Head of Media Excellence - Midrand

Dis-Chem Pharmacies; Midrand; On-site; ZAR 1,500,000 - 2,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical aid

Provident fund

Staff account

Market-related salary

Job summary

Dis-Chem Pharmacies seeks a Head of Media Excellence to lead end-to-end media and AdTech strategy across paid channels from the Head Office. You will drive efficiency, scale, and performance through centralised media planning, buying, and technology enablement, and oversee campaign measurement to guide the Integrated marketing campaign team.

The role requires 8+ years in media leadership with strong ROI track record and 3–5 years in people management, and will partner with Brand, Strategy, IT,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Analytics, Communications or related field.
• 8+ years’ experience in ATL, digital, retail media, media planning, media buying, AdTech, or integrated media leadership roles.
• 3–5 years’ experience in a leadership or people management role.
• Demonstrated success in improving media efficiency and delivering measurable ROI.

Responsibilities

• Align media strategy and planning to integrated go-to-market plans and campaign priorities defined by GTM and Brand & Strategy teams.
• Define media buying guidelines/guardrails.
• Lead annual media planning across digital, traditional, and in-store channels.
• Identify and implement consolidation opportunities to capture economies of scale in buying and execution.
• Own the AdTech roadmap and manage integration of platforms.
• Drive automation of media planning, activation, and performance tracking.
• Ensure data accuracy, campaign tagging, and end-to-end attribution models are embedded across channels.
• Partner with Digital, IT, and Analytics teams to connect AdTech with MarTech and CRM.
• Oversee media buying operations, ensuring transparency, compliance, and cost efficiency.
• Lead rate negotiations and supplier management to maximise value and rebate recovery.
• Partner with Brand & Marketing Strategy teams to ensure media planning aligns with brand priorities, campaign objectives, and overall marketing strategy.
• Build strategic relationships with agencies.
• Collaborate with Creative, Campaigns, and Retail Media teams to ensure cohesive execution.
• Define media-specific measurement frameworks, KPIs, and performance inputs, contributing to consolidated reporting led by the Insights & Reporting function.
• Define key metrics to measure effectiveness (reach, conversion, ROI, brand lift, etc)
• Report on campaign measurement to inform execution approach of the Integrated marketing campaign team.
• Report insights to Brand & Marketing Strategy teams to inform optimisation, investment allocation, and future campaign strategy.
• Provide channel-level performance reporting and insights to support consolidated marketing reporting led by the GTM and Insights function

Skills

Media strategy

Media planning

AdTech

ROI optimization

Negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Analytics, Communications

Honours degree or postgraduate qualification advantageous

Tools

AdTech platforms

Programmatic media platforms

Job description

Dis-Chem Pharmacies has an opportunity available for a Head of Media Excellence for their Head Office.

The Head of Media Excellence role leads Dis-Chem’s end-to-end media and AdTech strategy to drive efficiency, scale, and performance across all paid channels. The role oversees centralised media planning, buying, and technology enablement to unlock economies of scale, improve return on investment, and enable data-driven marketing execution. The role also oversees marketing campaign performance measurement to inform the execution approach of the Integrated marketing campaign team. Through strong governance, vendor partnerships, and technology integration, this role ensures every media investment delivers measurable business impact.

Minimum Requirements…

Essential:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Analytics, Communications, or related Honours degree or postgraduate qualification advantageous.
• 8+ years’ experience in ATL, digital, retail media, media planning, media buying, AdTech, or integrated media leadership roles within retail, FMCG, consumer-facing environments, or media agencies.
• 3–5 years’ experience in a leadership or people managementrole
• Demonstrated success in improving media efficiency and delivering measurable ROI

Responsibilities

Media strategy & planning

• Align media strategy and planning to integrated go-to-market plans and campaign priorities defined by the GTM and Brand & Strategy teams
• Definition of media buying guidelines/guardrails
• Lead annual media planning across digital, traditional, and in-store channels
• Identify and implement consolidation opportunities to capture economies of scale in buying and execution

AdTech & performance infrastructure

• Own the AdTech roadmap and manage integration of platforms
• Drive automation of media planning, activation, and performance tracking
• Ensure data accuracy, campaign tagging, and end-to-end attribution models are embedded across channels
• Partner with Digital, IT, and Analytics teams to connect AdTech with MarTech and CRM

Buying & optimisation

• Oversee media buying operations, ensuring transparency, compliance, and cost efficiency
• Lead rate negotiations and supplier management to maximise value and rebate recovery

Agency partnerships & collaboration

• Partner with Brand & Marketing Strategy teams to ensure media planning aligns with brand priorities, campaign objectives, and overall marketing strategy
• Build strategic relationships with agencies
• Collaborate with Creative, Campaigns, and Retail Media teams to ensure cohesive execution

Campaign measurement and reporting

• Define media-specific measurement frameworks, KPIs, and performance inputs, contributing to consolidated reporting led by the Insights & Reporting function
• Define key metrics to measure effectiveness (reach, conversion, ROI, brand lift, etc)
• Report on campaign measurement to inform execution approach of the Integrated marketing campaign team
• Report insights to Brand & Marketing Strategy teams to inform optimisation, investment allocation, and future campaign strategy
• Provide channel-level performance reporting and insights to support consolidated marketing reporting led by the GTM and Insights function

Competencies Essential:

Key competencies

• Deep understanding of media strategy, planning, and buying across all channels
• Proven experience in AdTech platforms, programmatic media, and performance optimisation
• Experienced in developing and communicating campaign measurement insights
• Experienced in managing large media budgets and complex vendor ecosystems
• Strong negotiation, financial, and ROI optimisation skills
• Collaborative communicator able to align marketing, technology, and commercial teams

Key Performance Indicators

• Media efficiency: Media ROI (%), optimisation of media mix
• Media cost optimisation: Saving or added value achieved through central buying
• AdTech performance & adoption: Utilisation of AdTech tools, number of AdTech pilots implemented annually
• Agency performance: Agency ratings, benchmarking agency costs vs market standards
• Campaign measurement: Stakeholder satisfaction ratings
• Team leadership & capability: High-performing team culture, capability development, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration.

Special Conditions of Employment

• SouthAfricancitizen
• MIE,clearcriminalandcredit
• Driver’slicenseand/orownreliabletransport

Remuneration and benefits

• Marketrelatedsalary
• Medicalaid
• Providentfund
• Staffaccount

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