Activation Director: Search & Social/Programmatic

Starcom Australia; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wholeself program

Flexible office environment

Access to Marcel AI Platform

Learning & Development programs

Career Conversations program

Diversity & Inclusion committees

Leave benefits including Birthday and

6 weeks remote_work

Job summary

Starcom Australia, part of Publicis Groupe, is seeking an Activation Director to lead the activation craft across client engagements, ensuring ROI and outcomes from media investment through quality execution, governance and delivery.

You will guide senior clients, develop market-leading activation strategies, and coach the activation team to deliver performance, ethics and innovation across Search, Social and Programmatic.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in activation disciplines, including Search & Social and/or Programmatic.
• Strong understanding of the Australian media landscape and how market dynamics influence activation outcomes.
• Ability to translate performance data and market trends into actionable activation strategy and client recommendations.
• Proven ability to lead, inspire and develop high performing teams through coaching, training, growth planning and career conversations.
• Strong stakeholder influence and ability to manage upwards and across leadership teams.
• Commercial and financial acumen including forecasting, invoicing accuracy, governance, audit requirements and KPI delivery.
• High competence in operational workflow oversight, quality control and process improvement across activation delivery.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills to articulate complex strategies and insights to clients, partners and internal stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior thought leadership and activation expertise, guiding clients through new opportunities in the evolving media landscape.
• Develop and deliver formal presentations on market landscape trends, insights and activation innovations.
• Build exceptionally strong relationships with senior clients and establish effective operating rhythms and ways of working.
• Act as a primary escalation point for client and media related issues, ensuring timely resolution while maintaining strong relationships
• Identify opportunities to leverage broader agency capabilities to solve client challenges and deepen partnership
• Lead and inspire the activation team, setting standards for delivery excellence, operational discipline and craft reputation across the agency.
• Manage, coach and nurture the Activation team, supporting skill development, accountability and career growth.
• Develop best in class playbooks, operating standards, and market-leading first-party tools that improve activation quality and efficiency.
• Provide market overview summaries and bring industry-leading thinking into activation recommendations and operational practices.
• Lead strategic initiatives that refine benchmarking processes using internal and external tools to maximise client outcomes.
• Identify and integrate new activation capabilities and products to improve effectiveness and efficiency.
• Be accountable for delivery of client contractual and commercial KPIs, including audit requirements and documented learnings/recommendations.
• Lead (or oversee) negotiation frameworks, investment strategies and annual media deal inputs where relevant to activation outcomes and value delivery.
• Oversee the process for media audit reporting and contract KPI tracking, maintaining strong stakeholder relationships with auditors/procurement as required.
• Lead monthly forecasting alignment with client leadership to ensure delivery against commitments and commercial performance.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with media vendors/platform partners and ensure clear briefing/feedback practices

Skills

Activation expertise

Media activation

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Forecasting

Client relationships

Job description

Starcom Australia, part of Publicis Groupe, is seeking an Activation Director to lead the activation craft across client engagements, ensuring ROI and outcomes from media investment through quality execution, governance and delivery.

You will guide senior clients, develop market-leading activation strategies, and coach the activation team to deliver performance, ethics and innovation across Search, Social and Programmatic.