Paid Social, Senior Associate Director

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 EssenceA Leading WPP Media Brand

EssenceMediacom is a new breed of media agency. Grounded in analytics & insights and powered by data & technology, we believe in the power of media and creative to drive breakthroughs for the world’s best brands. We help clients understand the modern marketing paradox and discover the breakthroughs brands need to win with their consumers. We are designed for the new communications economy — built on data & technology, built for people & algorithms, built around diverse schools of thought, built to test & learn at scale, and, crucially, built to evolve.

Role Summary and Impact

As Social Senior Associate Director, you will be a pivotal strategic leader within our Media Activation team, leading Social strategy, directly supporting the PA Lead and acting as a leader within the Social team. You will serve as the primary paid social POC for Google Hardware, responsible for delivering innovative, category-defining strategies and services across social channels for both brand and performance. This role requires a deep understanding of paid social best practices, a collaborative mindset, the ability to provide incisive strategic insights, and holds ultimate responsibility for leading and developing a high-performing paid social team within the Google Hardware product area to ensure the highest quality of work and client outcomes.

Essential Functions/Responsibilities:

• Provide strategic oversight and ensure seamless integration of designated paid social campaigns into broader cross-channel media strategies.
• Collaborate with Client Services, Planning and Activation Leads on capacity planning and resource allocation to optimise team efficiency.
• Lead the development and implementation of regional paid social best practices, ensuring global consistency and accountability for adherence to quality controls across all channels within the immediate account team.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for all paid social activation discussions with internal and external stakeholders for assigned accounts.
• Cultivate strong relationships with clients and key media partners, leading team communications and proactively offering insightful perspectives beyond immediate campaign remits.
• Manage and foster strategic relationships with paid social vendors and technology partners. Proactively identify, evaluate, and recommend new platforms, partnerships, and integrations, maintaining a clear point-of-view on their strategic value.
• Where required, contribute to the development of thought leadership pieces and case studies, showcasing our expertise and elevating our standing with clients, within the agency and in the industry.
• Provide regular updates on work quality and performance for owned workstreams, ensuring accountability and continuous improvement.
• Develop a deep understanding of client business objectives and KPIs, proactively monitoring industry trends, product releases, and emerging opportunities to enhance campaign performance.
• Own the development and application of channel-specific forecasting, brand study integration, and optimisation methodologies.
• Lead test ideation for channel specialisms in close partnership with the Analytics team.

Supervisory Responsibility:

• Lead by example, inspiring and coaching junior team members to foster their professional growth and development.
• Demonstrate exceptional communication skills, fostering transparent and effective relationships across all levels of the organization and with external partners.
• Oversee the successful onboarding and integration of new team members.
• Deliver consistent, constructive, and actionable feedback to your team and peers to facilitate continuous improvement and accelerate career development.
• Lead comprehensive career development planning and coaching for direct reports, contributing to the creation of relevant training materials.
• Actively recognize and celebrate individual and team achievements, fostering a culture of appreciation and high performance.

Skills and Experience

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.

• Proven experience at Account or Associate Director level in a Digital Media or Advertising role, and in managing client portfolios, including an understanding of P&L implications.
• Proven project management, leadership and people management experience.
• Deep expertise in media planning fundamentals, including audience segmentation, reach, frequency, channel optimization, and performance measurement.
• Extensive hands-on experience in planning, executing, and optimizing large-scale, complex paid social media campaigns across the leading social platforms (e.g., Meta, TikTok, Snapchat).
• Experience in cultivating and managing strategic relationships with media vendors and technology partners.
• Experience in leading campaigns across multiple countries / languages.

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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