Compensation Overview

What you’ll be doing…

The Head of Planning leads the dynamic UK planning team, crafting exceptional, inspiring responses to RFPs that set the industry standard for quality and consistency across all sales verticals. In this pivotal role, you will collaborate with the visionary Central Partnerships Sales Team and diverse Commercial Vertical Sales Teams, including Women’s Lifestyle, Home Interest, Games, Technology, and Lifestyle & Entertainment. You will lead a team to create compelling collateral and innovative product marketing materials that not only win campaigns but also propel us to an unparalleled market leadership position.

The role is both operational and strategic. 

1. Operationally, Planners ensure high quality and consistency in Future’s one-to-one sales pitches and proposals across the global Commercial team -- producing RFP responses and pitch decks. 
2. Strategically, Planners are tasked with delivering stand-out proposals which help us win maximum budget/share-of-wallet, with predictable yield and revenue delivery, in programs/campaigns which deliver on client budgets, and meet/exceed client KPIs.

Within the team, there are 2 types of distinct focus and expertise: Media Planners and Partnership Planners. The former focuses on <£100k RFP responses from everything from £20k Display responses to <£100k content/social/display responses that build a narrative and curate “off the shelf” packages for clients. The latter focuses on excelling with our branded content solution alongside Future Creative, by answering client’s briefs with strategically sound,insight-led, idea-focused, multi-touchpoint responses that truly answer and deliver on the brand’s challenges. Experience here is desirable but not essential

Success is measured by overall Commercial team revenue and more specifically, win rates in reactive and proactive responses & pitches from the planning team.

Reporting & Team Structure 

This role reports to the Commercial Director. The Planning team comprises 10 Planners (1 Ad Director, 2 Media Planning Directors, 3 Partnership Planners, 3 Media Planning Managers, and 1 Partnership Graduate). This role will be responsible for the team as a whole with 4 immediate direct reports.

Experience that will put you ahead of the curve…

• Experience of running a team of planners within a mainstream Media Agency
• Media Planning experience.
• Knowledge and experience in Published Media, Video, Social, and Branded Content Partnerships 
• Management and talent development of multi-tier and multi-specialist team
• Strong storytelling ability, with meticulous attention to detail 
• Ability to be accurate and fast, at scale in day-to-day work with consistent, stellar results
• Proactive and ‘can-do’ attitude that enables you to pivot, collaborate, and communicate effectively across all levels of the business. Player/Coach mentality that sees you activating as well as supporting other team members to hit deadlines 
• Strategic and ROI-focused -- the ability to see things from the client’s perspective. Media Planner agency experience beneficial here
• Broad knowledge of media channels, popular tactics, and a pulse on the trends of media and how this impacts Future’s positioning 
• Firm understanding of modern and evolving content creation and distribution strategies
• Familiarity with campaign evaluation metrics and media buying practices
• Digitally savvy, with working knowledge of analytics and customer management tools (e.g. Salesforce, Netsuite, MOAT, Nielsen, Monday)
• Ability to work with, prepare and build databases and spreadsheets, for the creation and modification of media plans and templates
• Ability to present up to management on Planning successes and actions regularly as part of team reporting

What’s in it for you…

We have a number of awesome perks available to our staff.  We offer huge opportunities to learn and develop, whether through professional qualifications, exposure to incredible business projects or informal lunch & learns, hosted by your colleagues. We have a fantastic culture where we really do care about our people and want everyone to succeed. Varied roles mean you’re not pigeonholed in to one finite area but get the opportunity to develop a wide range of skills and experience

And to top it all off, not only do we offer unlimited holiday because we trust you to manage your workload and time but we also offer a share in our success whereby every colleague is eligible to join our profit pool bonus scheme - if Future hits their performance targets all colleagues may receive a bonus.

Internal job family level Commercial 3

The expected range for this role is £70,000 - £80,000

This is a Hybrid role from our London Paddington Office, working three days from the office, two from home

Who are we…

We’re Future. We’re 3000+ colleagues over 250+ brands speaking to 400 million people every month across the globe through websites, events and magazines. We’ve got ambitious plans that build on our growth momentum and unlock new opportunities and we’re looking for talented people who want to be a part of it. 

Our Future, Our Responsibility - Inclusion and Diversity at Future

We have a voice and we’re going to use it. We promote diversity and inclusion not just in our recruitment processes, but everything we do. We’re an equal opportunity employer and we will continue to ensure our recruitment process is free of bias and our workplaces are inclusive, positive, free of discrimination and respecting of all backgrounds and beliefs. Our culture is underpinned by our values and employees - current and future - are treated with respect and fairness.

Please let us know if you need any reasonable adjustments made so we can give you the best experience!

Find out more about Our Future, Our Responsibility on our website.

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