Media Planning Director (12 Month FTC)

2711 - Media Planning Director (12 Month FTC) - UK

About EssenceMediacom: A Leading WPP Media Brand

EssenceMediacom is a new breed of media agency. Grounded in analytics & insights and powered by data & technology, we believe in the power of media and creative to drive breakthroughs for the world’s best brands. We help clients understand the modern marketing paradox and discover the breakthroughs brands need to win with their consumers. We are designed for the new communications economy — built on data & technology, built for people & algorithms, built around diverse schools of thought, built to test & learn at scale, and, crucially, built to evolve.

Role Summary and Impact

The Media Planning Director is a critical Campaign and Portfolio Lead on the Google account. You will demonstrate the ability to execute strategic media plans at scale, managing large, complex, and fast-moving campaigns (such as Google Play and Chromebooks) simultaneously under challenging, dynamic market conditions.

In this role, you will lead a dedicated Planning team, ensuring all client deliverables meet WPP’s highest quality standards. You are a trusted partner and a key voice in internal, creative, partner agency, and client conversations. Beyond day-to-day campaign management, you will actively contribute to the broader Google Planning Discipline by owning at least one central best-practice workstream—collating regional feedback, building training materials, and aligning with the central Global team to drive our craft forward.

Scope of Accountability & Core Responsibilities

Campaign Leadership & Strategic Execution

• Oversee multiple, highly complex media plans simultaneously, steering campaign objectives from strategic conception through to flawless activation and execution.
• Serve as the team's primary source of technical authority on predominantly Brand but potentially Performance (DR) media planning, ensuring all campaigns align with industry-leading best practices.
• Act as the primary point of contact for planning projects for both internal and external stakeholders, including clients, creative partners, and WPP activation teams.
• Proactively identify and define business-enhancing challenges, outlining short- and long-term strategic solutions, weighing trade-offs, and resolving blockers to ensure campaign progress.

Client Partnership & Communication

• Steer senior-level campaign presentations, translating strategic data, performance metrics, and complex media trends into clear, visual, and compelling narratives.
• Connect high-level strategy to tactical implementation, answering the big strategic "whys" for our clients.
• Lead the relationship with external creative and social partners to secure asset alignments, licensing, and 2nd-voice creator approvals.

Insights, Optimization & Innovation

• Oversee the delivery of macro and micro insights (PCAs, QBRs, DCAs), pulling together broader POVs to action recurring themes and optimize ongoing campaigns.
• Keep a close eye on the media landscape to identify, test, and implement emerging digital technologies, platform features, and testing frameworks (e.g., Conversion Lift Studies, CLS).
• Identify workflow gaps and lead process improvements to increase planning efficiency, accuracy, and overall client satisfaction.

Discipline Contribution & Central OKRs

• Drive the development of at least one regional or global central best-practice workstream.
• Build training materials and collate regional team feedback to close the loop with WPP’s central Global planning teams.

Team Leadership & People Management

• Directly manage, mentor, and coach a team of 1–5 media planners (onshore and offshore), designing clear career growth roadmaps and setting performance goals.
• Act as the go-to connector across cross-discipline (CS, Activation, Analytics, AdOps) and cross-PA conversations to ensure holistic team alignment.
• Assess the resource implications of new briefs and adjust the team's workload prioritization in real-time, proactively managing bandwidth and escalating resource needs to management when necessary.

Skills and Experience

At WPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people. It’s what elevates us to deliver exceptional experiences for both our clients and each other. In this role it will be critical to embrace WPP & WPP Media’s shared core values:

• Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire transformational Creativity.
• Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences by Cultivating Trust.
• Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise.
• A proven track record of managing large-scale brand and performance budgets.
• Strong analytical skills with a natural affinity for numbers; comfortable interpreting raw data into actionable insights and strategic recommendations.
• Expert-level understanding of core planning tools and spreadsheets (formulas, and ideally using AI to build scripts). Proficiency with internal tools like Olive is highly advantageous.
• Outstanding written, verbal, and visual storytelling skills. Ability to think on your feet and confidently manage senior client stakeholders.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability to build strong, trust-based relationships across diverse, multi-disciplinary, and international teams.

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our benefits include competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days.

WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location

Please read our Privacy Notice (https://www.wppmedia.com/pages/privacy-policy) for more information on how we process the information you provide.

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