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.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR:
The Lead Principal Technical Account Manager will lead several of our most strategic agency and political engagements while managing a small team of TAMs. This is a player-coach role: you'll own the technical relationship on high-visibility accounts while developing the people around you. This individual plays a critical role in translating company initiatives through streamlined technical operations. We are looking to hire someone who understands web technology, measurement frameworks, and emerging AI and agentic technologies, learns fast, and is not afraid of complexity. You are comfortable leading high-visibility projects, coaching a dynamic group of TAMs, and setting the standard for technical excellence across the team.
WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING:
Client & Portfolio Leadership
• Manage the post-sale technical relationship for a portfolio of top-tier agency accounts and political advertisers, participating in strategic meetings that require technical consultation.
• Know our capabilities and differentiators to identify opportunities that solve client business needs and support revenue growth.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on measurement strategy, advising partners on attribution frameworks, incrementality testing, and cross-channel reporting methodologies.
• Navigate the unique demands of political advertising — compressed election-cycle timelines, data sensitivity requirements, and rapidly shifting priorities — and build technical operations that hold up under them.
• Consult on clients' technology stacks — including data clean rooms, CDPs, and identity solutions — to identify integration opportunities and drive platform adoption.
• Ideate, scope, and program manage engineering work to facilitate custom solutions — including AI and agentic workflow solutions — scaled across the portfolio.
People & Team Leadership
• Directly mentor and manage a small team of TAMs: set goals, deliver feedback and performance reviews, and build individualized development plans.
• Coach team members on technical depth, client management, and career growth, and serve as an escalation point on their accounts.
• Lead the development of project tracking and portfolio-specific goals based on the company's vision, and define a framework for reporting progress with leadership.
• Manage product prioritization, reflecting business needs over time for TAM leadership.
• Collaborate effectively with functional leaders to solve business challenges, identify growth opportunities, and drive efficiency across the organization.
SKILLS SUMMARY:
• Proven people leader — experience managing or coaching direct reports, with the judgment to balance individual-contributor work against team responsibilities.
• Strong acumen for technical consulting and adept at influencing client technical investments that drive positive business outcomes; passion for educating, training, and bringing creativity to problem solving.
• Familiarity with agency operating models and how they evaluate and procure technology; experience with political or advocacy advertisers is a strong plus.
• Expert project/program manager responsible for setting timelines, stakeholder management, and independently driving initiatives forward — superb attention to detail is an absolute must.
• Deep curiosity and working knowledge of AI, agentic workflows, and emerging standards such as Model Context Protocol (MCP).
• Superior relationship management skills with the ability to influence and advocate for your team across Commercial and Technical organizations.
• Effective decision-making that clearly defines context, stays solution-oriented, and builds advocacy with your leadership team.
• Quickly grasp new technical subjects and explain them clearly to others.
WHAT YOU BRING TO THE TABLE:
• 8+ years of work experience in a technical client-facing role; people management experience is strongly preferred.
• Proficient working knowledge of Excel, Office, and Outlook is a must.
• Experience with SQL, web technologies/web programming languages, and APIs is strongly preferred; experience with AI/ML tooling or familiarity with agentic platforms is a plus.
• Demonstrable creative thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fluid, fast-paced environment — political clients in particular move on election-cycle timelines.
• Experience working with clients, product, and engineering teams — with the ability to break down complex concepts for non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience with digital advertising technology, agency relationships, and measurement/analytics tools (e.g., MMM, MTA, incrementality); agency and political ad tech experience is a major plus.
#LI-JS1
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
At the Trade Desk, Base Salary is one part of our competitive total compensation and benefits package and is determined using a salary range. The base salary range for this role is $113,500—$208,100 USDAs an Equal Opportunity Employer, The Trade Desk is committed to creating an inclusive hiring experience where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
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