Vice President, Advertising Finance

As a key member of the Dotdash Meredith finance team, the VP, Advertising Finance will provide financial management and strategic decision support for the digital advertising business. They will oversee a team of three to five finance professionals and will partner closely with DDM's advertising and finance leadership. They will manage the overall P&L of the advertising business, focused on top line revenue growth drivers as well as direct and indirect costs and contribution margin. The VP, Advertising Finance will develop revenue forecasts with an informed point of view on key inputs, and be able to explain variances between projections and actual results. They will manage the contribution margin of the ad business by forecasting and tracking variable ad cost trends as well as sales team payroll and related costs. Further, they will be responsible for developing category and product P&L’s and performance-based dashboards. 

This position is hybrid in-office, with the ability to work remotely for up to 2 days per week.

About The Team | The Team and/or Brand.

The Advertising Finance team is lean, super efficient and reports through the Finance Organization. The team partners closely with the Sales and Sales Strategy & Operations teams supporting both DDM’s advertising and finance leadership.

About The Positions Contributions | Accountabilities, Actions and Expected Measurable Results.

Sessions Forecast

• Develop models to track and forecast session (traffic) trends by brand and by source

• Understand and explain key drivers of sessions variances

• Identify seasonal patterns and impacts of market or algorithm changes

• Prepare regular monthly metrics reports as well as ad hoc analysis for senior management

• Own the preparation of and controls for publicly-reported sessions metrics

Ad Revenue Forecast

• Develop detailed driver-based models used to forecast digital ad revenue by channel

• Perform scenario analysis leading to a monthly forecast submission; explaining variances between forecast and actuals and reporting on key performance metric trends

• Track daily ad performance and prepare weekly trending projections

• Develop and update dashboards to provide visibility on overall performance trends

Variable Ad Cost Management

• Forecast and track costs directly tied to ad revenue including custom content creation, traffic acquisition, ad serving and ad data expense

• Explain variances between actuals and forecast and identify trends in ad channel or product mix that impact contribution margin; identifying opportunities to drive margin efficiency

Advertising Department Cost Management

• Own overall budget and forecast for advertising function payroll and related costs

• Provide position management and human resources business partner support for sales and sales support functions

• Manage discretionary budgets for advertising sales & marketing team including T&E, client entertainment, training and trade promotion and marketing

The Role’s Minimum Qualifications and Job Requirements:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Statistics, Data Analytics, Business Administration, or related field or equivalent training and/or experience preferred

Experience:

• 10+ years experience in digital media or related advertising-adjacent industry

Specific Knowledge, Skills, Certifications and Abilities:

• Exceptional quantitative analysis and excel skills

• Ability to adapt to a highly dynamic and fluid environment

• Results oriented, team player who works seamlessly across teams and levels