Director, Media Operations

Publicis Groupe; Rogers, Northern (AR, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Mars United is seeking a Director of Media Operations to lead media finance, budgeting, billing, and forecasting in a complex multi‑agency setting. The role emphasizes operating excellence, cross‑team collaboration, and client partnership in a hybrid model with commutable proximity to Rogers, AR or Chicago.

The candidate will oversee budgeting processes, billing verification, and reports while driving process improvements and ensuring compliance across media teams and client partners.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the media business partner across agency financial teams.
• Manage budget, billing, and financial compliance.
• Improve and streamline media budget forecasts, actuals, and billing processes.
• Prepare billing verification and budget reports drawing from Guidelines Planning and MediaOcean/Prisma.
• Track client payables and receivables, answer client questions, and resolve issues.
• Drive process adoption and optimization in a high-urgency, outcomes-oriented environment.

Job description

Company 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/.

Overview

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.

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
  • Invoices
• 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-invent