Director, Media Operations

Mars United Commerce; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid family care

Adoption support

Flexible working arrangements

Medical and voluntary benefits

Tuition assistance

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

Mars United Commerce seeks a Director of Media Operations to partner with media teams in a multi-agency setting, managing budgeting, billing, forecasting, and reporting. This role ensures end-to-end operational excellence for our client engagements and will drive adherence to SOX controls while coordinating with key internal partners.

The ideal candidate has 10+ years in the industry, 7+ in media operations, and strong leadership and data analysis skills.

Qualifications

• University degree in Marketing, Business, Finance, Accounting, or Communications/Advertising.
• 10+ years of industry experience with 7+ years in media operations.
• Financial acumen within the media space.

Responsibilities

• Lead media financial operations including budgeting, billing, and forecasting.
• Coordinate with Media Strategy, Finance Operations, and Corporate Accounting.
• Drive SOX-aligned processes and maintain data quality across systems.

Skills

Financial acumen

Leadership

Data analysis

Cross-functional collab

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Finance, or Communications/Advertising

Tools

MediaOcean

Prisma

Guidelines Planning

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

Mars United℠ Commerce is a global commerce marketing practice that aligns people, technology, and intelligence to make the business of our clients better today than it was yesterday. Our worldwide capabilities coalesce into four key disciplines — Strategy & Analytics, Content & Experiences, Digital Commerce, and Retail Consultancy — that individually deliver unmatched results for clients and collectively give them an unparalleled network of seamlessly integrated functions across the entire commerce marketing ecosystem. These disciplines are powered by our industry-leading technology platform, Marilyn®, which helps marketers understand the total business impact of their commerce marketing activation, enabling them to make better decisions, create connected experiences, and drive stronger, measurable results. Learn more at https://www.marsunited.com/.

We're seeking a Director, Media Operations. Candidates must reside within a commutable distance to the Mars Rogers, AR or Chicago office for a hybrid work schedule.

The Director, Media Operations will be a practical business partner to media teams within a complex, multi-agency environment. The candidate will be responsible for media and financial operations, integrating multiple parties across the media team, process improvements, systems management, general reporting, and driving compliance. They will coordinate and support the media finance process flow — specifically regarding budgeting, billing, and forecasting — with oversight of ad operations, and will ensure end-to-end operational excellence for the client.

We are looking for a leader with expertise in marketing technology and media performance management and measurement. The ideal candidate is a dot connector with an analytic mindset, problem-solving skills, and the ability to organize and track multiple projects simultaneously. They should be proactive, resourceful, agile, and a creative problem solver who can foster client relationships and partner with clients to work through process changes, partner concerns, and forward-thinking ideas.

Responsibilities

Financial Operations

• Serve as the media business partner across agency financial teams.
• Manage budget, billing, and financial compliance.
• Improve and streamline existing media budget forecasts, actuals, and billing processes, ensuring all reconciliations are completed according to client guidelines.
• Provide supportive guidance and consultancy across client billing, working closely with key partners including Media Strategy & Activation teams, Finance Operations, and Corporate Accounting:
• Track client budget approvals through the client's budget management system
• Ensure communication of approved funding is disseminated amongst the appropriate parties within the paid media team
• Billing for paid media
• Scheduling changes
• Special client requests
• Bridge with shared financial services and agency teams
• Prepare billing verification and budget management reports drawing from Guidelines Planning and MediaOcean/Prisma.
• Work with internal partners to resolve discrepancies prior to monthly billing.
• Analyze and explain variances.
• Track client payables and receivables, answer client questions, and resolve issues.
• Coordinate billing approvals with inter-company partners.
• Prepare ad-hoc reports for internal and external clients.
• Manage the monthly budgeting process and coordinate resolution of all forecast and billing-related issues.
• Work with the client to verify and reconcile any issues with the reporting of actuals.
• Offer administrative support, training, and troubleshooting for the Guidelines Planning platform.
• Ensure team and personal deliverables are met on time; steward workflow and project management.
• Support key account leadership with assessing and communicating monthly risks and opportunities.

