Media Partnerships Manager

Burberry; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Burberry is seeking an experienced Head of Media Partnerships to lead the global partnerships agenda end-to-end. You will own JBPs, negotiate with media owners, and manage budgets across regions to maximise brand impact and growth.

The role requires strong leadership, strategic planning and a track record of delivering complex, multi-market campaigns with measurable results.

Qualifications

• Extensive media planning, buying and partnerships experience.
• Strong negotiation skills with experience leading commercial negotiations.
• Excellent project management and stakeholder management abilities.

Responsibilities

• Plan and own the annual partnerships agenda and pipeline across markets.
• Lead commercial negotiations and Joint Business Plans with key media partners.
• Manage partnership investments, budgets, and quarterly/reforecasting.
• Direct end-to-end activation delivery and risk management.
• Build and sustain relationships with media partners and internal teams.
• Provide regional coverage and coordinate across channels and agencies.

Skills

Partnerships

Negotiation

Budget management

Team leadership

Media planning

Job description

INTRODUCTION

At Burberry, we believe creativity opens spaces. Our purpose is to unlock the power of imagination to push boundaries and open new possibilities for our people, our customers and our communities. This is the core belief that has guided Burberry since it was founded in 1856 and is central to how we operate as a company today. We aim to provide an environment for creative minds from different backgrounds to thrive, bringing a wide range of skills and experiences to everything we do. As a purposeful, values-driven brand, we are committed to being a force for good in the world as well, creating the next generation of sustainable luxury for customers, driving industry change and championing our communities.

JOB PURPOSE

Lead Burberry’s global media partnerships arm end to end: owning the annual partnerships agenda, identifying and negotiating opportunities, and delivering partnerships that drive innovation, investment value and media efficiency across markets. In collaboration with the wider media team, own relationships with media partners, the Joint Business Plans (JBPs) that underpin them and the partnerships budget, supporting the Director on commercial negotiations and annual planning. A strong media planner by background, the role also provides flexible full-funnel planning and regional support across the omnichannel function, able to pick up market coordination from the Director or the Manager, Media Planning as the campaign calendar demands. Line manage the Media Partnerships Assistant to deliver best-in-class partnership projects that drive brand desirability and commercial performance.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Partnerships Agenda & Pipeline

Plan and own the annual partnerships agenda, mapping partnership and innovation opportunities against the marketing calendar, hero campaign moments and the Director’s strategic priorities.

Own the global media partnerships pipeline: identify, develop and qualify bespoke partnership opportunities across publishers, OOH partners, digital platforms and experiential formats.

Champion first-to-market formats and innovation trials, bringing test-and-learn opportunities to the Director with clear investment rationale.

Negotiation, Investment & JBPs

Support the Director and lead commercial negotiations and annual planning with partners to deliver impactful, mutually beneficial partnerships that strengthen brand impact and drive sustainable growth.

Work with relevant team members to develop and manage Joint Business Plans (JBPs) with key media partners and platforms, setting mutual commitments, added-value targets and a regular review cadence.

Assess all partnership investments against media value, rate benchmarks and open-market equivalents, ensuring every deal delivers measurable efficiency and added value.

Own the partnerships budget: allocation across deals and markets, monthly actuals, reconciliation and reforecasting within the global media budget tracker.

Co-create post-campaign evaluation of partnerships with the Insights team, quantifying media value delivered and feeding learnings into future negotiations and JBP reviews.

Project Management & Delivery

Lead the project management from end-to-end on all partnership proposals, challenging innovative ideas and delivering best in class projects.

Own the delivery and execution of every partnership activation: workback schedules, milestone tracking, status reporting and risk escalation across internal and partner teams.

Direct the Media Partnerships Assistant on activation logistics, asset coordination and deliverables tracking.

Lead campaign timeline management for partnership activity, working closely with internal PMs, creative teams and the marketing calendar, with final quality checks before activity goes live.

Relationships & Coordination

Build relationships with media partners to drive long term success, unlocking added value and driving innovation across media plans.

Coordinate partnership delivery across internal functions (Press, Influence, Social, CRM, Creative, Regional Marketing), acting as the single connecting point between partner and business.

Day-to-day lead for the global media agency (OMD) on partnerships and innovation scope, managing the relationship, output quality and accountability.

Collaborate with procurement on agency scope of work and partner contracts to maximise value and output.

Media Planning & Regional Support

Maintain strong full-funnel planning expertise across all channels (Publisher, OOH, Cinema) with integration of digital channels (Paid Social, Direct Display, Programmatic, Affiliate, Video/CTV), ensuring partnerships are built into hero campaign moments and always-on activity.

Collaborate with the Digital Media Planning Manager and the Manager, Media Planning to ensure unified full-funnel briefs that integrate partnerships alongside all digital and offline channels.

Provide flexible regional cover: pick up market coordination from the Director or the Manager, Media Planning during peak periods or absence, including plan updates, launch timings, creative overviews and regional status calls.

Translate global media briefs into localised strategic plans for individual markets when covering, in partnership with regional marketing teams.

Utilise Brand Health Tracker, MMM insights and campaign data to inform partnership decisions and optimise budget mix (channel, audience, market, etc.).

Team Leadership

Direct line management of the Media Partnerships Assistant.

Dotted line oversight of planning workstream coordination across the wider team.

Advocate for training, development and full-funnel capability building across direct reports.

Budget & Reporting

Oversee the partnerships lines of the global media budget tracker, ensuring actuals are updated monthly and spend is on track.

Collaborate with Operations and Insight team to update and input where needed to stakeholders and planning cycle.

Support the Director on quarterly business review data and longer-term planning goals.

PERSONAL PROFILE

Extensive media planning, buying and partnerships at brand or media agency (or equivalent) experience.

Strong negotiation skills, with demonstrable experience leading commercial negotiations with media owners and developing JBPs, and a firm grasp of media investment principles, rate benchmarking and efficiency measurement.

Excellent project management skills, with a track record of delivering complex, multi-stakeholder partnership projects end to end, on time and to a high standard.

Confident leading the end-to-end management of media partnerships and bespoke projects, from opportunity through negotiation to delivery and evaluation.

A natural relationship builder and coordinator, able to connect partners, agencies and internal teams around a single delivery plan.

Proven track record of managing full-funnel media campaigns across multiple markets (EMEIA, Americas, Greater China, APAC).

Experience working in the luxury category preferred.

Strong agency management experience.

Demonstrable team leadership experience with a track record of developing junior talent.

Excellent communication, presentation and stakeholder management skills.

Burberry is an Equal Opportunities Employer and as such, treats all applications equally and recruits purely on the basis of skills and experience.