Darkroom, the AI marketing agency building what it calls an AI-native operating system for modern advertising, is making a clear statement about how it plans to scale. The company has hired Liza Ramos as Director of People, betting that culture, retention, and talent systems are just as critical as technology in the race to redefine performance marketing.

Ramos joins Darkroom with a résumé rooted in elite creative shops and fast-growing brands—experience the agency believes is essential as it pushes toward its 2026 goal of becoming the first truly AI-native advertising agency.

A People Leader From the Creative Trenches

Most recently, Ramos served as Director of Recruiting at Droga5, where she led full-cycle recruiting across Accenture Song’s marketing group, including Droga5 and ConcentricLife. In that role, she managed recruiting teams and partnered with senior leadership to scale creatively driven, high-impact teams across multiple markets and specialized disciplines.

Before Droga5, Ramos held senior people and talent leadership roles at Nutrafol, where she was Senior Director of Talent Acquisition, and at Mekanism, where she served as Head of Talent. Across those roles, she built recruiting systems designed not just to fill seats, but to support long-term performance and business outcomes—an approach that aligns closely with Darkroom’s philosophy.

Why Darkroom Is Investing in Retention Now

Darkroom CEO Lucas DiPietrantonio has been explicit about why this hire matters. In his view, employee retention is a leading indicator of a great culture—and in an agency, culture is leverage.

“Agency businesses are people businesses,” DiPietrantonio has said, arguing that the real compounding advantage comes from investing in experts over time rather than cycling through talent. Bringing Ramos on as Director of People gives that belief clear ownership, with a mandate focused on retention, growth paths, and building a place people want to stay as the company scales.

In a market where agencies often struggle with burnout and churn, Darkroom’s move signals a longer-term view: growth without stability is fragile, especially as AI accelerates the pace of work.

Balancing Performance With Humanity

For Ramos, the role is about designing systems that don’t trade humanity for speed. She says her focus at Darkroom is building a people function that supports high performance without losing sight of the individual.

“One of the ways I’m planning to make a meaningful impact at Darkroom is by building a hiring and team experience that feels both high-performing and deeply human,” Ramos said. That starts with a recruiting engine capable of consistently attracting talent aligned with Darkroom’s standards, pace, and ambition—while also creating clarity, support, and room to thrive once people are inside the organization.

Her broader goal is to help the agency scale with intention: keeping the bar high, strengthening culture as headcount grows, and ensuring employees feel connected to Darkroom’s mission, not just its output.

People Strategy Meets an AI-Native Ambition

The timing of the hire is telling. Darkroom is accelerating toward a 2026 vision centered on building the first AI-native advertising agency, pairing elite marketing and creative talent with a unified AI workspace.

The agency’s growth marketing model is designed to reduce execution friction and information loss across omnichannel campaigns. By automating repetitive work and streamlining collaboration, Darkroom aims to shift marketers’ time toward higher-leverage decisions that directly drive revenue.

That vision doesn’t eliminate the need for talent—it raises the bar. As AI handles more execution, the value of experienced operators, strategic thinkers, and creative leaders increases. Ramos’s role is to ensure Darkroom can attract, develop, and retain those people in a more automated, faster-moving environment.

Beyond Traditional Performance Marketing

Darkroom’s broader strategy blends technology, finance, and creative in ways many agencies weren’t built to support. The company works with consumer brands across direct-to-consumer channels, marketplaces like Amazon, and emerging platforms, including TikTok Shop.

As the agency expands into these areas, people systems become a scaling constraint—or a competitive advantage. Ramos will focus on refining talent acquisition for digital marketing roles, leveling up onboarding and development, and supporting a high-performance environment designed for a future where marketers spend less time executing tasks and more time directing, reviewing, and making bigger strategic bets.

The Bigger Picture

Darkroom’s hire underscores a shift playing out across modern agencies: AI may be changing how work gets done, but people strategy is still central to competitive advantage. Technology can compress timelines and unlock efficiency, but culture determines whether that efficiency compounds—or collapses under pressure.

By bringing in a seasoned people leader from the creative and brand world, Darkroom is signaling that its AI-native ambitions won’t come at the expense of human systems. Instead, it’s betting that the next generation of agencies will win by aligning advanced technology with equally intentional talent design.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.