Planning Director

Starcom Worldwide, Inc.; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension

Life Assurance

Private Medical cover

Reflection Days

Shared Parental Leave

Job summary

Starcom Worldwide, Inc. is hiring a Planning Director to lead media planning for a globally recognized toy brand. You will unite strategic thinking, data and technology to shape integrated campaigns across audiences and partnerships, guiding a talented team to deliver outstanding work.

You'll build trusted relationships with senior clients, own end-to-end planning, and ensure campaigns align with client priorities while driving growth for the partnership in a dynamic agency environment.

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of media strategy and how channels fit in an integrated plan.
• Proven ability to build credible, collaborative relationships with senior clients.
• Ability to translate audience and performance insights into actionable strategy.
• Clear written and verbal communication, with confident presentations.
• Supportive leadership that guides colleagues and fosters development.
• Excellent organization and judgment to coordinate multiple workstreams.
• Curiosity and problem-solving mindset to continually improve campaigns.

Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day account, maintaining high standards across media planning, client service and strategic delivery.
• Build trusted relationships with senior clients, creating an open and collaborative partnership.
• Own the end-to-end planning process, delivering strong, well-founded recommendations.
• Guide integrated campaigns across channels including out-of-home and audio-visual media.
• Support annual planning and client growth, identifying opportunities to strengthen the work.
• Coach planning managers, providing direction and constructive feedback.
• Oversee timelines, budgets, forecasting, reporting and invoicing.

Skills

Media strategy

Client relationships

Insight translation

Communication skills

Leadership

Organization

Curiosity

Job description

Company description

With a history that dates back over 80 years, Starcom is a global communications planning and media leader. We are an agency still grounded in our founding principle that people are at the centre of all we do. Each day, we apply this belief to harness the transformative power of data and technology to inspire and move people and business forward. With more than 7,000 employees in over 100 offices around the world, we are the flagship Publicis Media agency that uses our ‘Power of One’ business model, with teams that span multiple disciplines across clients such as Aldi, P&G, Primark, Samsung, Stellantis, and Visa.

We place a huge focus on our People, and have driven flagship D&I and L&D programmes within Publicis Media; our goal is to help every individual reach their fullest potential, and we encourage everyone to make “Brave Plays” in how they approach their work and their own career development. As a result, we have an exceptionally energised and committed talent base, all of us proud of our welcoming and supportive culture, as evidenced by our recognition as one of Campaign’s Best Places to Work for five years in a row, Media Week's Agency of the Year 2025 and one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025.

Overview

We are hiring an Planning Director to lead media planning for one of the world’s most recognised and creatively ambitioustoy brands. You’ll bring together strategic thinking, human insight, data and technology to shape integrated campaigns across an exciting mix of audiences, partnerships and cultural moments. Working as a trusted partner to the client, you’ll turn business challenges into clear media recommendations while helping a talented team produce their best work. This is an opportunity to influence both the day-to-day account and its longer-term direction within a collaborative, supportive agency.

Responsibilities

What will you be doing?

• Lead the day-to-day account, maintaining high standards across media planning, client service and strategic delivery.
• Build trusted relationships with senior clients, creating an open and collaborative partnership grounded in clear advice.
• Own the end-to-end planning process, ensuring every recommendation has a strong strategic foundation and responds to the client’s priorities.
• Guide integrated campaigns across channels including out-of-home, audio-visual media, partnerships and wider Publicis Media capabilities.
• Support annual planning and the client growth plan, identifying opportunities to strengthen the work and grow the partnership.
• Coach and support planning managers, creating clarity, encouraging learning and helping the team deliver consistently strong work.
• Oversee timelines, budgets, forecasting, reporting and invoicing so campaigns run effectively and commercial commitments remain on track.

Qualifications

What are we looking for?

• A strong understanding of media strategy, planning principles and the role different channels can play within an integrated plan.
• Experience building credible, collaborative relationships with senior clients and communicating recommendations clearly.
• The ability to translate audience, business and performance insight into focused strategies and compelling stories.
• Clear written, verbal and presentation skills, with the confidence to facilitate discussions and explain complex thinking simply.
• A supportive leadership approach that gives colleagues direction, constructive feedback and room to develop.
• Strong organisation and judgement, with the ability to coordinate connected workstreams, priorities and stakeholders.
• A curious, solutions-focused mindset and an interest in improving the work, contributing to agency life and building positive industry relationships.

Additional information

Starcomoffers a wide range of benefits to support our employees. Full details are shared when you join, but highlights include core benefits such as Pension, Life Assurance, and Private Medical cover, alongside enhanced policies like Reflection Days and Shared Parental Leave. You’ll also have access to a range of additional initiatives, including:

Please check out thePublicis Career Pagewhich showcases our Inclusive Benefits and our EAG’s (Employee Action Groups).

Publicis Groupe works primarily from the office or our clients' office four days per week.

At Starcom we are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, and do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age, citizenship, relationship status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected characteristic.

We are committed to providing a fair, accessible, and inclusive recruitment process. If you have any access needs - for example, related to disability, neurodivergence, or a health condition - please let us know. We’ll work with you to ensure the process works for you. Sharing this information will never impact your application.

Guided by our values, we listen with empathy, uplift each other, take responsibility, and embrace change - building a culture where everyone feels seen, respected, and genuinely included.

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