Senior Associate, OOH Direct Activation

WPP Media Limited; Toronto; Hybride; CAD 90 000 - 120 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Medical insurance

Retirement plans

Vision & dental insurance

Paid time off

Employee discounts

Mental health days

Résumé du poste

WPP Media in Toronto is seeking an experienced Manager, Direct Activation OOH to lead investment strategy and premium OOH buys. You will manage senior client and planning relationships, drive cross-functional workflows, and coach a team of Associates in a hybrid Toronto setting.

The role blends media strategy, negotiation, and operations, requiring strong leadership, financial discipline, and a data-driven approach to optimize client outcomes.

Qualifications

• 4–6+ years of progressive media buying, planning, or investment experience within an advertising agency, with leadership in OOH.
• Proven ability to mentor junior planners, buyers, or coordinators.
• Strong negotiation and client presentation skills.

Responsabilités

• Lead investment strategy for all OOH formats and negotiate pricing and value.
• Manage senior relationships with major OOH vendors and JBPs.
• Direct, develop, and mentor the activation team and define workload.
• Oversee end-to-end workflows in Prisma from buy to billing reconciliation.
• Ensure financial integrity through reconciliations and audit adherence.
• Collaborate with planning, ad ops, and client leadership for seamless delivery.
• Direct audience analysis, PCA reviews, and post-campaign insights.

Connaissances

OOH media buying

Leadership

Negotiation

Client presentations

Campaign analysis

Strategic thinking

Outils

MediaOcean

COMMB

Vividata

Description du poste

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by ourpioneeringagentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth.

WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.

WPP Media is looking for an experienced, strategic, and high-impact media professional to join our team as Manager, Direct Activation OOH in Toronto. In this role, you will be the primary activation and investment lead, orchestrating first-class OOH buys, while also directly managing relationships with client and planning leads. You will drive holistic investment strategies, lead high-stakes partner negotiations, ensure operational and financial excellence, and actively coach and mentor a team of Associates.

This role sits at the intersection of media strategy, commercial negotiation, and operational leadership, requiring someone who excels at building media partner relationships and translating client business goals into top-tier media investments.

HOW YOU WILL MAKE AN IMPACT

• Strategic Investment & High-Level Negotiation
• Lead Investment Strategy: Oversee and drive the development of comprehensive media investment recommendations across all formats of OOH,ensuring alignment with client business objectives.
• Commercial Leadership: Secure competitive pricing, added value, and priority placement for our clients.
• Media Partner Management: Cultivate and manage senior-level relationships with major OOH vendors. Lead Joint Business Partnerships (JBPs) and discover first-to-market opportunities.
• Team Leadership & Mentorship: Direct, develop, and mentor junior team members. Manage bandwidth, delegate responsibilities, conduct quality reviews, and foster career development.
• End-to-End Operational Governance: Oversee the team’s campaign workflows within Prisma from buy creation and traffic instructions through to billing reconciliation, ensuring zero-error execution.
• Financial Accountability: Own the end-to-end financial integrity of client accounts. Lead quarterly/annual reconciliations, resolve complex billing disputes, and ensure adherence to internal audit and client contract guidelines.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Strategic Planning, Ad Operations, and Client Leadership teams to build seamless workflows and ensure unified delivery of client expectations.
• Measurement, Performance & Audience Intelligence
• Audience Analytics: Direct the application of audience measurement platforms to analyze reach/frequency, competitive intelligence, and market consumption shifts.
• Pre- and Post-Campaign Intelligence: Oversee rigorous pre-buy validations and lead comprehensive Post-Campaign Analyses (PCAs). Translate campaign data into actionable strategic recommendations for executive client presentations.
• Process Optimization: Identify and implement process improvements, standardization, and automation across the activation team to improve operational efficiency and workflow speed.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Client Trust & Authority: Serving as a reliable, authoritative subject-matter expert on OOH media in senior client meetings and presentations.
• Commercial Excellence: Consistently meeting or beating buying benchmarks, delivering added value, and driving favorable commercial outcomes for client investments.
• Team Empowerment: Building a resilient, high-performing team that delivers accurate, timely executions with high employee engagement and retention.
• Operational Precision: Maintaining spotless financial records, proactive discrepancy management, and zero billing aging issues across your assigned accounts.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Experience: 4–6+ years of progressive media buying, planning, or investment experience within an advertising agency, with dedicated leadership in OOH media.
• People Leadership: Proven track record of managing, mentoring, or directly guiding junior planners, buyers, or coordinators.
• Enterprise Systems Mastery: Advanced, hands-on command of MediaOcean for campaign set-up, pacing, and financial stewardship.
• Audience & Market Tools: Working knowledge and analytical fluency with Canadian media tools, including COMMB, Vividata , and media research platforms.
• Commercial Acumen & Negotiation: Proven background negotiating large-scale OOH packages with Canadian media sales houses.
• Client & Presentation Skills: Poised, articulate verbal and written communication skills with comfort presenting complex investment strategies to VP/Director-level client stakeholders.
• Problem-Solving & Agility: Strong business judgment, organizational rigor, and the ability to prioritize and pivot under tight deadlines in a fast-paced agency environment.

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our benefits include competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days.

WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

While we appreciate all applications received, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

The base salary for this position at the time of this posting may range between the values