Director, Curation & Activation Partnerships

About the Role

Equativ is seeking a commercially driven Director, Curation & Activation Partnerships to grow Maestro, our programmatic curation and media activation platform, across North America.

The role develops agency and holding-company partnerships, helping programmatic and curation teams build scalable strategies while exploring AI-powered and agentic media activation.

This hands-on individual contributor owns revenue growth and long-term partnerships. Curation expertise isn't required from day one; commercial judgment, programmatic knowledge, curiosity, and the ability to turn technology into business opportunities matter most.

What You'll Do

Build & Grow Strategic Agency Partnerships

• Build relationships with agency programmatic, investment, trading, data, and curation teams.

• Help agencies use Maestro to launch curation offerings, activate data, access differentiated supply, and unlock value.

• Develop white-label and co-branded curation partnership opportunities.

• Partner with Customer Success to move agreements into successful onboarding and activation.

• Expand relationships across agency teams, brands, markets, and use cases.

Develop Market & Ecosystem Knowledge

• Develop expertise in Maestro, curation, and evolving agency buying strategies.

• Track programmatic developments across DSPs, SSPs, identity, audience data, contextual targeting, and supply-path optimization.

• Understand AI-driven advertising, agentic media planning and buying, Model Context Protocol (MCP), and Ad Context Protocol (AdCP), and their potential for media activation.

• Translate emerging technologies, data partnerships, and market insights into differentiated curation opportunities.

Contribute to Go-to-Market Strategy

• Align with the VP, Curation Activation on target agencies, priority segments, and growth opportunities.

• Own a pipeline of agency partnerships, from prospecting and negotiations through activation, revenue generation, and expansion.

• Work with Marketing, Product, Customer Success, and Demand Sales to accelerate adoption and growth.

• Represent Equativ at industry events, agency meetings, and networking opportunities.

• Bring client feedback and competitive insights into Maestro's go-to-market and product strategy.

Who You Are

• 5+ years of experience in programmatic advertising, digital media, business development, or agency partnerships.

• Track record of developing partnerships, winning business, and growing revenue.

• Understanding of agencies and holding companies, including programmatic planning, buying, and activation.

• Knowledge of DSPs, SSPs, and programmatic deal structures.

• Familiarity with audience data, contextual signals, and data-driven advertising.

• Strong communication and negotiation skills across commercial and technical stakeholders.

• Experience managing a sales pipeline and delivering against revenue targets.

• Curious, adaptable, and eager to learn emerging advertising technologies.

Nice to Have

• Experience with programmatic curation, curated marketplaces, or data-driven activation.

• Relationships with North American agency programmatic, investment, or curation teams.

• Experience with holding-company trading desks or agency technology and data teams.

• Exposure to data providers, contextual platforms, or content intelligence.

• Experience with technology partnerships, white-label offerings, or reseller models.

• Familiarity with CTV, retail media, AI-powered advertising, agentic workflows, MCP, or AdCP.