Technical Project Manager (AdTech Domain)
Madfish
IT, Operations
Remote
Posted on Oct 5, 2025
We are building a lightweight, fast-moving product layer in the AdTech space that enables clear reporting and efficient creative management. The TPM’s role is to turn raw DSP and advertising platform APIs into smooth user workflows and a simple, intuitive UI. You’ll manage staged releases and respond to ongoing feature needs from business stakeholders, bridging the gap between complex programmatic concepts and user-facing experiences.
Team: 2–3 Developers, 1 QA (design support on demand; PM prepares product flows/wireframes)
What You’ll Do
- Drive the entire delivery cycle for a compact, dynamic team: planning, backlog management, milestones, risk tracking, and release coordination.
- Transform open-ended requests into ready-to-ship features (e.g., “creative reporting” → defined metrics, filters, drilldowns, and interface flows).
- Analyze and interpret DSP and AdTech APIs (endpoints, structures, rate limits), align them with business logic, and identify gaps against user needs.
- Devise practical solutions or workarounds when APIs fall short of UX needs (e.g., aggregation, caching, enrichment, phased rollouts).
- Create flows and mockups in Figma (low/medium fidelity) to align developers and stakeholders; write clear tickets and acceptance criteria.
- Research competitors to suggest differentiators and guide a staged roadmap.
- Collaborate with external API providers to clarify limitations, exceptions, and extension opportunities.
- Work closely with engineers to ensure implementation is consistent with API constraints; unblock the team quickly with clear decisions.
- Join client calls to explain current features, constraints, and available options; balance scope and manage expectations.
- Organize staged releases (alpha → beta → GA), define success metrics, and iterate based on user adoption and feedback.
Must-Have Experience
- Deep knowledge of programmatic advertising, DSPs, and adtech workflows: auctions, pacing, targeting, throttling, and performance metrics (impressions, clicks, CTR, CPM, CPC, CPA, conversions, viewability, win rate, spend, frequency, reach, etc.).
- Understanding of ad formats (image, video, native, expandable, VAST/VPAID, HTML5) and how they influence measurement and API support.
- Strong API and data literacy: ability to read technical documentation/JSON and simplify into user-friendly UI/UX concepts.
- Proven ability to shape product features with incomplete requirements and justify trade-off decisions.
- Experience in short development cycles and staged rollouts, balancing quick wins with structured delivery.
- Excellent communication skills for engaging with engineers, partners, and clients; structured updates and scope/risk negotiations.
Nice to Have
- Hands-on experience with major advertising platforms (e.g., DV360, The Trade Desk, Xandr, Yahoo, Amazon Ads).
- Direct work with DSPs and understanding of their APIs and ecosystems.
- Background in building analytics and reporting dashboards (dimensions, pivots, drilldowns, time-series).
- Familiarity with Postman/Insomnia, SQL basics, JSON transformations, and API mocking.
- Awareness of attribution models, viewability standards (MRC), brand safety, and privacy regulations (GDPR/CCPA/COPPA).
- Previous work in small teams/startups delivering products from idea to scale (0→1 and 1→N).