Head of Industry, Retail
Viant Technology
$225,000 - $250,000 / year
Need a reasonable accommodation to apply or interview? Contact us.
JobMinglr uses automated technology to recommend jobs based on profile information and job preferences. Match Score does not determine eligibility for a position, prevent a user from viewing or applying to a job, or make hiring decisions on behalf of an employer.
Description
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Viant has established strong momentum across the Retail industry and is seeking a Head of Industry, Retail to accelerate growth within one of our most strategic verticals. This executive leader will expand brand-direct demand, deepen agency adoption, and strengthen Viant's position as the leading AI-powered programmatic platform for retail marketers by delivering innovative identity, measurement, and omnichannel advertising solutions.
This role requires 15+ years of advertising experience and a minimum of 5+ years working with retail brands in a brand-direct, agency, or ad technology environment. The ideal candidate has a proven track record of building executive relationships, driving category revenue, and developing high-performing go-to-market teams. Working cross-functionally with Sales, Product, Business Development, Marketing, and Measurement, this leader will help shape Viant's Retail strategy while accelerating growth across brick-and-mortar, ecommerce, omnichannel, and specialty retailers.
THE DAY-TO-DAY
- Scale Viant's Retail business by expanding strategic relationships with leading retailers across department stores, specialty retail, ecommerce, grocery, home improvement, apparel, RMNs, and other retail categories.
- Position Viant as the premier AI-powered programmatic platform for retail marketers by evangelizing our identity, content, attention and omnichannel advertising capabilities.
- Drive industry awareness through thought leadership, executive presentations, industry conferences, and client education.
- Own and grow brand-direct demand while partnering with the broader sales organization to accelerate agency adoption across the Retail category.
- Develop and execute a category-specific go-to-market strategy that increases Viant's presence within key retail marketing organizations and annual media budgets.
- Partner with agencies and retail advertisers to help them navigate evolving consumer behavior, commerce media, identity, and measurement trends while positioning Viant as the platform of choice.
- Recruit, mentor, and scale a high-performing team of Retail-focused sales leaders and account professionals.
- Define category success metrics and lead execution against ambitious revenue, adoption, and growth objectives.
- Serve as the executive face of Viant's Retail business at client meetings, executive briefings, and industry events.
- Partner closely with Product and Business Development teams to develop innovative retail advertising solutions, commerce partnerships, audience capabilities, and measurement offerings that strengthen Viant's competitive position.
GREAT TO HAVE
- 15+ years of advertising experience, including at least 5+ years supporting retail marketers.
- Deep expertise across retail categories, including ecommerce, specialty retail, grocery, department stores, home improvement, apparel, or omnichannel retail.
- Strong understanding of programmatic advertising, including CTV, Online Video, Display, Mobile, Streaming Audio, and Digital Out-of-Home.
- Experience with commerce media, retail media networks, omnichannel attribution, customer data strategies, or loyalty marketing is highly preferred.
- Proven success building executive brand-direct relationships and expanding programmatic investment within leading retail organizations.
- Experience hiring, developing, and leading high-performing go-to-market teams within ad tech, digital media, or enterprise technology.
- Strategic, analytical mindset with the ability to translate evolving retail and consumer trends into measurable advertising solutions.
- Exceptional communication and executive presentation skills with experience representing organizations at industry events and executive client engagements.
LIFE AT VIANT
Investing in our employees' professional growth is important to us, but so is investing in their well-being. That's why Viant was voted one of the best places to work and some of our favorite employee benefits include fully paid health insurance, paid parental leave, unlimited PTO, and more.
Base compensation range: $225,000 - $250,000
In accordance with applicable state law, the range provided is Viant's reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role. Final title and compensation for the position will be based on several factors including work experience and education.
Viant Technology (NASDAQ: DSP) is an exclusively buy-side, AI-powered advertising platform purpose-built for CTV. Viant uniquely combines proprietary content intelligence, household-level identity resolution, and person-level attention signals to connect advertisers with real customers and drive measurable outcomes across the open internet. Through its award-winning AI solutions, Viant is building the future of autonomous advertising, where AI doesn't just assist the campaign, it delivers real results. Learn more at viantinc.com.
About this role
Viant is looking for an executive leader to build out its Retail business as a strategic growth priority. You'd own the full P&L for this vertical, expanding relationships with major retailers across ecommerce, specialty, grocery, department stores, and other segments while positioning Viant's AI-powered programmatic platform—particularly its identity, measurement, and omnichannel capabilities—as the category standard. This combines business development at the C-suite level with hands-on go-to-market execution, requiring you to evangelize the platform through thought leadership and industry presence while also partnering with Sales, Product, and Business Development to shape retail-specific solutions.
The role demands deep roots in retail advertising: at least 15 years in advertising overall, with 5+ years specifically supporting retail brands or working in retail-focused ad tech. You should have a track record building executive relationships, scaling revenue within a category, and leading high-performing sales teams. Familiarity with programmatic channels (CTV, video, display, audio, DOOH), commerce media networks, retail media, and omnichannel attribution is expected; experience with customer data and loyalty marketing strengthens your candidacy.
Based in Chicago and in-office, this position offers a $225,000–$250,000 base salary, along with fully paid health insurance, paid parental leave, and unlimited PTO. It's a role for someone ready to own a major vertical at a public, AI-focused ad tech company and build a team around it.
How this employer is doing
average
- H1B: Sponsors Visas
- Financial News
- Sponsors Visas
In the news
Viant Technology Q2 Earnings Call Highlights, Yahoo Finance
This role's local market on JobMinglr
Pay for this role
$225,000 to $250,000 per year
That is the employer's posted range, and where you land in it is usually decided in one conversation. Before that conversation, run the numbers: analyze an offer for this role.
Before you apply, worth reading
How JobMinglr reads this job
Every listing here is scored against your profile before you apply: skills overlap, experience level, location and work arrangement, each weighted and explained. You see the score and the reasons, not just a list. How the matching works.