Planning Director

WPP Media; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive medical

Group retirement plans

Vision and dental insurance

Significant paid time off

Preferential partner discounts

Employee mental health awareness days

Job summary

WPP Media is seeking a Planning Director to lead media planning and client-facing strategy across campaigns for Amazon and other OpenDoor initiatives. You will drive planning excellence, translate strategic approaches into actionable plans, and maintain strong client and agency relationships at a senior level.

In this hybrid UK-based role, you will oversee cross-functional teams, shape media strategies, and ensure top-tier delivery while championing growth, development, and collaboration across

Qualifications

• Confident presenting directly from platforms and crafting stories from data.
• Strong ability to answer client questions and liaise with internal teams for best solutions.
• Knowledge of the client sector to build strategies and plans.
• Leads delivery of accurate information to drive maximum impact.
• Delivers communications to influence and educate stakeholders at all levels.

Responsibilities

• Develop an advanced understanding of media channels and planning best practices.
• Translate strategy into planning for client briefs and pitches.
• Oversee campaign management and ensure high-quality output.
• Own planning presentations and lead brainstorming for campaigns.
• Solve problems by integrating data and insights with experience.

Skills

Client communication

Data storytelling

Presentation skills

Strategic thinking

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.

3238 - Planning Director - GCS

Role Summary And Impact

At WPP, we're constantly reinventing the future of creativity on an ever-broader canvas, bringing together unrivalled talent, resources and skills to provide an integrated offer of communications, experience, commerce and technology.

Over the last decade, we have developed a dedicated global client practice with the mission of accelerating WPP's impact for our largest clients by bringing them the best of WPP. Each team is custom-built around a client's specific needs and challenges, providing easy access to the right capabilities. And that's why we've built OpenDoor for Amazon.

OpenDoor is a unique integration of the best of WPP and Amazon - building on their respective strengths and visions. Whether at WPP or at Amazon, every project is an OpenDoor on new possibilities. Anything and everything can be an opportunity for our people to drive impact - for them to innovate, learn, thrive, and occasionally fail too.

The unique OpenDoor partnership model is built to deliver next level Productivity, fueled by our industry-leading approach to People, Platforms, and Process. OpenDoor spans across all WPP agencies and disciplines such as media, business consultancy, communications and brand strategy, tech and commerce, public relations, and production.

OpenDoor's values are built from Amazon's own 16 Leadership Principles, and WPP's core values of Open, Optimistic and Extraordinary. Together, when WPP's Creative Transformation meets Amazon's next-level customer centricity, our people come together to challenge and impact what's done today and build a better future.

By joining OpenDoor, not only are you joining a cross-function team partnering with one of WPP's top five global clients, but you are also taking a step to challenge yourself and the world around you every day, working in the most unusual way on some of Earth's most ambitious opportunities in marketing, tech, media, business, and creativity.

About The Role

We are searching for a talented and enthusiastic individual to join our OpenDoor team as a Planning Director. This role plays a crucial part in supporting WPP's mission to deliver consistency, delivery excellence and best in class service for Amazon in every country across its diverse businesses, including XCM, Prime Video, and RMI.

Responsibilities

Media planning:

• 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 the 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

Comfortable presenting both directly from platform (OS, Architect etc) and developing a story from data but delivered outside of the platform (Telmar etc).

• Can confidently answer client questions and liaise with internal teams on best solutions to use. [List required skills, experience, and education level.]
• Uses critical questioning and maintains a broad perspective when analysing information to gain a deeper understanding of the problem and wider impact.
• Has strong knowledge of the client sector/industry which is shared to build strategies and plans.
• 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.

BONUS POINTS

• Applies big picture thinking in work and proactively leverages an understanding of the organization and key industry trends.
• Understand the different elements of responses.
• Designs differentiated communications (content focus, style, presentation etc) for various internal and external audiences.
• 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.
• Applies best practices 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.

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media is powered by our commitment to Be Extraordinary, investing in our employees to inspire transformational creativity. We also Lead Optimistically, firmly believing in and Championing Growth and Development for every individual. This commitment allows WPP Media employees to leverage the extensive global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, build vital professional connections, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising.

We Create an Open environment built 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 events showcasing team 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
• 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 when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection in this open and supportive environment. 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. 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