Associate Director, Programmatic

PHD; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

PHD EMEA, part of Omnicom Media (OM), seeks an Associate Director, Brand to join our Central Digital Activation Team in London. You will define and lead the European brand programmatic capability, driving strategy, governance, and activation quality across markets.

You will work with Strategy and Planning, Audience Insights, Data, Analytics and Operations to maximise campaign effectiveness, lead the Pod Leads and core buying team, and influence senior stakeholders while developing people.

Qualifications

• Experience in programmatic planning & activation + leading a channel or team.
• Brand-focused activation with reach, frequency, attention outcomes.
• Expert across DV360 and broader programmatic stack (display, video, YouTube, AV, CTV).
• Experience negotiating partnerships (direct or SSP).
• Strong brand suitability, verification tools, and third-party tracking knowledge.
• Experience in reach/frequency planning and interpreting attention or brand lift.
• Ability to advise rather than direct, influencing markets with ownership constraints.
• Relationship builder with senior stakeholders in major markets.
• Proven people management and team development passion.
• Strong organisational and numerical skills; proficient with data.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the European brand programmatic capability; strategy and governance.
• Own activation quality and partnership approaches across markets.
• Lead the CoE within the Hub and advise on planning without owning client relationships.
• Lead Pod Leads, Managers and core buying team in day-to-day activation.
• Collaborate with Strategy, Planning, Audience Insights and Operations, Data, Analytics and Reporting, and Governance.

Skills

Programmatic planning

Activation leadership

DV360 expertise

Partnership negotiation

Brand suitability & verification

Reach/frequency planning

Advising & influence

Stakeholder relationship building

Team management

Numerical analysis (Excel)

Effective communication

Tools

DV360

Programmatic stack

Job description

Job Description:
PHD EMEA Business Unit, Part Of Omnicom Media (OM), Is Looking For An Associate Director, Brand, To Join Our Central Digital Activation Team. Our Clients Turn To Us For Superior Media Strategy, Deep Insights, And Flawless Execution Of Their Digital Marketing Campaigns. Besides All The Regular Stuff About Why Working At PHD Is Amazing, This Is The Job For You, If You:

• want to join one of the most strategic and creative teams in the media industry.
• are excited about the opportunity to work on campaigns across many countries (across Europe and even the world).
• want to be based in Central London.
  

Agency:
PHd

Job Function:
Media

Job Subfunction:
Media Activation

Agency:
PHD EMEA Business Unit, Part Of Omnicom Media (OM), Is Looking For An Associate Director, Brand, To Join Our Central Digital Activation Team. Our Clients Turn To Us For Superior Media Strategy, Deep Insights, And Flawless Execution Of Their Digital Marketing Campaigns. Besides All The Regular Stuff About Why Working At PHD Is Amazing, This Is The Job For You, If You:

• want to join one of the most strategic and creative teams in the media industry.
• are excited about the opportunity to work on campaigns across many countries (across Europe and even the world).
• are passionate about multi-channel biddable marketing.
• want to be based in Central London.
  

Job Function:
Media

Job Subfunction:
Media Activation

The Brand Associate Director, Programmatic defines and leads adidas' European brand programmatic capability: the strategy, suitability governance, and partnership approach, and the quality of activation delivered across markets. This role helps markets maximise campaign effectiveness through quality reach, attention, audience precision and media innovation.

The role sits at Tier 1 of the Hub capability framework and within the Biddable CoE, the senior advisory group across the Europe biddable operation. That means strategic ownership of the channel, escalation authority and accountability for the outcomes of the function.

The Centre of Excellence plays a dual role. It is the most senior group of consultants to local markets on best in class planning of biddable brand budgets, it is the programme management layer accountable for activation delivery. It advises on planning but does not own or deliver it, and it is not responsible for client relationships or plan sign off. Those remain with the local markets.

The Brand Associate Director, Programmatic reports into the Brand Lead, works alongside the Brand Social Channel Lead and the Performance Programmatic Channel Lead, represents brand programmatic on the Biddable Steering Committee, and leads the Pod Leads, Managers and core buying team who deliver activation day to day. Support comes from Strategy and Planning, Audience Insights and Operations, Data, Analytics and Reporting, and Media Operations, Platforms and Governance.

Skills And Experience:

• Experience working in programmatic planning & activation, including experience leading a channel or a team.
• Experience of brand focused activation, judged on reach, frequency, attention and brand outcome.
• Expert across DV360 & the wider programmatic stack, including display, online video, YouTube, AV & CTV
• Experience negotiating partnerships, direct or SSP partnerships
• Strong command of brand suitability & verification, including inclusion/ exclusion list governance and verification tools + knowledge of third party tracking and technologies
• Experience of reach and frequency planning and of interpreting attention or brand lift measurement
• Comfortable advising rather than directing, with the credibility to influence markets that hold their own plan ownership and client relationships
• A relationship builder: able to become a trusted name with senior stakeholders in major markets without holding formal ownership of the relationship
• Demonstrable passion Team management experience and a passion for developing people
• Strong organisational skills, able to manage multiple projects at once
• Able to manage the competing interests of client and markets in a culturally sensitive manner
• Excellent numerical skills and confidence analysing data using Excel
• A proactive self starter with excellent communication skills and responsive to feedback

Omnicom’s policy requires employees to work in the office for a minimum of three days a week, unless additional in-office days are directed by their agency or manager. Our objective is to increase this requirement over time, and many of our agencies as well as Omnicom’s corporate group already require five days of in-office attendance.

Omnicom is committed to hiring and developing exceptional talent. We agree that talent is uniquely distributed, and we’re focused on developing inclusive teams that can bring the best solutions to everything we do. We strongly believe that celebrating what makes us different makes us better together. Join us—we look forward to getting to know you. We will process your personal data in accordance with our Recruitment Privacy Notice.

Link to Recruitment Privacy Notice: https://www.omc.com/privacy-notice/