About Us
The home of full colour media, UM is a global media agency committed to empowering brands to their full potential of growth by leveraging the power of brand patterns. As the leading global media network in IPG Mediabrands, UM operates in over 100 countries, with more than 3,000 people serving a roster of global clients including American Express, General Mills, Levi Strauss & co, Enterprise Holdings, Upfield, Just Eat Takeaway.com and Mattel. For more information, please visit https://www.umww.com/
Role Description
This is an opportunity to join UM at a pivotal moment, as we build a more ambitious, distinctive and growth-focused strategy capability around our agency philosophy, Stand Against Bland.
As Strategy Director, you will help clients make sharper growth choices, identify where their brands can stand apart, and turn that thinking into transformative media strategies that drive business outcomes. You will work across a portfolio of important UM clients, potentially including Levi’s, General Mills, Enterprise, Fidelity, Saputo and American Express, alongside one or two core clients.
This is a Director-level role, so you will be expected to operate with autonomy, authority and collaboration. You will lead the strategic story from diagnosis through to planning, activation and measurement, working closely with Insights, Analytics, Audiences, Planning and Activation teams to ensure strategy shapes the work, not just the deck.
You will also play an active role in new business, shaping strategic approaches for UK pitches, interpreting global strategies for the UK market, and building the kind of commercially sharp, culturally relevant and award-worthy work that reflects UM’s ambition.
Key Responsibilities
- UM’s strategy team exists to produce breakthrough work that works. For this role, that means combining sharp strategic judgement, creative ambition, analytical confidence, strong storytelling and the leadership behaviours needed to bring teams with you.
- You will turn complex business, brand, audience and category challenges into clear strategic choices, moving confidently from diagnosis to direction, from insight to idea, and from recommendation to work that can live in market.
- Audience thinking sits at the heart of how we plan. You will identify the highest-value audiences for growth, understand the motivations and behaviours behind them, and translate that understanding into planning principles that lead to better consumer experiences.
- You will also be confident working with data-led audience solutions, including our partnership with Acxiom and Flywheel and collaborating with Planning, Data Solutions, Insights and Analytics to help define, build and activate audiences in ways that are measurable and useful for future learning.
- Strong presentation and facilitation skills are essential. You will lead senior conversations, challenge briefs constructively, run workshops, shape client narratives and help internal teams move from multiple inputs to one coherent strategic story.
- There is a clear progression path beyond this role, into Group Director and Strategy Partner positions, with the opportunity to help shape UM London’s strategic product, growth agenda, client relationships and culture.
Desired Skills & Experience
As are an experienced strategist with a strong understanding of multi-media planning and the ability to show how communications can drive meaningful business impact. You will
- have credibility with senior stakeholders across clients, agency teams and media owners. You know how to change the conversation, challenge the brief and elevate projects beyond standard responses into sharper, more ambitious strategic territory.
- Be confident leading others. You inspire, coach and guide teams, helping them produce stronger work while building the capability and confidence of those around you.
- Be proactive, curious and creative, with the motivation to work autonomously and the judgement to know when to bring others in. You contribute positively to the team dynamic and help create an environment built on collaboration, experimentation and high standards.
- Be well connected with media owners and able to work with them to generate distinctive, innovative and effective solutions for clients.
- Also be ambitious in your use of AI, seeing it as a practical tool to improve ways of working, accelerate delivery, strengthen strategic outputs and reduce the time it takes to get better solutions into market.
Above all, you will be someone who raises the quality of the thinking, lifts the ambition of the work, and helps UM deliver strategy that is more distinctive, more effective and more valuable to our clients.
Employee Transparency
At IPG Mediabrands, we celebrate differences and believe this makes us stronger. IPG Mediabrands are an equal-opportunity employer committed to championing an inclusive culture that provides a sense of belonging for all our employees. We do not discriminate against any applicant based on age, disability, race, colour, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, belief, marital status or any other characteristic protected by law.
Please reach out to Ninette at [email protected], if you would like to have a confidential conversation regarding any adjustments that would ensure our recruitment process is accessible for you. Please note requesting a reasonable adjustment will not affect your application.
The Perks
We aim to provide all our people with a supportive and fun work environment where you can develop your full potential and benefit from the broad range of opportunities within the agency. When you join us, we want to make sure you feel valued – and that you are rewarded for your fantastic work. So, we also offer a range of benefits:
- Flexi–leave, with 25 days annual leave to be taken as minimum. In addition to your holiday entitlement, the office usually closes between Christmas & New Year
- Free breakfast and free lunch
- Early finish Fridays
- Core Hours (Mon-Thurs, flexible start/finish times)
- Retail discounts
- Electric vehicle salary sacrifices car scheme
- Wellbeing programme, including Headspace & flu jabs
- Interest free season ticket loan
- Paid time off for Volunteering
- Group Income Protection
- Life Assurance
- Private Medical Insurance or Health Cash Plan (dependent on level)
- Group Personal Pension Plan with matched contributions from 3-6%
- Generous Parental Leave & Pay
- Independent mortgage advice
- Financial education
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Free eye tests
- Flexible benefits including Dental, Travel insurance, Cycle to Work, Gym Discounts and many more!
