Sales Strategy & Operations Lead, Programmatic Sales

Overview

You own sales strategy and operations for Pinterest's programmatic sales organization, which includes the recently acquired tvScientific (CTV advertising platform). You're building the GTM motion from the ground up - defining how this team goes to market, structuring territories, implementing systems, and optimizing processes. This is less "maintain steady state" and more "figure out what works."

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Public (NYSE: PINS)

Size: ~13,400 employees

Growth: Pinterest acquired tvScientific to enter the CTV/programmatic space. This is a strategic bet on expanding beyond their core social advertising business. You're helping integrate and scale a newer revenue stream.

Market Position: Pinterest is the new player in programmatic CTV. You're competing against established platforms like The Trade Desk, Google DV360, Amazon DSP, and Roku. Buyers are used to those platforms - you're selling them on why Pinterest's audience data and tvScientific's tech is differentiated.

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

GTM Strategy & Planning (35%) | Process & System Design (30%) | Integration Projects (20%) | Stakeholder Management (15%)

Key Activities

• GTM Strategy Development: You're defining who the programmatic team sells to (agencies? brands? trading desks?), how they go to market (direct outbound? partner-led?), and what the sales process looks like. This isn't documented yet - you're creating it.
• Territory & Segmentation Design: You carve up the programmatic advertising market - which accounts are high-priority, how to segment by vertical or spend level, which reps cover which accounts. tvScientific may have had one model pre-acquisition; Pinterest may have had another. You're figuring out the hybrid.
• Systems Integration: The tvScientific team likely used different tools (CRM, data platforms, reporting) than Pinterest. You're leading the effort to get everyone on the same stack, migrate data, and build unified reporting. Expect data migration headaches.
• Playbook Creation: You document the programmatic sales process - how to pitch CTV buyers, handle RFPs, structure deals, respond to competitive questions. You're working with top reps to codify what works and train the rest of the team.
• Performance Analytics: You build dashboards to track pipeline health, win/loss rates, sales velocity, and revenue attainment. You're establishing the metrics this business unit will be judged on.
• Cross-functional Projects: You coordinate with Product (new CTV ad formats), Marketing (programmatic messaging), Finance (revenue forecasting), and Legal (programmatic contract terms). You're the glue between functions.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Post-Acquisition Complexity: Integrating tvScientific into Pinterest means merging two cultures, two tech stacks, and two GTM approaches. People have different ways of doing things. Getting alignment is slow and politically sensitive.
• Building from Scratch: There's no established playbook here. You're figuring out what works through trial and error. Some of your strategies will fail. Leadership will expect you to pivot quickly.
• Technical Learning Curve: Programmatic advertising is complex - DSPs, SSPs, RTB, data clean rooms, measurement methodologies. If you don't come from ad tech, you'll spend months just learning the landscape.
• Competing for Resources: Pinterest has multiple sales priorities (core Pinterest ads, shopping, now programmatic). You're competing for engineering resources, product roadmap attention, and marketing support. You won't always get what you need.
• Unclear Success Metrics: Because this is new, what "good" looks like isn't well-defined. You might build a process that works, but if the product-market fit isn't there yet, your operational wins won't translate to revenue. That's frustrating.

What Success Looks Like

• Programmatic sales team hits their 2026 revenue target (likely aggressive given it's a strategic priority)
• You successfully integrate tvScientific into Pinterest's systems and processes without major disruptions
• Sales cycle length and win rates improve quarter over quarter as you optimize the motion
• New hire ramp time is defined and efficient - people know what to do and how to win
• Your GTM strategy gets adopted and referenced by leadership as the model for how to sell programmatic

Who You're Supporting

Primary Stakeholders:

• Programmatic sales leadership (likely a hybrid of tvScientific leaders and Pinterest sales execs)
• Programmatic AEs and SEs selling CTV/programmatic inventory
• Sales Strategy & Operations leadership (Alexis and team)
• Product and Engineering (for roadmap prioritization)
• Finance (for forecasting and business planning)

What They Care About:

• Sales Leadership: Scaling revenue quickly, proving out the programmatic bet, retaining tvScientific talent
• Reps: Clear guidance on who to sell to, how to position, what deals to prioritize
• Product: Feedback on what features are needed to win deals, competitive intelligence
• Finance: Accurate forecasts, understanding unit economics, tracking acquisition ROI
• Execs: Proof that the tvScientific acquisition was worth it, path to becoming a major programmatic player

Requirements

• 5-7 years in sales strategy, sales operations, or GTM roles (ad tech, martech, or SaaS)
• Experience with programmatic advertising or CTV advertising (DSPs, SSPs, measurement platforms)
• Track record building sales processes and systems for new or scaling business units
• Strong analytical skills - you're defining metrics, building models, and forecasting revenue
• Post-acquisition integration experience is a big plus (merging teams, systems, processes)
• Project management skills - you're juggling 5-10 initiatives at once with unclear timelines
• Comfortable with ambiguity and rapid change - this role will evolve as the business matures
• Salesforce and sales tech stack experience required