Head of Programmatic

About Us

At Stagwell Media, our mission is to find the change that fuels growth. We apply this principle to the work we do with our clients and to how we engage with our people. We’re a modern global agency bringing together media, data, technology and talent to make brands perform.

Our business is purpose driven. In March 2022, we were named Ad Age’s first ever Purpose-Led Agency of the Year, recognised for our mission to leave the world better than we found it. This year we became B Corp certified, the result of a two-year journey. We’re proud to have created a culture where diversity of thought, experience, and background are valued, within an environment that fosters continuous learning, adaptability, and a shared passion for meaningful impact.

When you join Stagwell Media, you become part of an award-winning global community of digitally led experts, home to 1,500 talented people across 25 offices globally. Together we create unique data, technology and media solutions that enable faster and smarter problem solving within an inspired, collaborative workplace.

Stagwell Media is poised for its next chapter of growth. We’re a meritocratic, high-performance business with a progressive outlook and a growth mindset in all that we do. To realise our potential we need some new skills and thinking.

The core DNA of Stagwell Media lies in digital performance marketing. New and existing clients are asking us to extend this expertise across all media, connecting traditional channels with digital methods of execution, measurement and automation. We were born the right way to do this – we’re building out from a leading digital and technology capability and adding the rest, rather than trying to reverse engineer a legacy business into a more modern version of itself. At Stagwell Media we ask our people to embody three core values:

Show Up: actively contribute to a space of personal and collective growth

Make Change: embrace obstacles as opportunities, taking intentional steps to drive positive change

Win Well: approach success with integrity, responsibility, and a commitment to collaboration, understanding that the journey is as important as the destination.

We look forward to meeting you and to discussing how we can grow together.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership 

• Set a clear European Programmatic strategy and roadmap, aligned with Stagwell Media’s global proposition and the priorities of our European business. 

• Provide visible leadership inside the agency and externally, giving clients and teams a strong point of view on the market, technology, data, AI and the future of programmatic media. 

• Define Programmatic’s role within Stagwell Media's wider integrated proposition and ensure it contributes actively to agency strategy, product development and new business. 

• Turn the strategy into a focused plan with clear owners, milestones and measures of success. 

Raise capability across our clients 

• Work with Client Leadership to assess the maturity of Programmatic across priority accounts and agree specific plans to improve performance, capability and client confidence. 

• Build credible, funded roadmaps that expand the role of Programmatic where it can create better business and media outcomes. 

• Act as the senior Programmatic leader in important client conversations, reviews and pitches, bringing clear recommendations and helping teams solve complex problems. 

• Raise the quality of our product, planning and delivery across the channel 

Drive Programmatic growth 

• Own a clear growth plan for the function, covering existing-client expansion, new-business opportunities, new products and strategic partnerships. 

• Maintain an active pipeline with clear ownership and conversion plans, and be accountable for incremental Programmatic billings and revenue against agreed forecasts. 

• Work closely with Growth, Client Leadership and Commercial teams to convert capability into compelling solutions, sustainable scopes and profitable growth. 

Lead our strategic partnerships 

• Build strong, senior relationships with Stagwell Media and strategic media and technology partners and with the key people responsible for those relationships globally. 

• Translate partner capabilities into better recommendations, stronger innovation and tangible value for clients 

• Represent Europe consistently in global and Stagwell Media Platform forums, ensuring agreed actions and responsible investment goals are carried through locally. 

Build a stronger department 

• Create the right structure for the European Programmatic team, with strong day-to-day leadership, clear accountabilities and effective succession at every level. 

• Lead workforce planning across European markets and Global Delivery, maintaining an accurate view of capacity, capability, workload and future hiring needs. 

• Recruit excellent talent, address capability or performance gaps early and build an integrated operating model across onshore and offshore teams. 

• Create a culture in which people communicate proactively, honour commitments, ask for help early and take pride in the standard of their work. 

Own delivery and commercial performance 

• Maintain a clear view of performance, delivery quality and risk across the Programmatic client portfolio and intervene quickly when support is needed. 

• Own team costs, income, utilisation and margin performance, working with Client Leadership and Commercial teams to keep scopes, fees, forecasts and staffing aligned. 

• Set and uphold high standards across planning, activation, optimisation, measurement and governance 

Required Skills

• Experience leading distributed teams and integrating European markets with offshore or Global Delivery capability. 
• We are looking for a leader who combines deep Programmatic expertise with the judgement and energy to build a function. You will be as comfortable discussing agency growth, talent and operating models as you are discussing platforms, partners and campaign performance. 
• Deep understanding of the Programmatic ecosystem, including major DSPs, media and technology partners, data, identity, verification, measurement, supply and managed-service models. 
• Evidence of expanding existing client relationships and converting new-business opportunities into meaningful revenue. 
• Strong executive presence with clients, partners and senior internal stakeholders, supported by the ability to simplify complexity and make a clear recommendation.
• A strong track record of leading Programmatic teams and improving the capability, performance and commercial contribution of a function. 
• Commercial fluency across scopes, staffing, forecasts, partner economics and margin 

Equal Opportunities

Stagwell Media is an advocate for equal opportunity in the workplace. We are committed to ensuring equal opportunities regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability and gender identity. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.