and omni-channel sources deemed critical.   Commercial and contractual leadership: Lead business reviews, contract negotiations, redlines, and commercial discussions with supply partners .     Technical programmatic partnership management: Serve as a credible partner-facing and internal subject matter expert across SSP/DSP workflows, OpenRTB , PMP/deal execution, CTV monetization, auction dynamics, QPS efficiency, and supply-path consid