Associate Director

We’re VaynerMedia! We are a contemporary global creative and media agency built for the now. Born in social, our work is now full service, simply loving big ideas that connect and create real change for our client’s business. We are independently owned, founded in 2009 with offices in London, Amsterdam, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Mexico City. We are recognised for our work in Cannes Lions, the Clios, D&AD and The Webbies to name a few. 

Culture is our key and Empathy is how we build it. VaynerMedia EMEA is strong with a world-class combination of diverse backgrounds collaborating to put forward innovative, creative and strategic solutions to the one advantage that stands the test of time – PEOPLE. Day in and day out, we propel some of the biggest brands in the world to the intersection of attention and culture. In EMEA, we are proudly 250+, servicing multi-brands across the region.

The PITCH.

The Associate Director, Media is responsible for serving as the day-to-day leader inside our media department, mentoring and working closely with a unified media unit consisting of Media Analysts, Senior Media Analysts and Managers.. You will be functioning as a trusted and respected leader within the organisation and relied upon for high-level operations management, innovation, and client/partner relationships. You will report to a Director, Media, working closely with them and buying teammates, as well as other core discipline team members (Analytics, Creative, Strategy etc) to service clients’ goals.

The Associate Director, Media effectively leverages experience, knowledge and skills to push innovative thinking and set challenging team goals and objectives while balancing client, company, and team needs. Ultimately, this role is responsible for creating and flawlessly executing a media plan that connects our clients to their consumers. Overseeing the progress of all projects, assist your team to make sure deadlines are met and make sure the work being produced is stellar.

Here’s where you come in…

On the buying side:

• Regularly meet with direct reports setting daily expectations, to ensure they’re tracking towards goals, providing strategic guidance, and running training sessions.
• Act as client lead maintaining client relationships, acting on executional or strategic needs, presenting media plans and campaign results etc.
• Ensure campaign performance is of the highest standard managing ongoing measurement against client KPI’s, business objectives, and reporting on performance providing thought leadership on all media plans.
• Ensure strategy, approach and direction meets (or exceeds) client expectations for any given campaign or initiative striving to be proactive vs. reactive with your approach to their businesses
• Oversee finance processes monthly reviewing budget reports, media authorizations, and billing. 
• Partner with the Director to deliver best-in-class media investment strategy and execution outputs, derived from industry insights and expertise.
• Communicate information internally and externally managing deliverables between client, account, and analysts.
• Continue to establish internal policies and POVs on agency partnerships, the general digital media landscape, and current client business cases.
• Collaborate across agency disciplines to craft best-in-class, holistic omnichannel media strategies rooted in driving tangible business outcomes for large brands
• Actively consider new opportunities for key client(s), proactively recommending new tactics, partners, etc.

On the planning side:

• Lead team to help set strategies, define tactical game plans, and develop media plans across media channels.
• Develop and deliver senior-level media strategy to clients across all levels that are derived from industry insights and expertise developing necessary cadence of plan recommendations & performance recaps.
• Provide assessment of client’s current social and digital proficiencies and areas for improvement.
• Consistently work to maintain the success of campaigns: update working presentations, media strategy, plan summaries, exec summaries, etc.
• Manage client expectations ensuring clear communication across updates, timelines, recommending adjustments, creating decks, etc.
• Finalizes and presents media objective and strategy documents for larger efforts and periodic quarterly and annual planning.
• Serve as a day to day leader for the Media team as well as being a subject matter expert for internal and external clients.
• Looks for innovative and breakthrough ideas, approaches, solutions, and opportunities to expand existing and new business clients.
• Oversee budget management driving fiscal responsibility across team.
• Foster strong collaboration with internal teams that include Strategy, Creative, Media Investment/Buying, and Analytics from brief to execution to keep projects moving forward.
• Plans, directs, supervises, and coordinates tasks to delegates and handles all personnel requirements for immediate staff including training and development
• Responsible for the growth and performance of analysts, senior analysts, and managers, providing frequent and actionable feedback on their work product

