Digital Lead

Job Title: Digital Lead

Company: WPP Media South Africa

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Reports To: Client Partner

Type: Full-Time

Core Role Principle

The Digital Lead owns the digital outcome end-to-end.
The Digital Lead owns the digital outcome end-to-end.

Specialist teams remain responsible for specialist channel execution and technical excellence, while the Digital Lead ensures that strategy, planning, activation, optimisation, measurement and client communication operate as one connected digital workstream.

Role Purpose

• The Digital Lead is responsible for leading the end-to-end digital delivery of the client portfolio, ensuring digital strategy, planning, activation, optimisation and measurement are connected and delivered to a consistently high standard.
• The role acts as the central digital owner across the client team, translating client briefs and business objectives into clear digital strategies and ensuring these are successfully executed across all relevant digital channels.
• The Digital Lead connects Client Leadership, Strategy, Planning, Activation, Ad Operations, Data & Analytics and external partners, providing clear ownership of the digital workstream from brief through to campaign completion.
• This is both a strategic and operational leadership role. The successful candidate must be comfortable leading senior client conversations while also maintaining strong oversight of campaign execution, performance, timelines, budgets and delivery quality.

Key Responsibilities

Digital Leadership & Client Partnership

• Act as the senior digital point of contact for the client and internal client leadership team.
• Build strong relationships with key client stakeholders and become a trusted advisor on digital media and marketing, including commerce.
• Translate business and marketing objectives into clear digital media strategies and actionable plans.
• Lead digital conversations across client meetings, planning sessions, performance reviews and business reviews.
• Proactively identify opportunities to improve digital effectiveness, innovation and business impact.
• Ensure digital recommendations are commercially grounded and connected to the client's wider communications strategy.

Briefing & Strategic Development

• Own the digital response to client briefs from initial briefing through to campaign activation.
• Interrogate briefs and ensure objectives, audiences, KPIs, budgets, timelines and deliverables are clearly defined.
• Work closely with Strategy and Planning teams to develop integrated digital recommendations.
• Determine the appropriate role of channels across the consumer journey.
• Ensure clear strategic rationale exists behind channel selection, investment allocation, audience strategy and measurement.
• Translate strategy into clear direction for specialist activation teams.

Digital Media Planning

Provide leadership and quality control across digital planning including:

• Paid Social
• Search / Generative Search
• Programmatic
• Online Video / YouTube
• Display
• Premium Publishers
• Connected TV
• Retail and Commerce Media
• Influencer / Creator Media
• Emerging digital platforms and technologies
• Ensure plans demonstrate strong audience thinking, channel roles, budget allocation, reach and frequency considerations, KPI selection and optimisation strategies.

Campaign Delivery & Execution

• Maintain end-to-end oversight of digital campaigns from approval through to launch.
• Ensure all campaign dependencies are managed including media approvals, budgets, POs, creative assets, tracking requirements, platform builds and launch dates.
• Work closely with Campaign Management / PMO to ensure timelines and deliverables remain on track.
• Brief specialist activation teams clearly and ensure campaign builds reflect the approved strategy and media plan.
• Ensure appropriate QA processes are completed before campaigns go live.
• Identify delivery risks early and escalate where required.
• Maintain visibility of campaign status across the full client portfolio.

Activation Leadership

Provide leadership and oversight to channel specialists without replacing specialist expertise.

The Digital Lead is responsible for ensuring:

• Campaigns are built according to approved strategy.
• Audiences and targeting align to campaign objectives.
• Platform recommendations are appropriate.
• Budgets are correctly allocated.
• Campaign structures enable effective optimisation.
• Tracking and measurement requirements are implemented.
• Specialists have clear briefs and expectations.
• Cross-channel activity operates as one connected digital ecosystem.

Performance & Optimisation

• Maintain oversight of live campaign performance across the portfolio.
• Lead regular performance and optimisation reviews with activation teams.
• Ensure campaigns are actively optimised against agreed KPIs rather than simply monitored.
• Identify underperformance early and drive corrective action.
• Encourage budget movement towards stronger-performing audiences, platforms, formats or channels where appropriate.
• Translate platform metrics into meaningful client and business outcomes.

