Digital Director

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. 

WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.

For more information, visit wppmedia.com.

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.

The Digital Associate Director leads the digital planning output for the client, with a focus on programmatic and data led planning. They lead the implementational planning output of their direct team but are also responsible for engaging with and mobilising the experts in the agency to deliver a seamless and integrated digital plan.  You will be responsible for leading a growing team and working closely with your clients and a range of wider stakeholders to ensure high quality, consistent campaigns that meet our client KPI’s.

You will have strong technical knowledge of the digital landscape, (with a focus on programmatic approaches) data and technology and will be responsible for leading a team. You will be aware of the role that digital can play in the client’s overall media plan and the benefits that digital can deliver for them. You will work closely with the Digital Director to lead the relationship with the digital client ensuring that they see EssenceMediacom as brilliant a delivering digital excellence.

The role sits within a wider team responsible for delivering breakthrough work for our clients across all channels.

Measures of success

In three months, you would have:

• Built visibility and trust with multiple stakeholders – both internally and externally. They will see you as a reliable and trusted digital advisor.
• Showcased exceptional project management skills through the delivery of multiple campaigns
• Built strong relationships with your team, nurturing their growth and development, reviewing and re-setting KPIs as required

In six months, you would have:

• Delivered a step-change in the digital planning and execution strategy
• Led and evolved our test & learn agenda to ensure we are testing our way to delivering impactful change to DFS and Costa’s business in the face of an ever-evolving industry.
• Delivered brilliant work to the client - building innovation into our plans, whether this is through smart tech, data, creative or audience insight

Responsibilities of the role

• You will be the lead client contact and responsible for delivering best in class activity across digital to meet client KPIs
• You will be responsible for managing planning, execution & optimisation of budget, channels, tactics and creative when a campaign is in flight to ensure we deliver vs. our objectives for any given brief.
• You will understand the performance at both a macro and micro level to ensure recommendations to client are based of sound data and can lead to quantifiable change.
• You will feed in at each stage of the client planning process to inform wider comms strategy, test and learn and innovation strategies. A key part of this role involves providing sound insights and recommendations that can inform our comms and drive implementation strategies, which you will be responsible for delivering at a planning and execution stage.
• You will lead a team of experts to help define best practice, automate processes and deliver the right insights for your clients.

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.

• Experience in planning and executing DR & Brand campaigns across Paid Social, Display & Video, with an in depth knowledge of programmatic platforms
• Excellent display and paid social knowledge. Understanding the landscape, the application and the opportunities within these channels
• Experience in leading and developing client relationships
• Team building, nurturing and development experience
• Excellent numerical and analytical skills
• Enthusiastic, and positive attitude to learning, growing and building a team.
• Strategic understanding of digital channels within a wider context.