Associate Director, Media Planning, UK

WPP Media Limited; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive medical coverage

Group retirement plans

Vision and dental insurance

Significant paid time off

Job summary

WPP Media Limited is seeking an Associate Director of Media Planning in the UK. The role leads a team of planners, maintains close client relationships, and drives strategic planning, budgeting, and performance analyses across campaigns.

The role emphasizes innovation, cutting-edge planning frameworks, and collaboration with Analytics to optimize media investments. A hybrid UK-based position with opportunities to shape multi-channel strategies.

Qualifications

• Experience in a digital media agency environment.
• Ability to lead and coach junior team members.
• Strong presentation and client-facing capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Be the planning lead across junior and mid-level clients, running weekly client meetings and presentations.
• Oversee and quality assure deliverables produced by junior team members.
• Deliver high-quality strategic presentations and insightful post-campaign analysis.
• Develop clear briefs for activation and defend media investment recommendations.
• Collaborate with Activation and Analytics to design test-and-learn frameworks.
• Manage budget performance and resource planning for campaigns.
• Escalate team issues and improve workflows and processes.

Skills

Team leadership

Client relationship management

Strong analytical skills

Communication skills

Excel proficiency

AI scripting

Media planning

Education

Experience in digital media agency

Tools

Google Ads

Dashboard/Reporting tools

Job description

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.

3780 - Associate Director, Media Planning, UK

Role Summary and Impact

The Media Planning Account Director works within a team of media planners with 1-3 direct reports, inspiringinnovationand great thinking. Role willinclude:Strategic thinking, forecasting, weekly reportingreviewsand campaign PCAs or QBRs. They will work with the team to ensure communication to the client is clear, compelling and of a high standard. The candidate will hold close client relationships and work alongside Client Services as the primary face of Essence’s acquisition media planning product for those clients. They will beultimately responsiblefor campaign performance and the delivery of business-enhancing innovation. They will foster strong external relationships and keep a close eye on the market to ensure new opportunities and research are reviewed and implemented for the benefit of their clients.

You will be a key player in the planning team for Google Ads, defining contextual layers and precision of budgets across channels, and to help evolve best practice, including pushing the adoption ofemergingtechnologies, leading the development and deployment of planning frameworks and the main POC for clients from planning. Managing the team to deliver planning and buying of activity.

Some of the thingswe’dlike you to do:

• Be the point of contact for Planning across junior andmid levelclients, lead weekly meetings with clients and presentations.
• Oversee and quality assure all deliverables produced by junior team members.
• Ensure the delivery ofhigh qualitystrategic presentations, actionable weekly reporting, insightful post campaignanalysisand clear briefs to Activation.
• Deliver clear and compelling rationale to support media investment recommendations and to evidence campaign performance versus expected outcomes.
• Work with Activation and Analytics to design the test and learn framework for assigned campaigns.
• Take responsibility for the performance of assigned media budgets against intended outcomes.
• Be a point of escalation for team issues (within and outside the team).
• Contribute to internal thought leadership and team process/workflow enhancement, increasing work quality, making us more efficient, and increasing Essential satisfaction.
• Set the quality standard for one or more planning deliverables per year, improving them over time via team/client feedback and incorporation of evolving external context.

Management Responsibility:

• Motivate a team, leading by example while coaching juniors.
• Providetimelyand actionable feedback to aid in team development and improvement.
• Strong spreadsheet capability isa must, with a strong handle on using formulas and ideally able to use AI to build scripts.
• Monitor and support Essential satisfaction across client teams,identifyingand implementing ways tomaintainor increase satisfaction.
• Foster strong working relationships across the client team tofacilitateflawless execution of plans.
• Communicate effectively across all levels of the team.
• Understand when to escalation issues to managers.
• Calculate the workload implication of new campaigns and feed into resource management.
• Provide awareness and recognition for jobs well done.

Skills and Experience

AtWPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people.It’swhat elevates us to deliver exceptional experiences for both our clients and each other. In this role it will be critical to embraceWPP &WPP Media’ssharedcorevalues:

• Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire transformational Creativity.
• Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences by Cultivating Trust.
• Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise.
• Experience in a digital media agency.
• Ability to work in a team environment that promotes collaboration; but also capable of working independently when needed.
• Exceptional verbal & written communication skills - ability to think on your feet.
• Strong analytical skills - ability to analyze raw data,identifytrue insight and develop actionable recommendations. A natural affinity with numbers isa must.
• Strong interpersonal skills – able to forge strong relationships and influence clients,partnersand colleagues alike.

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, andwe’rejust as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment.WPP Mediaemployees can tap into the globalWPP Media& WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at thecutting edgeof marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office eventsshowcasingteam 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 Mediais an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard toparticular 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 whenwe'retogether, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection.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 this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location

Please read our Privacy Notice for more information on how we process the information you provide.