Measurement, Reporting & Insights

• Partner with Data & Analytics teams to establish appropriate campaign measurement frameworks.
• Ensure KPIs are directly connected to campaign and business objectives.
• Review reporting before it reaches the client and ensure it provides clear interpretation rather than data alone.
• Turn campaign performance into actionable insights and future recommendations.
• Identify recurring learnings across campaigns and brands.
• Build a continuous learning agenda that improves future planning and investment decisions.

Digital Governance & Operational Excellence

• Establish and maintain high standards of digital campaign governance.
• Ensure campaigns follow agreed briefing, approval, trafficking, QA and reporting processes.
• Maintain oversight of digital budgets and campaign pacing.
• Work with Finance and Operations teams to ensure PO, billing and reconciliation requirements are managed effectively.
• Ensure adherence to brand safety, privacy, platform governance and client compliance requirements.
• Identify opportunities to simplify workflows and improve operational efficiency.

Innovation & Future-Ready Capability

• Keep the client and wider team informed of relevant developments across platforms, technology and consumer behaviour.
• Identify opportunities across AI, automation, creator marketing, commerce, retail media and emerging platforms.
• Work with platform and technology partners to bring relevant innovation opportunities to the client.
• Translate innovation into practical use cases rather than innovation for innovation's sake.
• Develop test-and-learn roadmaps and ensure learnings are captured and scaled.

Team Leadership & Capability Development

• Provide digital leadership across the wider client team.
• Coach planners, executives and activation specialists to strengthen digital capability.
• Establish clear expectations around quality, accountability and delivery.
• Create stronger collaboration between Strategy, Planning, Activation, Analytics and Operations.
• Identify capability gaps and work with relevant Capability Leads to develop the team.
• Foster a culture of proactive problem-solving, continuous learning and shared accountability.

Key Interfaces

The Digital Lead will work closely with:

Client Leadership

• Client Partner
• Business Directors
• Account Managers

Strategy & Planning

• Communications Strategy
• Digital Strategy
• Media Planning
• Audience & Insights

Activation

• Paid Social
• Search
• Programmatic
• Video / YouTube
• Retail & Commerce Media
• Influencer / Creator teams

Operations

• Campaign Management / PMO
• Ad Operations
• Creative Operations
• Finance

Measurement

• Data & Analytics
• Measurement
• Marketing Science

External Partners

• Media owners
• Technology partners
• Platform partners
• Creative agencies
• Client technology and analytics partners

Experience & Skills

Required

• 7+ years' experience in digital media, digital marketing or integrated media.
• Strong understanding of the digital media ecosystem across Search, Social, Programmatic, Video and emerging digital channels.
• Experience managing complex, multi-channel digital campaigns.
• Strong understanding of digital planning, activation, optimisation and measurement.
• Experience managing significant digital media budgets.
• Strong client leadership and presentation skills.
• Ability to translate complex digital information into clear business recommendations.
• Strong project management and operational discipline.
• Experience working with specialist activation and analytics teams.
• Strong understanding of digital KPIs, measurement and performance optimisation.

Advantageous

• Experience working on large regional or global clients.
• Experience across multiple brands or markets.
• Knowledge of retail and commerce media.
• Creator / influencer marketing experience.
• Experience with Google Marketing Platform, Meta, TikTok and major programmatic platforms.
• Understanding of marketing effectiveness, attribution and incrementality.
• Experience implementing automation or AI-enabled media workflows.

What Success Looks Like

• Success in this role means:
• Digital briefs are translated into strong, actionable strategies.
• Campaigns launch on time, accurately and against approved strategy.
• Clients have one clear senior owner for digital.
• Activation teams receive clear direction and briefs.
• Campaign performance issues are identified and addressed early.
• Reporting moves beyond metrics to provide meaningful business insight.
• Digital investment is continuously optimised.
• Processes are clear, efficient and consistently followed.
• The client sees the agency as a proactive digital partner rather than simply a media execution partner.
• The wider client team develops stronger digital capability over time.