Head Of Ecommerce – Publicis Media Africa

Publicis Groupe; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 800 000 - 1 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A global media and communication agency in Johannesburg is looking for a Head of eCommerce to drive measurable sales growth through strategic leadership and innovation. You will lead the development of their eCommerce strategy, aligning global solutions with local market needs while optimizing performance metrics and conversion rates. The ideal candidate must possess extensive experience in eCommerce and digital marketing, along with strong leadership and analytical skills. This role also emphasizes collaboration across various teams to enhance campaign efficiency and profitability.

Qualifications

• 8+ years' experience in eCommerce, digital marketing, or performance media.
• Strong understanding of DSPs, retail media, and platform APIs.
• Proven success in scaling commerce media offerings.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and activation of eCommerce strategies.
• Build frameworks to enhance local execution of global solutions.
• Improve conversion rates and optimize performance metrics.

Skills

Experience in eCommerce

Strong communication skills

Leadership capabilities

Data-driven mindset

Understanding of local retail landscape

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or Digital Commerce

Master's degree preferred

Tools

GA4

Looker

Power BI

Job description

Overview

Role Overview

The Head of eCommerce will lead the development and activation of Publicis Media Africa's commerce strategy — connecting media, data, and technology to drive measurable sales growth for clients.

This role is central to Publicis' transformation toward commerce-led media, combining deep understanding of South Africa's evolving retail ecosystem with the Groupe's global commerce solutions such as Epsilon, APEX, and Commerce Intelligence.

The incumbent will build scalable frameworks that unify campaigns, enhance conversion tracking, and optimize performance for GMV, ROAS, and customer lifetime value.

They will also create commerce products and internal capabilities that align with global Publicis products while addressing local market challenges such as limited retailer APIs, fragmented data, and underdeveloped tracking infrastructure.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Leadership

Define and execute Publicis Africa's eCommerce strategy, ensuring alignment with Groupe transformation goals and client growth objectives.

Build frameworks to bridge global commerce solutions (Epsilon, APEX, Core ID) with local execution realities in Africa.

Partner with client leads, planning teams, and BUDs to embed commerce thinking across the client lifecycle.

Represent Africa in Groupe eCommerce councils and share regional insights to influence global product evolution.

Translate global tools and standards into market-relevant solutions that enhance sales conversion and tracking fidelity.

Productization & Capability Building

Create and commercialize Publicis Africa's Commerce Product Suite (e.g., Always-On + Pulse + Burst model).

Localize and adapt Groupe's global commerce media products for African markets, ensuring scalability and compliance.

Develop internal training and certification programs to upskill media, performance, and analytics teams.

Partner with HR and global enablement teams to institutionalize eCommerce capability frameworks across markets.

Performance & Optimization

Lead conversion optimization programs across clients — improving attribution accuracy, pixel setup, data feed management, and tracking consistency.

Drive measurable uplift in GMV, ROAS, CTR, and CVR through better funnel management, feed health, and creative iteration.

Build dashboards and reporting frameworks to monitor sales funnel performance and ROI.

Collaborate with data teams to deploy Intent-to-Purchase (ITP) and Connected ID-based targeting models.

Partnership & Market Development

Strengthen relationships with local and global eCommerce platforms (e.g., Takealot, Makro, Amazon, Jumia, Shopify, WooCommerce).

Build partnerships with fintech, telco, and retail data providers to enrich client data and improve identity resolution.

Negotiate joint business plans and co-investment models with platforms to maximize campaign efficiency.

Identify emerging African marketplaces and support clients in building marketplace readiness.

Client Collaboration & Commercial Growth

Work closely with client teams to align eCommerce strategy with overall media, brand, and business objectives.

Present eCommerce growth plans, quarterly reviews, and case studies to clients and agency leadership.

Develop billing and revenue models for commerce-linked services to strengthen Publicis' profitability.

Build case studies that prove the business impact of connected commerce and performance media.

Qualifications

Qualifications & Experience

Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or Digital Commerce; Master's preferred.

8+ years' experience in eCommerce, digital marketing, or performance media, ideally in an agency or platform environment.

Proven success in building or scaling commerce media offerings and improving GMV, conversion rates, and ROAS.

Strong understanding of the South African and Sub-Saharan eCommerce landscape, including local retailer integration and logistics constraints.

Expertise in DSPs, retail media, and platform APIs (Meta, Google, TikTok, Amazon Ads, etc.).

Data-driven mindset with familiarity in attribution, incrementality testing, and analytics tools (GA4, Looker, Power BI).

Strong commercial acumen; capable of designing and tracking billing models tied to performance outcomes.

Excellent leadership, communication, and collaboration skills; able to influence across multi-disciplinary teams.

Additional information

Key Success Metrics

Adoption of Publicis Africa's eCommerce Media Framework across top clients.

Uplift in GMV, conversion rate, and ROAS on commerce-led campaigns.

Reduction in data and tracking inefficiencies through improved tagging and feed management.

Growth in commerce-linked billing revenue.

Number of teams trained and certified under the commerce capability framework.

Development of client case studies showcasing eCommerce transformation success.

Cultural Fit

Entrepreneurial builder mindset — able to create from zero and thrive in evolving markets.

Curious and experimental — passionate about testing new tools and data models.

Collaborative and client-centric — builds bridges across teams and markets.

Believes in Publicis' Power of One philosophy — integrating creativity, data, and technology to transform client growth.