Commercial Director (AdTech)

Commercial Director / CCO at RichAds

Ownership of commercial growth across all ad products with full operational responsibility for revenue execution, team performance, and partner ecosystem. The role combines P&L accountability, hands-on dealmaking, and organizational scaling. ~70% of time is operational execution: weekly performance breakdowns, SSP negotiations, client reviews, and team hiring.

Key Responsibilities

• Operational Ownership of Revenue Growth
  • Take full operational control of commercial performance across all ad products
  • Remove day-to-day BAU management from CEO
  • Make fast decisions on launches, budgets, and campaigns (hours, not days)
  • Run weekly business reviews and execution tracking
• Portfolio Growth & Diversification
  • Deliver 2026 revenue plan (target: 100% execution)
  • Reduce client concentration risk and rebuild into a diversified portfolio: direct click, video/preroll, domain traffic, owned traffic, popunder
  • Ensure structural readiness for 2027 scaling
  • Target benchmarks: Top client ≤ 15% monthly spend, Top 5 clients ≤ 45%, Direct click ≥ 25% of spend, Push ≤ 50%, Pre-roll ≥ $5K/day, Owned traffic 2.5-3K/day.
• Team Leadership & Scaling
  • Direct management of AM / Sales team
  • Hiring, onboarding, and performance management
  • Build non-SPOF structure (team can operate independently for 4-6 weeks)
  • Develop at least 2 Senior AMs into Lead level
  • Establish scalable processes: documentation, handovers, performance reviews
  • Balance internal resource protection with strict performance accountability
• SSP & Partner Management
  • Lead negotiations with SSPs on pricing, exclusives, private deals, rebates
  • Onboard ≥ 3 new SSPs with ≥ $10K/month spend each
  • Reduce dependency on any single SSP to <25% of popunder spend
• Outbound & Client Acquisition
  • Build outbound engine (LinkedIn, Telegram, affiliate ecosystem)
  • Acquire ≥10 new paying clients/month per product line (3 products)
  • Maintain retention of new clients (P1-P3) ≥30%
• Reporting & Execution Discipline
  • Weekly CEO updates structured as: Facts - Bottlenecks - Next Steps
  • Data-driven reporting with strict focus on numbers and execution

Requirements

• AdTech Experience
  • 5+ years in programmatic / affiliate (DSP or SSP side)
  • Deep technical understanding of push, popunder, direct click, in-stream/preroll mechanics
  • Proven experience launching and scaling ad products to revenue targets
• Team & P&L Ownership
  • Management of AM/Sales teams (5+ people)
  • Full P&L responsibility for ≥$5M annual revenue business
  • Understanding of margins, infrastructure, and operational cost structure
• SSP & Negotiation Experience
  • Proven track record with SSPs
  • Experience negotiating rates, exclusives, and private deals
• Vertical Knowledge
  • Gambling, betting, casino, dating, antivirus/utilities, sweepstakes, crypto, finance
  • Strong understanding of CPC models, postbacks, advertiser KPIs
• Analytics
  • Ability to independently analyze cohorts, retention, win-rate, eCPM by SSP/geo/publisher
  • Delegates data collection but owns insights and conclusions
• AI & Automation
  • Use of AI tools (Claude/GPT) for analysis, reporting, and outbound generation
  • Experience automating operational workflows
• Outbound & Industry Knowledge
  • Experience building outbound pipelines (LinkedIn, Telegram)
  • Familiarity with affiliate ecosystem and conferences (iGB Affiliate, Affiliate World, SiGMA)
• Languages
  • English: Upper-Intermediate+
  • Russian: Native or near-native

Personal Traits and Culture Fit

• Direct communication style; no avoidance of hard truths
• High speed of decision-making under uncertainty
• Strong ownership mindset (no blame-shifting)
• Comfortable operating under pressure and revenue volatility
• Balances team protection with strict performance enforcement
• No hierarchical or political behavior