Associate Director, Clients, UK

WPP; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive medical

Group retirement plans

Vision

Dental insurance

Significant paid time off

Employee mental health awareness days

Preferential partner discounts

Job summary

WPP Media UK is seeking an Associate Director to lead media planning and client relationships. You will drive planning across specified clients, translate strategic thinking into actionable briefs, and ensure campaigns are delivered with high quality and impact.

You will build strong partnerships with clients and internal teams, demonstrate expert knowledge of media channels, and lead data-driven storytelling to unlock growth for multiple brands.

Qualifications

• Breadth and depth of industry understanding; train others in tools and systems.
• Uses critical questioning; develops solutions from experience.
• Expert knowledge of client and agency structures; identifies decision makers.
• Delivers clear, concise communications to influence senior stakeholders.
• Escalates and improves campaign outputs; coaches others.
• Leads storytelling and creates compelling client-facing communications.
• Generates new ideas to meet client objectives; mentors others.
• Applies knowledge of client, audience and market to plan effectively.

Responsibilities

• Develop advanced understanding of media channels and planning practices.
• Translate strategy into client briefs and pitches; leverage Purchase Journey thinking.
• Maintain relationships with media owners and industry trends.
• Oversee campaign management; ensure high-quality outputs and timely delivery.
• Lead planning presentations and brainstorms; solve problems with data-driven insights.

Skills

Media planning

Problem solving

Stakeholder relationships

Effective communication

Campaign management

Compelling storytelling

Ideas creation

Comms planning

Tools

Telmar

OS

Architect

Job description

About WPP Media

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.

For more information, visit wppmedia.com.

3300 - Associate Director, Clients, UK

Role Summary and Impact

The planning team are the guardians of creating industry leading, unrivalled work at Wavemaker. We are central conduits to all specialists, striving to push boundaries and have a positive impact on consumers and brand.

Wavemaker UK is looking for aPlanning Director to join our growing planning team, to drive planning across specific clients and be a media planning expert.

In this role, you will:

Media planning craft:

• Develop an advanced understanding of media channels, channel ecosystems and planning best practices.
• Start to translate strategic approach into planning practices for specific client briefs and pitches.
• Have an advanced understanding of Wavemakers’s Purchase Journey thinking and planning philosophy across all client work. Including being an expert in a broad set of internal tools, as well as external tools to build a deep understanding of the consumer, the client’s business and its specific opportunities.
• Have an expert overview of the media market landscape, trends and start to build media owner relationships.

Campaign management & effective communication:

• Oversee campaign management, ensuring quality control and output is of the highest standard.
• Develop a skilled understand of commercial practises and of the wider agency.
• Build and maintain client and agency relationships at a mid-senior level, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of stakeholders and client business.

Comms planning and storytelling:

• Own planning presentations including defining the inputs needed and working with the wider teams to compile work and meet deadlines.
• Lead brainstorm and idea creation for campaigns
• Start to independently problem solve, including integrating and questioning data and insights and find solutions based on knowledge and experience.

Skills and Experience

• Practice Area Knowledge -Skilled - Develops breadth and depth of industry understanding. Becomes confident using tools, technology, techniques and systems and is able to train others.

  • Comfortable presenting both direct from platform (OS, Architect etc) and developing a story from data but delivered outside of platform (Telmar etc).
  • Can confidently answer client questions and liaise with internal teams on best solutions to use.

• Problem Solving – Skilled - Uses critical questioning and maintains a broad perspective when analyzing information to gain a deeper understanding of the problem and wider impact. Quickly generates appropriate solutions informed by previous experience.

  • Understands how to resolve escalated issues and supports others to problem solve. Supports or leads troubleshooting communication for issues.

• Stakeholder Relationships – Skilled - Has an expert knowledge of client and agency structures.

  • Can identify key decision makers and understands their perspectives which is used to build relationships.
  • Has strong knowledge of the client sector/industry which is shared to build strategies and plans.
  • Identifies strategic issues and raises questions to help stakeholders explore and understand their wider business challenges.
  • Can easily suggest business solutions to match client/stakeholder needs and achieve objectives.

• Effective Communication -Advanced- Leads the delivery of relevant and accurate information to drive maximum impact.

  • Consistently delivers communications to influence and educate all levels of seniority, appropriately judging the demands of the situation.
  • Creatively develops presentations and comms to help with the understanding/education of complex information.
  • Guides others on the best practices and approaches for creating clear, concise and organized communication materials to convey plans in a user-friendly way.

• Campaign Management – Advanced - Reviews the work of others to ensure accuracy and thoroughness objectives have been met; provides coaching on ways to improve work outputs.

  • Applies best practice to campaign management and acts as the escalation point for issues.
  • Provide actionable insights during mid and post campaign reports to improve in-flight optimizations and future campaign brief recommendations.
  • Oversees team members to discuss current projects, workload and activities prioritises resources accordingly.
  • Improves workload management by supporting other in setting priorities and by postponing less relevant work.

• Compelling Storytelling – Skilled - Applies big picture thinking in work and proactively leverages an understanding of the organization and key industry trends.

  • Understand the different elements of responses.
  • esigns differentiated communications (content focus, style, presentation etc) for various internal and external audiences.

• Ideas Creation – Advanced - Lead new projects/activities that can create ideas to deliver effective solutions to clients business objectives.

  • Ability to proactively generate ideas to provoke and deliver against broader business strategies.
  • Coaches other to gain new insights and view opportunities from different perspectives.
  • Championing an environment that fosters innovation by encouraging others to openly share and build on other’s new ideas, products and solutions

• Comms Planning – Skilled - Applies knowledge of client, audience, channel, market and category to effectively deliver compelling multi-media plans.

  • Translates learnings and trends to create marketing communication strategies that are effective with clear measurement.
  • Application of purchase journey thinking and visualization of how the media plan works channels.
  • Translation of strategic direction/platform/provocation into directional role for media, channel role and behaviour in channel.
  • Identifies and recommends budget shifts as campaign is in-flight where appropriate.

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media is powered by our commitment toBe Extraordinary, investing in our employees to inspire transformational creativity. We alsoLead Optimistically,firmly believingin andChampioning Growth and Developmentfor every individual. This commitment allows WPP Media employees toleveragethe extensive global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, build vital professional connections, and learn at thecutting edgeof marketing and advertising.

WeCreate an Open environmentbuilt on trust and respect, where everyone feels they belong and has opportunities to progress. This inclusive culture is fostered through a variety of employee resource groups and frequent in-office eventsshowcasingteam wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our comprehensive benefits package reflects this commitment, including competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days.

• 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 characteristics. We believe the best work happens whenwe’retogether, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection in this open and supportive environment.That’swhywe’veadopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If yourequireaccommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process. Please note that while our philosophy is the same across WPP, benefits may vary by office/country.

Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location

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

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