Director, Planning

PHD; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k)

Flexible Spending Account

Paid parental leave

Vacation days

Sick leave

Job summary

PHD is seeking an experienced senior leader in media planning and buying to head a dynamic team within the global Omnicom agency network. This role emphasizes innovative media strategies, cross‑team collaboration, and data‑driven decision making to deliver integrated campaigns for top brands.

You will manage a high‑performing team, set strategic direction, and partner with clients and media partners to redefine success metrics and measurement plans rooted in empirical data.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 8 to 10 years of media planning experience; integrated experience strongly desired.
• Strong ability to have intelligent conversations about data and measurement.
• Knack for linking business goals with strategic executions.
• Effective communication skills.
• Proficiency in media terminology, media math, calculations and KPI development and third-party research tools.

Responsibilities

• Account Management– connect brand goals with target audience, leveraging media tools to uncover insights to activate the plan for a variety of campaigns. Own the execution of deliverables on time, on budget and with attention to quality.
• Team Management– be the goal setter. Pave the direction for your team and devise plans for short-term and long-term growth and success.
• Client Management– be your client’s champion. Provide strategic direction and clearly articulate opportunities to clients.
• Cross Team Alignment– be a resourceful and analytical thinker with the ability to work with analytics leads on the client and agency side.

Job description

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.

Agency

PHd

Job Function

Media

Job Subfunction

Media Planning and Buying

The Role

This is a high-level position, leading a team of passionate game changers, all focused on bringing constant innovation. This role is pivotal in helping the agency establish new ways of working with media – and even reinvent traditional media itself. Different thinking is not only encouraged, but also celebrated here at PHD. We believe the old ways of working in the RFI format are dead, we foster intimate and progressive relationships both with our clients and the media partners who help to realize our ambitions.

You will lead your own integrated team and work within one of the most passionate media teams who is flexible and nimble, fast and adapt to change.It is a team that exemplifies teamwork and one that is looking for a leader who can help create with them a media strategy that sets these brands apart from the rest.

Firstly, come prepared to dig in and get ready to get your hands dirty. This role is strategy in action. We listen, we talk, and then we get right into the do. Here at PHD, we muck in, at every level, to get what needs to be done and we do it smarter, faster, and better than it has been done before.

This is an important role, one that requires an inspirational and actionable strategy. You need to have your media planning skills down to a fine art; know your media math inside and out and the foundations for innovation starts here. You need to be comfortable with deep analysis to rationalize and measure your media decisions.We like to put a little skin in the game. That means you help define what success looks like for the client and agency teams by designing measurement plans rooted in empirical data.

You set the agenda as the everyday lead and we will cheer you on as you bring your own point of view and challenge us, the team and our clients towards a better way or working.Make no mistake, this is a heavy producer type role. Not only will you lead strategy, but you will create it and lead a team towards developing it and a client towards aligning with it.

You would need to be a strong communicator with strength of conviction and to be able to inspire a team and set them and our clients towards a path of growth. We expect you too, to grow in this role and be groomed for the next generation of Group Account Directors at PHD.

Responsibilities

• Account Management– connect brand goals with target audience, leveraging media tools to uncover insights to activate the plan for a variety of campaigns. Own the execution of deliverables on time, on budget and with attention to quality. Identify creative ideas that meet client needs, solves problems, and drives the business strategy. Facilitate brainstorming and foresee how ideas will play out in the marketplace. Understand industry trends and their potential impact on PHD and your client.
• Team Management– be the goal setter. Pave the direction for your team and devise plans for short-term and long-term growth and success. Supervise and coach your team providing routine feedback, be an advocate of their learning and development at PHD.
• Client Management– be your client’s champion. Provide strategic direction and clearly articulate opportunities to clients. Be willing and able to step in and help clients always make decisions with a professional presence.
• Cross Team Alignment– be a resourceful and analytical thinker with the ability to work with analytics leads on the client and agency side. Align with internal stakeholders to meet agency objectives, share perspectives, and improve operational efficiencies.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 8 to 10 years of media planning experience; integrated experience strongly desired
• Minimum 6 years of experience in managing and growing a large team
• Strong ability to have intelligent conversations about data and measurement
• Knack for linking business goals with strategic executions
• Effective communication skills
• Proficiency in media terminology, media math, calculations and KPI development and third-party research tools

Compensation Range: $90,000 - $215,000 annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on relevant experience, other job-related qualifications/skills, and geographic location (to account for comparative cost of living). The Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. For this role, Benefits include: health/vision/dental insurance, 401(k), Healthcare Flexible Spending Account, Dependence Care Flexible Spending Account, vacation, sick, personal days, paid parental leave, and paid medical leave, STD/LTD insurance benefits.

PHD is An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.

Omnicom’s policy requires employees to work in the office for a minimum of three days a week, unless additional in-office days are directed by their agency or manager. Our objective is to increase this requirement over time, and many of our agencies as well as Omnicom’s corporate group already require five days of in-office attendance.

Omnicom is committed to hiring and developing exceptional talent. We agree that talent is uniquely distributed, and we’re focused on developing inclusive teams that can bring the best solutions to everything we do. We strongly believe that celebrating what makes us different makes us better together. Join us—we look forward to getting to know you. We will process your personal data in accordance with our Recruitment Privacy Notice.

Link to Recruitment Privacy Notice: https://www.omc.com/privacy-notice

For US Job Seekers

It is the policy of Omnicom and any of its affiliates to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, religion, color, ethnic origin, gender, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, disability, or any other basis prohibited by applicable federal, state, or local law. EOE/AA/M/D/V/F.

$90,000 - $215,000

$90,000 - $215,000