Director - Investment & Accountability

Publicis Groupe; Singapore; On-site; SGD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Publicis Groupe APAC seeks an Investment and Accountability Director to lead strategic client negotiations, drive growth and ensure transparent trading practices across markets. You will partner with team leads and client leads to deliver value, oversee investments, and align with PMX practices while inspiring Activation teams to achieve excellence.

You will manage senior relationships, track KPIs, and embed Groupe benefits into client programs, building trust and a culture of performance across

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in media, ideally from a media audit or agency investment environment.
• Expert across Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
• Expert on media investment tools.
• Strong financial management skills and business acumen.
• Confident and engaging interpersonal, presentation and communication skills.
• A strong leader that inspires, collaborates and mentors teams.

Responsibilities

• Shape negotiation strategy and go-to-market philosophy for the client.
• Co-lead annual client negotiations to meet investment KPIs.
• Ensure activation process consistency across markets.
• Drive market-leading reputation for activation capabilities and partner relationships.
• Uncover new JBPs and integrate Groupe strategic benefits.
• Maintain value tracking and client KPI management.
• Develop senior client contacts including procurement leads.
• Ensure client investment KPIs are exceeded.
• Oversee media audits and participate in client audit meetings.
• Support client leads in resolving activation issues.
• Maintain productive relationships with senior media owners.
• Escalate issues to ensure fair, objective resolutions.
• Support efficient team structure and client satisfaction metrics.
• Contribute Publicis POV on key industry topics.
• Track PMX Media Partner targets with clients and team.
• Ensure best-practice briefing and negotiation processes are used.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Communication

Negotiation

Strategic thinking

Mentoring

Presentation skills

Tools

Word

PowerPoint

Excel

Media investment tools

Job description

Company description

Publicis Groupe is not just a company you work for; it’s a platform for you to take your talent to the world.

If you want to help change the world, ideas alone are not enough. Real impact can only come from having meaningful access to a world of knowledge, people and resources. At Publicis Groupe, you are connected to our global network, intelligence, tools, clients, brands and 80,000 brilliant minds with expertise in data, technology, media, strategy, creativity and business transformation, all literally at your fingertips.

Go ahead, the world is waiting.

Publicis Groupe is the third largest communications group in the world. Founded in Paris in 1926, we are present in more than 100 countries as leaders in marketing, communication, and digital business transformation. Two of its biggest solution hubs in Singapore - Publicis Communications and Publicis Media & Digital.

Publicis Communications, the creative communications hub of the Publicis Groupe, is a collective of the most passionate, purposeful, and progressive creative agencies in Singapore. They are Publicis Worldwide, Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, Prodigious, and MSL.

Publicis Media & Digital, which is comprised of global media agency brands Starcom, Zenith, Spark Foundry, and Performics, is powered by digital-first, data-driven global practices that together, help our clients navigate the modern media landscape.

Our two other solution hubs, Publicis Sapient and Publicis Commerce, empower businesses to embrace digital transformation and equip them with a total commerce experience.

Overview

As the APAC Investment and Accountability Director, you will work closely with the team lead and client lead in driving strategic commercial advantage for the client across the region. You will have responsibility which encompasses driving strategic solutions that delivers marketing led growth for the client and operational trading best practice with the in-market teams on a consistent and transparent approach. You will demonstrate internal and client leadership, commercial acumen and vision, and inspire the Activation teams to deliver a cohesive, proactive approach to investment solutions which helps the clients business grow.

Negotiation and activation leadership

• Work with the team lead on the negotiation strategy and go to market philosophy for the individual client
• Co-Lead annual client specific negotiations to ensure best outcome in line with or better than market / PMX benchmarking, delivering on client investment KPIs
• Ensure consistency of activation process and product across all markets
• Help drive market leading reputation for excellence for the Groupes activation capabilities, media partner relationships and value creation
• Uncover new and enhance existing JBPs for the client, including integration of Groupe strategic benefits to drive impact and a competitive advantage for the client
• Ongoing value tracking and consistent management of client KPIs, for internal and external merchandising

Client leadership

• Develop and maintain senior client contact including procurement lead
• Ensure that all client investment KPIs are exceeded
• Ensure media auditing processes are managed by the teams and attend client audit meetings
• Proactively support Client leads to manage client related activation issues when required

Internal & external relationship management

• Maintain productive working relationships and regular contact with senior media owners
• Escalation point where necessary to ensure issues are resolved in a fair and objective manner
• Work closely with Team Lead to support efficient and effective team structure and operations, and client satisfaction (indicated by client survey results) is consistently high
• Contribute and drive an investment community on the client that delivers learnings, best in market opportunities and a performance led culture
• Drive a Publicis POV and leadership on key industry topics
• Ensure that the agency’s PMX Media Partner targets are being tracked and met by client and team
• Ensure that the team are using PMX's best practice briefing and negotiation process to ensure best outcomes can be achieved for both our clients and the agency

Qualifications

• 12+ years experience in media, ideally from a media audit or agency investment environment
• Expert across the following Office platforms: Word, PowerPoint and Excel
• Expert on media investment tools
• Possess market and industry knowledge – historical and current
• Possess strong financial management skills and business acumen
• Confident and engaging interpersonal, presentation and communication skills, able to guide and influence senior stakeholders.
• A strong leader that is inspiring, collaborative and enjoys mentoring, motivating and developing their team

A master negotiator, able to resolve any issues in a fair and objective manner, drive maximum meaningful value for our clients whilst nurturing long-term, sustainable relationships with our media partners.