Account Director, Social

1556 - Account Director, Social - MM&D

About WPP Media

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit wpp.com.

WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere and in everything, we bring the best platform, people, and partners together to create limitless opportunities for growth. For more information, visit wppmedia.com

About WPP 650

Join an award-winning team at the heart of UK government, where your work will genuinely shape lives. As part of WPP 650 you’ll be part of a supportive, collaborative environment that values curiosity, kindness, and growth. Together, we use behaviour change principles to design smarter services, influence better decisions, and help millions of people across the country.

Named WPP 650, after the 650 UK parliamentary constituencies, the name is a reminder that our work must reflect the full breadth of the country, every community, every audience. No two days are the same. The challenges are complex, the problems worth solving, and the learning constant. You’ll tackle issues that matter, alongside talented colleagues who care deeply about what they do. It’s demanding – but always rewarding.

This is meaningful work with real-world impact – the kind you can point to with pride.

Role Summary and Impact

As a Paid Social Account Director, you will lead and deliver excellence in paid social campaign activation for key client accounts. You will assume day-to-day responsibility for the paid social output, providing strategic leadership for campaigns, ensuring optimal performance, and maximizing in-channel effectiveness across all key social platforms. Your focus will be on in-depth analysis, driving campaign performance, and leading and developing a team of paid social specialists. You will be a trusted voice for all things paid social, building strong relationships with clients, suppliers, and internal stakeholders within the WPP Open ecosystem, ensuring social strategy integrates with wider digital and comms strategies.

Reporting Structure: Reports to Paid Social Business Director (Lead).

Key Responsibilities

• Line Management: 
• Line manage a team of Paid Social specialists (e.g., Account Managers and Account Executives, providing coaching, mentorship, and support for their development, workload management, and career progression. Lead the recruitment process for your immediate team.
• Campaign Management:
• Oversee the production of comprehensive paid social media plans (+ supporting material) aligned with client objectives and KPIs, articulating proposed tactics to stakeholders.
• Oversee a team responsible for end-to-end setup of paid social campaigns across all relevant social platforms.
• Ensure the standard of regular Quality Assurance (QA) checks, monitoring campaign performance, pacing, troubleshooting, and optimizing to improve performance.
• Ensure all performance commentary delivers valuable insight and recommendations, identifying trends and recommending on-platform actions.
• Lead client calls and presentations, ensuring the standard of end-of-campaign reporting and quarterly/annual reviews.
• Client & Partner Management:
• Responsible for delivering on the overarching paid social strategy across accounts, ensuring alignment with wider digital and comms strategies.
• Act as a key social point-of-contact for clients, maintaining their confidence in the team's output.
• Demonstrate deep understanding of media/technology developments, identifying and presenting opportunities to test and innovate in the paid social space, securing client backing.
• Manage internal and external stakeholders (including key media partners like Meta, Twitter, Snap, TikTok, Pinterest) to deliver multiple projects simultaneously.
• Operational Excellence:
• Identify opportunities to test and innovate in paid social, developing initiatives to evolve standards and efficiency across the wider team.
• Develop tailored testing/learning agendas for clients that drive clear and actionable insight on each social platform.
• Ensure accurate and effective management of agency finance processes; ensuring the immediate team fulfils mandatory finance processes in a timely and accurate manner.

Skills and Experience

• Deep Paid Social Expertise: Extensive experience setting up and optimising paid social campaigns across key social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snap, TikTok etc.). Training certifications (e.g., Meta Blueprint) a plus.
• Strategic & Analytical Acumen: Experience planning large-scale paid social campaigns (brand and direct-response objectives). Strong analytical skills, compiling detailed/insightful reports, identifying trends, and recommending actions.
• Leadership & People Management: Proven experience managing a team of social specialists (preferably in an agency environment), including workload management, training, and mentoring. Experience line managing others and leading recruitment.
• Client & Stakeholder Management: Proven track record of working with clients and external stakeholders, forming strong relationships, and comfortable presenting to clients and leading calls.
• Communication & Influence: Excellent communication skills, able to articulate campaign rationale and insights, and communicate effectively with diverse backgrounds.
• Integrated Perspective: Strong understanding of how paid social activity complements and enhances the wider marketing mix and integrates with broader digital and comms strategies.
• Mindset: Collaborative, friendly, can-do attitude. Passionate about paid social, eager to test and innovate.

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.

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our benefits include competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days.

WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location

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