Regional Operations Director

• Set clear priorities, accountabilities and ways of working for the EMEA Regional Operations function.
• Build the structure, rhythm and capability needed to improve client delivery, business performance and regional growth.
• Act as the senior operational partner to Regional Leadership on risks, performance, capacity and improvement priorities.

• Own the operational run model for EMEA clients — including cadence, governance, issue resolution and escalation management.
• Partner with Account Leadership to ensure delivery risks are visible, blockers are resolved quickly and client teams are set up to deliver effectively.
• Ensure regional clients are mobilised and supported through consistent operating standards and reliable delivery controls.

• Own the regional governance rhythm: forums, communications, decision-making and performance reviews.
• Ensure decisions are made at the right level, escalations are routed effectively and regional context is represented in relevant global and regional forums.
• Drive clear actions, accountability and follow-through across the function.

• Embed the global operating model across EMEA, ensuring standards, processes, tools and governance expectations are adopted consistently.
• Translate enterprise-level standards into practical, market-specific ways of working.

• Own the regional view of demand, supply, utilisation, resource mix and capacity gaps.
• Partner with Global Capacity Management, Account Teams, Delivery Leads and Offshore Operations to optimise deployment, resolve constraints and improve utilisation.
• Provide regional input into enterprise workforce planning and future capacity needs.

• Ensure regional client teams have the operational foundations needed to mobilise and deliver work effectively.
• Coordinate core business processes including client onboarding, timesheeting, billing readiness, interagency set-ups, compliance and headcount approvals.
• Act as the regional operational point of coordination for enablement issues, working across Finance, HR, Technology and Implementation to unblock dependencies.

• Manage the operational levers that affect cost-to-serve across the region, including scope leakage, resource efficiency, rework and avoidable cost.
• Partner with Account Leadership and Finance to improve margin visibility and ensure practical actions are in place to protect profitable delivery.
• Oversee regional budget performance and present financial outcomes to regional and global stakeholders.

• Use performance data to identify risks, issues and improvement opportunities across the region.
• Translate insight into action — ensuring key issues have clear owners, measurable outcomes and appropriate escalation routes.
• Identify recurring operational bottlenecks and lead remediation, including regional adoption of global improvement initiatives.

• Act as the key operational connector between EMEA and global operations capabilities.
• Partner across Sales, Account, Implementation, Finance, HR, Technology and Offshore functions to drive client outcomes and operational consistency.
• Provide regional operational input into sales pursuits, client mobilisation, scope expansions and solution design — ensuring proposed models are deliverable and scalable.
• Interface with Global Programme Directors where regional and global client contexts intersect, aligning on dependencies, escalations and capacity impacts.

• Lead, coach and develop the Regional Operations team, building a high-performing function with clear roles, standards and ways of working.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, operational discipline and continuous improvement.
• Ensure the team has the skills, confidence and behaviours needed to support a more mature, insight-led and scalable delivery model. 

• Experience in a global matrix organisation with regional, global and offshore delivery models.
• Background in an in-house agency, embedded agency, creative production or complex marketing ecosystem.
• Exposure to client mobilisation, implementation, transition or new operating model design.
• Experience contributing to RFPs, commercial modelling, solution design or delivery model development.
• Exposure to automation, AI-enabled operations, workflow optimisation or digital transformation in a marketing or agency environment.

• Experience overseeing regional or annual operational budgets and presenting financial performance to senior stakeholders.
• Track record of driving margin discipline — reducing leakage, rework and avoidable cost across complex delivery environments.
• Ability to connect operational decisions to commercial outcomes and communicate financial performance clearly to leadership.
• Strategic integration of AI tools to improve operational efficiency, insight and reporting across a regional function.
• Experience setting AI governance standards and embedding AI-assisted workflows within a team or function.
• Agentic leadership approach: systematic, outcome-oriented problem-solving across complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Confidence driving AI adoption and sharing best practice across a broader operations network.
• Strong judgment in evaluating AI outputs and maintaining rigorous human oversight.

Req ID: 18558

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