Jobs | United Kingdom
Senior Programmatic & Paid Media Lead
Application
Posted Date: 03/07/2026
Industry Sector: Paid/Performance
Location: United Kingdom
Market Experience: United Kingdom
Contract Length: 3 to 6 Months
Salary: £ 350 - £ 500
Freelance Senior Programmatic & Paid Media Lead
Overview
Our client, an established marketing and communications agency, is looking for an experienced, hands on freelance Paid Media specialist to provide immediate senior delivery support during a restructure of its Paid team.
The most urgent requirement is strong programmatic expertise to provide continuity across two major client accounts, one in mobility and transport and one in insurance. However, this is not a narrow programmatic trading role. The successful candidate must have a broader paid media skill set and be able to support campaign planning, client management, paid social, search, direct publisher activity, reporting and new business when required.
This is a senior but hands on role. The agency is not looking for someone who only develops strategy or briefs activation teams. The freelancer must be comfortable personally setting up, trafficking, launching, optimising, troubleshooting and reporting on campaigns.
Contract details
- Freelance contract
- Full time availability preferred: five days per week (two days in the London office if possible)
- Start: as soon as possible
- Initial engagement through the end of 2026, reviewed regularly
- Two week notice period preferred
- Target day rate: £350 to £400, depending on experience
- UK based, with availability for internal or client meetings when required
Primary objective
Protect the delivery of the agency's existing Paid Media client commitments while helping the team establish a more consistent, commercially sustainable and well controlled operating model.
The role will initially focus on programmatic and direct to publisher delivery, but the successful candidate will also support the wider Paid team across channels and accounts.
Key responsibilities
Programmatic and ad operations
- Take ownership of programmatic campaign planning, setup, trafficking, launch, optimisation and reporting
- Work hands on within DV360 and Campaign Manager 360
- Set up campaigns, placements, ads, creatives, insertion orders and line items
- Manage CM360 trafficking, tags, creative rotation, naming conventions and campaign QA
- Support Floodlight, conversion tracking, attribution and troubleshooting
- Manage pacing, budgets, delivery, optimisation and performance reporting
- Identify and resolve campaign delivery, tracking, creative and platform issues
- Support direct to publisher planning, buying and campaign management
- Ensure campaigns meet agreed brand safety, verification and measurement standards
Priority client support
- Provide senior programmatic support across two priority accounts, in the mobility and insurance sectors
- Support the completion, reporting and renewal of current activity on the mobility account
- Help plan and deliver the next phase of activity if secured
- Support the implementation and ongoing delivery of the insurance client's programmatic and direct publisher activity
- Complete an effective handover from existing team members and suppliers
- Identify immediate delivery risks and create clear mitigation plans
Wider Paid Media support
- Support Paid Social and Paid Search activity where needed
- Be comfortable working across LinkedIn, Meta, Google Ads and other major paid platforms
- Review campaign structures, media plans, budgets and creative requirements
- Provide quality assurance across campaign setups, reports and client deliverables
- Help the team manage periods of high workload or complex campaign launches
- Work collaboratively with Paid Search, Paid Social, SEO, Analytics and broader Digital Marketing colleagues
Client and account leadership
- Act as a credible senior point of contact for clients when required
- Translate client objectives into practical media plans and delivery requirements
- Lead or support weekly status calls, campaign planning meetings and performance reviews
- Communicate delivery risks, dependencies and decisions clearly
- Build confidence with senior stakeholders while remaining close to the operational detail
- Support account growth by identifying opportunities to improve or expand client activity
Planning, process and commercial control
- Map each client's agreed scope to specific activities, deliverables and owners
- Create a clear monthly operating rhythm for recurring and campaign based work
- Estimate the time and resource required before work begins
- Track effort against client scope and highlight over servicing early
- Maintain accurate media plans, budget trackers, campaign status documents and delivery plans
- Support monthly finance reconciliation, forecasting and billing information
- Improve briefing, trafficking, QA, reporting and campaign handover processes
- Help clarify which activities should sit internally and which should be handled by external suppliers
Team support and development
- Work closely with the existing Paid Media team
- Provide practical coaching and quality assurance without creating unnecessary dependency
- Help junior and mid level team members develop stronger programmatic and campaign management skills
- Support the team to plan work before delivery and maintain clear visibility of priorities, capacity and blockers
- Contribute positively during a period of organisational change
New business
- Support new business proposals, pitches and client growth opportunities
- Help develop media strategies, channel recommendations, budgets and delivery estimates
- Ensure proposed scopes are realistic, deliverable and commercially sustainable
- Be available to support future Digital Marketing opportunities beyond the existing Paid portfolio
Essential experience
Candidates must demonstrate:
- Strong recent hands on experience of programmatic campaign delivery
- Advanced working knowledge of DV360 and Campaign Manager 360
- Experience personally trafficking, launching, optimising and reporting on campaigns
- Strong understanding of display, video, YouTube and programmatic buying
- Experience with conversion tracking, Floodlight, attribution and campaign measurement
- Direct to publisher media planning or buying experience
- Experience managing budgets, pacing, optimisation and reporting
- Strong quality assurance and troubleshooting skills
- Experience working across multiple clients in an agency environment
- The ability to manage senior client relationships confidently
- Strong Excel or Google Sheets skills and confidence working with media plans and financial trackers
- The ability to move between strategic thinking and hands on execution
- Strong organisation, prioritisation and communication skills
- Immediate credibility with an experienced Paid Media team
Broader channel experience
The ideal candidate will also have practical knowledge of several of the following:
- LinkedIn Campaign Manager
- Meta Ads Manager
- Google Ads
- Paid Search
- Paid Social
- SA360
- GA4
- YouTube
- Connected TV
- Programmatic audio or digital out of home
- IAS or other brand safety and verification tools
- Amazon DSP or The Trade Desk
Preferred sector experience
Experience with any of the following would be helpful but is not essential:
- Enterprise B2B
- Technology
- Financial services
- Insurance
- Mobility or transport
- International and multi market campaigns
- Regulated or compliance sensitive clients
What success looks like in the first month
The freelancer should:
- Complete a structured handover of all relevant programmatic activity
- Ensure the two priority accounts have clear ownership and no delivery gaps
- Confirm that all live campaigns are correctly set up, paced, tracked and reported
- Produce an account by account view of scope, tasks, owners and delivery requirements
- Identify delivery, capability and commercial risks
- Establish a clear monthly operating rhythm across priority accounts
- Reduce reliance on ad hoc escalation and undocumented knowledge
- Recommend where the agency needs permanent, freelance or supplier support longer term
Candidate profile
The right person is likely to be operating at experienced Account Manager, Senior Account Manager or Account Director level, but must still enjoy hands on delivery.
We do not want:
- A pure media planner who only briefs activation teams
- A pure client services lead who is not comfortable inside the platforms
- A narrow trader who cannot manage clients or broader media requirements
- Someone who needs a large support team around them to deliver
We need someone who can independently diagnose a problem, create a plan, execute the work and communicate clearly with clients and colleagues.
How to apply
To be considered for this role, please contact The Work Crowd with the following information:
- Current CV
- Earliest available start date
- Notice period
- Day rate
- UK location and working location requirements
- Confirmation of full time availability
- Details of recent hands on DV360 and CM360 experience
- Examples of campaigns personally set up and managed
- Details of direct publisher, paid social and paid search experience
- Experience managing large or complex client accounts
- Confirmation of willingness to support new business and wider team requirements
- Two relevant references where available
Skills
Industry Sectors
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