Associate Director — Agency Activation

JioStar; Mumbai; On-site; INR 2,000,000 - 3,000,000; Full time

Job summary

JioStar is seeking a Director – Agency Activation to enhance JioAds' presence across India’s agency ecosystem. This senior role involves building relationships with major agency holding groups and leading impactful client activation events.

The ideal candidate will have 12–18 years of experience in digital advertising or media, with significant agency-facing experience. Responsibilities include managing agency relationships and ensuring successful client engagement through various activation programs.

Qualifications

• 12–18 years of experience in digital advertising, media, or marketing.
• At least 5 years in a senior agency-facing or partnerships role.
• Demonstrated experience managing relationships with major agency groups.

Responsibilities

• Own and deepen relationships with major agency holding groups.
• Lead planning and execution of client activation programmes.
• Work closely with regional sales leads to align agency activation.

Skills

Outstanding relationship builder

Strong commercial instinct

Credible presenter and storyteller

Organised and disciplined

Comfortable in high-growth environments

Job description

About The Team

JioAds helps connect marketers and businesses to over hundreds of millions of Indian consumers. Our consumers spend more than seven hours a day with us, engaging across our media and connectivity solutions such as JioTV, JioGames, JioChat, and Jio Cinema. With unique first‑party consumer insights, JioAds enables advertisers to grow across the offline‑online purchase cycle, delivering an optimized brand experience across video, display, custom experiences, in‑store, digital OOH, audio, connected devices, and coupons. We work with premium publishers to monetize ad inventory with high‑performing, customized ad formats, all on a brand‑safe omnichannel network.

Job Summary

The Director – Agency Activation is a senior commercial and relationship role responsible for building and deepening JioAds’ presence across India’s agency ecosystem. You will own two connected mandates: activating JioAds within agency planning and buying teams across all holding groups, and delivering high‑impact client activation events that drive brand consideration and pipeline. This role balances boardroom presentations to agency CSOs with on‑ground brand engagement events in Bengaluru, positioning you as the face of JioAds in the agency world.

Key Responsibilities

Agency Evangelisation & Relationships

• Own and deepen relationships with major agency holding groups – GroupM, Publicis, Dentsu, OmniCom, IPG, and Madison – at planning, strategy, and leadership levels.
• Build a structured evangelisation programme that integrates JioAds into the standard media plan across agencies as a consistent, preferred platform.
• Collaborate with Shirish Dwivedi (VD/Pricing Lead) to ensure agency partners understand JioAds’ volume deal structure, cohort capabilities, and product benchmarks.
• Identify, recruit, and onboard agency champions across Publicis, Dentsu, and OmniCom – groups that have historically been flat for JioAds but represent the biggest growth opportunity in FY 26‑27.
• Track agency revenue, pipeline, and engagement, reporting weekly to the Business Head with clear visibility on conversions and blockers.

Client Activation & Events

• Lead planning and execution of JioAds’ client activation programme – brand engagement sessions, agency roadshows, and immersion events targeting senior brand marketing teams.
• Create a quarterly activation calendar that maintains consistent touchpoints with the 429‑advertiser universe across South, North, and West markets.
• Collaborate with the marketing team to provide strong collateral (case studies, cohort playbooks, product decks) for each activation, and track follow‑through.
• Coordinate post‑event CRM, ensuring every brand contact is logged, followed up by the relevant regional CP, and tracked through to pipeline.
• Represent JioAds at industry forums, agency summits, and trade events (FICCI, IAA, ad:tech, Goafest) as a visible platform spokesperson.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with regional sales leads (Anuj, Parul, Ashwin, Shailey) to align agency activation with regional revenue priorities.
• Coordinate with product and data teams to keep the JioAds cohort story current, accurate, and differentiated.
• Provide regular market intelligence on agency sentiment, competitor activity, and pricing feedback to the Business Head.

Skills & Attributes for Success

• Outstanding relationship builder – able to open doors, build trust quickly, and sustain long‑term senior‑level relationships.
• Strong commercial instinct – understands agency economics (VDs, trading deals, margins) and navigates them without compromising partnership.
• Credible presenter and storyteller – transforms complex data and audience propositions into simple, compelling narratives for agency planners and brand CMOs.
• Organised and disciplined – runs multiple activation programmes and relationship tracks simultaneously while maintaining pipeline focus.
• Comfortable working in a high‑growth, high‑ambiguity environment where structure is still being built.

Experience

• 12–18 years of experience in digital advertising, media, or marketing, with at least 5 years in a senior agency‑facing or partnerships role.
• Demonstrated experience managing relationships with major agency holding groups at a senior level (GroupM, Publicis, Dentsu, OmniCom, or equivalent).
• Proven track record of driving revenue growth through agency channels – converting relationships into commercial outcomes.
• Experience owning or co‑owning large‑format brand events, immersion sessions, or industry roadshows.
• Prior experience in a programmatic, data‑led, or audience‑first advertising platform is strongly preferred.