Associate Director, CDP & Data Activation

Hybrid US-based*

*Hybrid Requirements: Employees within 40 miles of a physical office location must be present in office 2 days a week.

Office Locations: San Diego CA & Denver CO

For over 15 years 85SIXTY has been helping clients transform the way they reach acquire and engage with their customers through an integrated combination of data technology cross-channel strategies and creative thinking. Some might call us a full-service digital consultancy but we like to think of ourselves as a partner that can both drive strategy and orchestrate delivery. Founded in 2010 by a veteran in retail eCommerce and digital 85SIXTY was built around a consultative high-touch approach that allows us to work across a broad spectrum of areas to increase our value to our customers. We are supporting todays forward-thinking brands in their journey towards growth whether that be financially operationally and/or strategically. Solving whatever is thrown our way and translating it into simple solutions is at the core of 85SIXTY. We are looking for team members who fit that ethos.

85SIXTY is looking for an experienced Associate Director of CDP & Data Activation to join a growing practice at the intersection of customer data strategy composable architecture and cross-channel personalization.

This role blends consulting and solution design with hands-on execution. You will lead client engagements architect activation strategies and build audiences directly in-platform. You are equally comfortable presenting a first-party data roadmap to a CMO and configuring a reverse ETL sync in Hightouch. That range is what makes this role distinctive.

You will work across both packaged CDPs (Adobe Real-Time CDP Segment) and composable approaches. You bring the judgment to know which architecture fits a clients maturity stack and goals. Adaptability across tools platforms and industries is essential this role serves a diverse client portfolio across tourism hospitality and consumer lifestyle brands. No two engagements look the same.

Collaboration is central to how this role operates. You will work closely with teams responsible for data collection and tag management data engineering user experience and CRO CRM and lifecycle marketing and paid media ensuring that audience strategy and activation are connected to every layer of the customer experience.

As the CDP practice expands this role is positioned to grow with it. You will contribute to developing a team of audience strategists reverse ETL specialists data engineers and agentic activation specialists that shape the frameworks standards and points of view that define how 85SIXTY delivers in this space.

This is a hybrid role. 85SIXTY has offices in San Diego and Denver.

• Serve as a senior strategic and technical advisor for enterprise clients leading digital transformation initiatives across customer experience data strategy personalization and MarTech modernization.
• Lead executive workshops discovery sessions roadmap reviews architecture assessments and technical design discussions with VP- CMO- and CXO-level stakeholders guiding platform adoption and multi-phase solution strategies across scalable composable customer data and activation ecosystems spanning web app analytics CRM media and email aligned to CX transformation acquisition retention engagement operational efficiency and revenue growth serving as a trusted advisor throughout enterprise engagements.
• Architect and oversee implementations of customer data analytics and personalization platforms that unify CRM web app offline and media data for real-time activation.
• Develop scalable first-party data (1PD) strategies audience frameworks and cross-channel activation initiatives that drive compliant personalization improve conversion rates and engagement and deliver measurable marketing performance.
• Own and manage the full data activation layer including packaged CDPs (Adobe RTCDP Segment) composable/reverse ETL tools (Hightouch Rudderstack Census) and warehouse-to-activation pipelines building and maintaining audience segments configuring reverse ETL syncs and overseeing technical data flows from source systems to activation destinations including ESPs paid media platforms and CRMs.
• Advise clients on MarTech architecture governance vendor evaluations platform selection and long-term operating models.
• Align executive stakeholders technical teams and implementation partners while mitigating risks resolving dependencies and ensuring successful delivery across complex engagements.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams including strategists architects engineers analysts and platform specialists to ensure alignment between technical execution and business objectives.
• Mentor platform and operations teams responsible for audience operations governance activation QA and omni-channel enablement.
• Drive innovation and operational excellence through scalable frameworks reusable solutions and process optimization initiatives.
• Contribute to the agencys agentic activation capability.

• Bachelors degree in marketing data science computer science business or a related field; equivalent experience considered advanced degree or relevant platform certifications (Adobe Salesforce Segment) a plus
• 5 years of experience in CRM customer data strategy or MarTech consulting with at least 3 years in a senior client-facing or advisory role at an agency consultancy or enterprise brand
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise digital transformation engagements including stakeholder alignment roadmap development and multi-phase delivery across complex organizations
• Proven ability to present influence and build trust with VP- CMO- and CXO-level executives including facilitation of executive workshops architecture reviews and strategic planning sessions
• Hands-on platform experience with one or more packaged CDPs (Adobe Real-Time CDP Segment mParticle) and working knowledge of composable/reverse ETL tools such as Hightouch Census or RudderStack
• Practical experience architecting or overseeing implementations that unify CRM web app offline and media data for real-time audience activation and personalization
• Proficiency in cross-channel lifecycle marketing strategy including audience segmentation frameworks suppression logic frequency governance and omnichannel journey design
• Experience managing data flows between source systems and activation destinations including ESPs (Klaviyo Braze Iterable) paid media platforms and CRM tools
• Familiarity with warehouse-native data architectures and the ability to work alongside data engineers on SQL-based audience models dbt transforms and activation-ready data pipelines SQL literacy required; engineering-level coding not expected
• Experience advising clients on MarTech vendor evaluation platform selection and long-term governance models including the ability to build and present business cases for technology investment
• Working knowledge of first-party data strategy consent and privacy compliance (GDPR CCPA) identity resolution concepts and data collaboration frameworks (clean rooms data partnerships)
• Experience coordinating cross-functional delivery teams spanning strategists engineers analysts and platform specialists with a track record of keeping complex engagements on scope and on schedule
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and develop practitioners in audience operations activation QA and omnichannel enablement
• Familiarity with agentic AI frameworks AI-assisted journey orchestration or automation tooling in a marketing context hands-on experience a plus intellectual curiosity and active learning a baseline requirement
• Experience developing reusable frameworks playbooks or accelerators that improve delivery efficiency across client engagements

• Competitive salary and benefits package.
  • Medical Dental Vision
  • Life / AD&D
  • FSA - Health / Dependent Care
  • Voluntary Life / AD&D
  • Retirement Plan
• FTO - Flexible Time Off
• Paid Holidays Annually: 13
• Opportunities for professional development and growth.
• Collaborative and dynamic work environment.
• Contribution to impactful and innovative projects in the digital space.

Compensation Disclaimer:

Compensation Range: $120000 - $140000 annually. Actual compensation is based on multiple factors that are unique to each candidate including and not limited to job-related knowledge level of relevant experience education skills and geographic location (to account for comparative cost of living). 85SIXTY reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time.

EEO Statement:

85SIXTY is an equal opportunity employer. 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.

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Director