Activation Operations Analyst, FreeWheel

FreeWheel, a Comcast company, provides comprehensive ad platforms for publishers, advertisers, and media buyers. Powered by premium video content, robust data, and advanced technology, we’re making it easier for buyers and sellers to transact across all screens, data types, and sales channels. As a global company, we have offices in nine countries and can insert advertisements around the world.

Job Summary

Activation Operations manages the post-activation lifecycle of programmatic Deal IDs once buyers have activated them.

This role monitors delivery, troubleshoots technical issues, and optimizes performance to ensure deals run smoothly and meet expectations. The team serves as the primary operational owner for live deals, collaborating closely with Sales, Account Management, the Inventory Desk, Business Intelligence, and other cross-functional teams to coordinate programmatic demand and supply across the FreeWheel ecosystem.

Sitting within the Programmatic Activation pillar, this role works in close coordination with Supply Activation and Demand Activation to support seamless deal performance post-activation through ongoing optimization and troubleshooting, ensuring deals deliver as expected and buyers achieve their campaign objectives.

Job Description

Core Responsibilities

Deal Monitoring & Delivery Management
• Monitor live Deal ID performance and delivery across DSPs, SSPs, and internal ad serving platforms
• Track key metrics including impressions, win rates, bid rates, spend, fill rate, and revenue performance
• Identify delivery issues such as under-delivery, pacing discrepancies, or bid suppression
• Ensure deals are delivering according to agreed targeting, pricing, and inventory parameters

Troubleshooting & Issue Resolution
• Investigate issues impacting live deals including deal not receiving bids, low win rate or unexpected bid behavior, DSP targeting mismatches, pricing/floor conflicts, and supply path or seat configuration issues
• Work with internal DSP traders, SSP partners, and internal product/engineering teams to resolve technical problems
• Diagnose issues across platforms such as bid requests, deal targeting, inventory eligibility, and auction dynamics

Optimization & Performance Improvement
• Analyze performance trends and proactively recommend optimizations
• Recommend configuration adjustments and optimizations including deal priority, floor pricing, inventory packages, and targeting parameters
• Identify opportunities to increase delivery, revenue, and buyer satisfaction
• Devise new tactics, strategies, and frameworks for optimization to be used by both external and internal customers

Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Partner closely with Sales and Account Management for deal expectations
• Collaborate with Product to roll out new programmatic products, features, and capabilities
• Collaborate with programmatic strategy teams on deal performance insights and with Product/Engineering for platform troubleshooting
• Provide operational support for escalations from buyers or internal stakeholders

Reporting & Insights
• Build and maintain post-activation reporting dashboards
• Deliver insights on delivery trends, buyer behavior, and auction dynamics impacting deals
• Provide regular updates on deal health and performance to internal teams
• Analyze bid data to resolve technical bid activity issues
• Review and analyze bid data and historical marketplace activity to improve PMP performance and delivery

AI-Assisted Operations & Workflow Innovation
• Leverage AI-assisted tools such as Microsoft Copilot, Glean, and large language models to enhance operational efficiency and analytical capabilities
• Apply AI-driven approaches to streamline reporting, documentation, deal analysis, and troubleshooting workflows
• Utilize AI tools to identify patterns in deal performance data and surface optimization opportunities more quickly
• Stay current on emerging AI capabilities and integrate them into day-to-day operational processes where applicable

Process Improvement & Operational Excellence
• Develop and document standard operating procedures for post-activation deal monitoring
• Identify recurring issues and recommend workflow improvement to scale operational efficiency as deal volume grows
• Provide troubleshooting and QA support to address campaign performance issues
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned

Minimum Qualifications

• 2-5 years of experience in programmatic advertising operations, digital advertising analytics, or technical ad operations roles with strong programmatic knowledge
• Strong understanding of Deal IDs, PMP deals, programmatic guaranteed, and open auction dynamics
• Deep knowledge of the programmatic ecosystem, including SSP and ad server technologies, DSPs, auction mechanics, identity and addressability, and cross-platform video supply
• Familiarity with major DSPs (e.g., The Trade Desk, Google DV360)
• Familiarity with SSPs/exchanges (e.g., Magnite, PubMatic)
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to work confidently across large, diverse data sets to quickly identify delivery issues and trends
• Proficiency with analytics and reporting tools (e.g., Looker or similar BI dashboards)
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills
• Experience working cross-functionally with sales, buyers, and technical teams
• Strong communication skills for translating technical issues into clear explanations
• Detail-oriented with strong operational rigor
• Comfortable managing large volumes of live deals simultaneously
• Proactive mindset for identifying issues before buyers escalate
• Ability to work independently with moderate guidance while knowing when to escalate
• Highly organized and self-motivated with a track record of delivering against goals
• Comfort working with AI-assisted tools and a demonstrated willingness to integrate AI into day-to-day workflows (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, Glean, large language models)
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working within or alongside programmatic deal operations, yield management, or marketplace optimization environments
• Familiarity with CTV supply chain workflows, including programmatic deal types (PMP, PG, open exchange), and marketplace dynamics
• Hands-on experience with deal troubleshooting, performance analysis, or programmatic ad operations
• Experience contributing to cross-functional product feedback loops or participating in product roadmap discussions
• Experience using AI tools beyond basic prompting - such as building structured workflows, automating documentation or reporting tasks, or applying AI approaches to operational processes
• Familiarity with SQL is a plus but not required — we're glad to support growth here, and increasingly leverage AI tools to assist with querying and data analysis
• Advanced Excel skills including pivot tables, VLOOKUP, and data visualization
• Experience with SharePoint for documentation and knowledge management
• Background in process improvement methodologies or operational efficiency initiatives

Employees at all levels are expected to:
Understand our Operating Principles; make them the guidelines for how you do your job.
Own the customer experience - think and act in ways that put our customers first, give them seamless digital options at every touchpoint, and make them promoters of our products and services.
Know your stuff - be enthusiastic learners, users and advocates of our game-changing technology, products and services, especially our digital tools and experiences.
Win as a team - make big things happen by working together and being open to new ideas.
Be an active part of the Net Promoter System - a way of working that brings more employee and customer feedback into the company - by joining huddles, making call backs and helping us elevate opportunities to do better for our customers.
Drive results and growth.
Support a culture of inclusion in how you work and lead.
Do what's right for each other, our customers, investors and our communities.

Disclaimer:
This information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees in this role. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications.

Skills

Cross-Functional Teamwork, Insight Reporting, Operational Excellence, Process Improvements

Compensation

Primary Location Pay Range: $71,910.72 - $107,866.08

Comcast intends to offer the selected candidate base pay within this range, dependent on job-related, non-discriminatory factors such as experience. The application window is 30 days from the date job is posted, unless the number of applicants requires it to close sooner or later.

Base pay is one part of the Total Rewards that Comcast provides to compensate and recognize employees for their work.    Most sales positions are eligible for a Commission under the terms of an applicable plan, while most non-sales positions are eligible for a Bonus.  Additionally, Comcast provides best-in-class Benefits to eligible employees.  We believe that benefits should connect you to the support you need when it matters most, and should help you care for those who matter most.  That’s why we provide an array of options, expert guidance and always-on tools, that are personalized to meet the needs of your reality – to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. Please visit the compensation and benefits summary on our careers site for more details.

Education

Bachelor's Degree

While possessing the stated degree is preferred, Comcast also may consider applicants who hold some combination of coursework and experience, or who have extensive related professional experience.

Certifications (if applicable)

Relevant Work Experience

2-5 Years

Comcast is an equal opportunity workplace. We will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.