We treasure Personality and Experience yet we do know that these qualifications lead to what WE KNOW as a success:

• A minimum 6+ years of industry experience working within platforms and in a media planning agency role, with emphasis on digital or integrated planning and campaign management, preferentially across B2B brands. 
• Experience across buying/biddable platforms in any of the following and managing the executional side of media buying across several biddable platforms with particular depth in at least a few of the following:
• Social: Facebook/Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, TikTok
• Amazon (AMS, Amazon DSP, AMG)
• Programmatic Display/Video (DV360, The Trade Desk, AppNexus, etc)
• Publisher/Partner Direct
• Connected TV/OTT (Roku, Hulu, etc)
• Digital Audio (Spotify, Pandora, etc)
• Paid Search (Google, Bing, Amazon)
• Fluency with analytics, attribution and measurement systems and various paid media and measurement opportunities across social, digital, and broader marketing mix   Including but not limited to:
• Google Analytics
• Adobe
• MOAT/IAS/Double Verify
• Nielsen/Millward Brown/Oracle Measurement
• Experience leading and managing growing teams with the ability to clearly communicate team priorities and unify the team members around a common goal.
• Strategic understanding of traditional, digital, and social-specific media planning & buying, along with the proper metrics of success and measurement opportunities.
• Clear attention to detail and organisational excellence to ensure flawless delivery of planned strategies.
• Act as a role model and embody a true leadership mentality, always putting people first, inspiring positivity and respect among employees, and ensuring employees achieve attainable professional goals/hit demarcated growth.
• Google Suite and strong Excel skills across formulas, pivot tables, and data visualization tools with experience in Tableau/Looker/Data Studio or other data visualization programs.
• Advanced written and presentation communication skills.
• A proven understanding and expertise in brand strategy, as well as the social/digital space and how it integrates with the wider marketing mix for Fortune 500 size brands.

Here’s how We Support You

We regularly review our benefits and are committed to providing a comprehensive programme for our people.

• Unlimited Holiday + 1 Day Birthday Leave
• Perkbox (online discount platform with 250 perks available)
• Journey EAP - proactive and crisis support with life concierge services
• Enhanced Parental Leave
• Unlimited Coaching sessions, which can be private and team class sessions
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Program (Financial, Mental and Physical Wellbeing)
• Cash Plan with Medicash - Level 1 cover, option to add partner, 4 children can be added for free
• Virtual GP, Skinvision, 24/7 Health and Stress Helplines, Discounted Gym, Medicash Extras
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Group Personal Pension

What you SHOULD KNOW about VaynerMedia

Think “lab” and not “agency”. We get excited about solving business problems, not creating advertising for the sake of making advertising. Our entrepreneurship DNA runs deep. We’re willing to break rules, try new things, and test hypotheses if it means better understanding our craft.

We believe 100% that brands can be built on digital platforms and part of our model is built bottom up, flipping the traditional advertising model and process on its head. We don’t play to agency/industry norms and our culture and energy reflects that.

We work together, in person. We’ve found that working 4 days a week from the office fosters the best collaboration, mentoring, shared learning, and a strong team culture. We are creative and also understand that ‘office’ doesn’t always mean ‘office’ - whether that’s working on location at a shoot, from an art gallery to get inspired or side by side with the client.

Wherever the location, being together is when the magic happens. Flexibility is always a conversation we are open to having, as we appreciate the importance of balancing life inside and outside of work.

Our environment (and pace) feels much more like a start-up than most agencies. Hopefully that, and the opportunity to collaborate with our talented and enthusiastic crew and work with big brands excites you, as it does us!

We can’t wait to meet you.

VaynerMedia is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This means that VaynerMedia provides equal employment opportunities to all staff members and job applicants without regard to gender, pregnancy, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, race, disability, sexual orientation, religious belief, part time or fixed term employment, age or any other legally protected class. 

Candidates must be authorised to work in the U.K.