Operational Excellence

• Help build and continue to optimize the paid media financial process to further streamline and deliver operational excellence to agency teams and the client.
• Participate as an active leader in developing a framework and building a custom media operations team in support of client operational excellence.
• Serve as a key partner in driving agency compliance of scope and monitoring financial penalty implications (SLOs).
• Track key operations-led activities, anticipate challenges, and raise appropriate flags to ensure timely execution of deliverables.
• Drive process adoption and optimization while maintaining integrity in a high-urgency, outcomes-oriented environment.
• Complete routine process and data quality checks to ensure accuracy and optimal efficiency, re-inventing processes as needed.
• Ensure accuracy of data pulls from various systems (e.g., MediaOcean/Prisma, Guidelines Planning).
• Monitor Standard Operating Procedures to identify problems and recommend process efficiency improvements in alignment with SOX requirements.
• Create training materials to document processes and instill standard methodologies across teams.

Client Relationship

• Maintain client updates, develop and manage budgets, and identify and address media financial business challenges.
• Identify and communicate organizational or business challenges, working to deliver on the needs of the broader agency team and client as they pertain to media operations.
• Manage the client reconciliation process as it relates to timely review and adjustments for credits and debits.
• Serve as the primary contact for client finance questions and issues across Account Management, Media Operations Delivery, and the Client.

Leadership

• Foster a collaborative culture, develop talent, and maintain strong partner relationships.
• Liaise across all teams and business leaders for financial operations, legal matters, and other areas of media operations and compliance.
• Work with senior leadership teams across creative, analytics, and search.
• Serve as the technical authority for all ad tech issues involved in running online ad campaigns.
• Work closely with senior agency leadership and account leadership (digital and non-digital) to provide strategic technology and activation direction to all account teams, including pricing, scope and deliverable alignment, resource alignment, product development, and new business.
• Actively develop junior talent and work with leadership to cultivate a consultative and growing team of advertising professionals.

Qualifications

• University degree or college diploma, or equivalent work experience; preferred background in Marketing, Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, or Communications/Advertising.
• Media or advertising agency experience with a strong understanding of the inner workings of the agency model.
• 10+ years of overall industry experience with 7+ years in media operations within the advertising and/or media field.
• Financial savvy within the media space.
• Comfortable working with and organizing large data sets.
• Proven capabilities leading projects from conception to implementation.
• Demonstrated ability to manage concurrent projects.
• Excellent leadership skills with the ability to inspire and interact with all levels of staff.
• Effective presenter with strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Organized, thorough, and focused on accuracy with strong time management.
• Superior critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

The Power of One starts with our people! To do powerful things, we offer powerful resources. Our best-in-class wellness and benefits offerings include:

• Paid Family Care for parents and caregivers for 12 weeks or more
• Monetary assistance and support for Adoption, Surrogacy and Fertility
• Monetary assistance and support for pet adoption
• Employee Assistance Programs and Health/Wellness/Comfort reimbursements to help you invest in your future and work/life balance
• Tuition Assistance
• Paid time off that includes Flexible Time off Vacation, Annual Sick Days, Volunteer Days, Holiday and Identity days, and more
• Matching Gifts programs
• Flexible working arrangements
• ‘Work Your World’ Program encouraging employees to work from anywhere Publicis Groupe has an office for up to 6 weeks a year (based upon eligibility)
• Business Resource Groups that support multiple affinities and alliances

The benefits offerings listed are available to eligible U.S. Based employees, are reviewed on an annual basis, and are governed by the terms of the applicable plan documents.

We also offer medical and voluntary benefits to our freelancers and temporary employees. Voluntary benefit options include supplemental medical insurance, transportation, and parking benefits, legal benefits, pet insurance, and auto and home insurance. You must be actively employed for 90 consecutive calendar days in order to be eligible for Publicis medical and voluntary benefits.

Mars United℠ Commerce is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our employment decisions are made without regard to actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability, medical condition as defined by applicable state law, genetic information, marital status, military service and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws and ordinances.

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact [e-mail].

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.