Associate Director, Business Operations (Furniture Client)

PHD; New York (NY); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A global media agency is seeking an Associate Director, Business Operations to support a key account. This strategic role involves designing operational frameworks and improving cross-functional coordination. The ideal candidate will have 6–8 years of media planning or agency operations experience. Responsibilities include creating effective team structures, ensuring campaign execution processes align with operational standards, and monitoring financial governance. This is a unique opportunity to influence operational excellence in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• 6–8+ years of experience in media planning, activation, or agency operations.
• Strong understanding of media planning and execution.
• Experience across multiple channel teams within an agency environment.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement clear ways of working across teams.
• Build and maintain RACI frameworks for role clarification.
• Ensure campaign execution aligns with operational processes.
• Strengthen cross-channel QA and trafficking governance.
• Support governance of media budgets across workstreams.

Skills

Media planning

Activation

Operational workflow management

Cross-functional coordination

Excel

Job description

PHD is a global communications planning and media buying agency network delivering smart strategic thinking and creative innovation for the world’s leading brands. Brilliant media thinking is in our DNA. A culture of thought‑leadership, creativity and innovation has seen us grow from a challenger agency in the UK, to a global leader with over 6,000 employees in over 100 offices worldwide. We combine the latest industry insight with the best creative minds to produce planning innovation and create award‑winning work for some of the world’s largest advertisers. Finding a better way is our ethos and sums up how we approach everything – from a new client brief to the way we work.

Associate Director, Business Operations

PHD is seeking an Associate Director, Business Operations to support a furniture brand. This role sits at the center of how the account runs day‑to‑day — ensuring teams across planning, activation, marketing science, and finance operate in a coordinated, structured way.

We are specifically looking for someone who has worked in media planning or activation and understands how agency teams actually function in practice. That experience is critical to helping build the right ways of working, governance structures, and team operating models that allow a complex account to run smoothly.

If you understand how campaigns move from strategy to execution — and know where the operational friction points typically occur — this role will give you the opportunity to help design better systems that enable teams to execute with clarity and confidence.

About the Role

The Associate Director, Business Operations helps design and operationalize how the team works together. This role partners closely with Planning, Activation, Marketing Science, Finance, and Account Leadership to ensure the right structures, processes, and ownership models are in place across the account. You will help build RACIs, ways of working, governance frameworks, and operational guardrails that ensure teams know when to engage partners, how work moves through the organization, and how priorities are executed effectively. This is a strategic operations role, focused on improving how teams function — not just managing tasks.

Key Responsibilities

Team Structure & Ways of Working

• Design and implement clear ways of working across Planning, Activation, and Marketing Science teams
• Build and maintain RACI frameworks that clarify roles, decision rights, and escalation paths
• Help teams understand who should be involved, when, and why across key workstreams
• Identify operational friction points and recommend improvements to team structure and workflows

Cross‑Functional Coordination

• Partner with Planning and Activation leaders to ensure campaign execution aligns with operational processes
• Facilitate alignment across Planning, Investment, Marketing Science, and Finance
• Support priority projects by bringing the right teams together and solving operational challenges
• Help leadership navigate complex workstreams by ensuring clear ownership and coordination

Operational Governance

• Strengthen cross‑channel QA and trafficking governance
• Standardize workflows that improve consistency and efficiency across teams
• Maintain key operational trackers and documentation to ensure transparency into timelines and deliverables

Deliverable & Quality Oversight

• Ensure reporting and deliverables meet client expectations for quality and timeliness
• Maintain documentation around operational processes and governance standards
• Monitor post‑launch controls to ensure campaign accuracy in market

Financial & Budget Oversight

• Support governance of media budgets across workstreams
• Monitor staffing utilization and burn rates
• Flag financial or operational risks early and help leadership determine the right course of action

Qualifications

• 6–8+ years of experience in media planning, activation, or agency operations
• Strong understanding of how media planning and execution teams work together
• Experience working across multiple channel teams within an agency environment
• Ability to design structured processes, governance models, and operational frameworks
• Strong Excel and operational workflow management skills
• Confidence working with senior stakeholders and facilitating cross‑team alignment

What Sets You Apart

• You understand how agency teams actually operate, not just how processes look on paper
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