Programmatic Associate Director

About WPP Media

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. 

WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.

For more information, visit wppmedia.com .

3148 - Programmatic Associate Director - GCS

Role Summary and Impact

The purpose of this document is to help prospective team members better understand the role and responsibilities with the position of XCM EU Programmatic Associate Director at OpenDoor, WPP’s bespoke global operating model for Amazon. 

ABOUT WPP & OPENDOOR

At WPP, we’re constantly reinventing the future of creativity on an ever-broader canvas, bringing together unrivalled talent, resources and skills to provide an integrated offer of communications, experience, commerce and technology. 

Over the last decade, we have developed a dedicated global client practice with the mission of accelerating WPP’s impact for our largest clients by bringing them the best of WPP. Each team is custom-built around a client’s specific needs and challenges, providing easy access to the right capabilities. And that’s why we’ve built OpenDoor for Amazon . 

OpenDoor is a unique integration of the best of WPP and Amazon – building on their respective strengths and visions. Whether at WPP or at Amazon, every project is an OpenDoor on new possibilities. Anything and everything can be an opportunity for our people to drive impact – for them to innovate, learn, thrive, and occasionally fail too.

The unique OpenDoor partnership model is built to deliver next level Productivity, fueled by our industry-leading approach to People, Platforms, and Process. OpenDoor spans across all WPP agencies and disciplines such as media, business consultancy, communications and brand strategy, tech and commerce, public relations, and production. 

OpenDoor’s values are built from Amazon’s own 16 Leadership Principles , and WPP’s core values of Open, Optimistic and Extraordinary. Together, when WPP’s Creative Transformation meets Amazon’s next-level customer centricity, our people come together to challenge and impact what’s done today and build a better future.

By joining OpenDoor, not only are you joining a cross-function team partnering with one of WPP’s top five global clients, but you are also taking a step to challenge yourself and the world around you every day, working in the most unusual way on some of Earth’s most ambitious opportunities in marketing, tech, media, business, and creativity.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are searching for a talented and enthusiastic individual to join our OpenDoor team as a XCM EU Programmatic Associate Director. This is a Full-time position based in London. This role plays a crucial part in supporting WPP's mission to deliver consistency, delivery excellence and best in class service for Amazon in every country across XCM EU.

The Programmatic Associate Director will have extensive, proven, and detailed knowledge and experience in Programmatic and DSP implementations. Striving to deliver excellence in campaign activation and is responsible for providing day to day leadership of their campaigns

You will ensure on-going and timely optimisation is delivered whilst constantly looking for opportunities to improve campaign performance. You will also be responsible for collating spend forecasts, creating and monitoring campaigns to deliver on planned targets. Your focus will be on in-depth analysis, trend spotting, accurate execution, feeding into test and learns, and leading and developing a team

This role would support the XCM EU Programmatic team which includes staff in London and working with a Poland nearshore team and closely with local markets who will support on local partner selection within programmatic. The role will also require close collaboration with the XCM MODE team for YouTube strategy and buying, along with the ADA team for ADSP planning and buying and the Google support team. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

Campaign Management 

• Take a proactive role in providing day to day activation guidance and coaching to your direct team of activation experts to deliver programmatic excellence for your clients 

• Drive understanding of the products and solutions that could be relevant for clients that have been developed within the group. 

• Ensure that the team is using templates to prove methodologies for optimisation approach for key trading tactics and optimisation logs. 

• Escalation points for your direct team on activation issues and challenges and any conflict between best practice and client requirements and asks. Understand when to escalate issues to your director 

• Work alongside the internal teams that include regional hub teams as well as local teams when planning and activating campaigns

Client and Partner Management 

• Responsibility of client interaction and the success of the relationship, with a focus on key strategic relationship, and team operations/deliverables 

• Agree and set business objectives for each client and review campaign performance against these objectives 

• Create/design programmatic strategy for client portfolio, ensuring strategy is clear and most appropriate to the client's objectives, KPIs and client's industry 

• Drive revenue growth through spotting new optimisation opportunities, services or products and delivering excellent results. 

• Develop strong relationships with media owners and other service providers to guide team in developing their understanding of the ecosystem. 

People Management 

• The ability to manage, motivate and train individuals, in line with business requirements, resource, and development needs 

• Ensure individuals workloads are managed and prioritised in line with client needs and SLAs. 

• To be responsible for the team’s development, their reviews, and objectives. 

• Identifying training requirements within a formal plan over an annual period. 

• Highlight great teamwork, and client initiatives. Demonstrate examples of Programmatic best practice to the wider team and contribute to department and wider agency communications. 

• Ensure output and relationship with GOC team is maintained to expected standards. 

Operational Excellence 

• The appropriate use of tools to drive accountability in programmatic buying, operational efficiencies, and actionable business insights, with the scoping of agreed client outputs. 

• Ensure financial accuracy, integrating the planning and buying process, and reconciliation of spends, including client terms and programmatic fees, via buying templates and processes. 

• Ensure team maintains standards and process throughout the end-to-end campaign lifecycle 

• Develop productive relationships with key internal departments and help develop new revenue opportunities through matching client needs to resource and facilitate introductions. 

• Understand and promote the function and value of the other departments within the Agency and its partners within the group. 

Skills & 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 . 

• Passionate about programmatic activation and driving continued excellence, with proven experience in multi-channel campaign activation and management. 

• Experience in developing and leading client relationships 

• Exceptional people management skills, including support and development of junior team members 

• Confidence in core DSPs: DV360 (YouTube), Amazon. 

• An understanding of how Programmatic can integrate with other digital and offline channels 

• Ability to translate technical and complex points to non-technical audiences and coach others to do the same. 

• Ability to develop and execute comprehensive testing roadmaps in the Programmatic space – audience, media, creative 

• Ability to lead and manage a hybrid team located in different markets 

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media is powered by our commitment to Be Extraordinary, investing in our employees to inspire transformational creativity. We also Lead Optimistically, firmly believing in and Championing Growth and Development for every individual. This commitment allows WPP Media employees to leverage the extensive global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, build vital professional connections, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising.

We Create an Open environment built on trust and respect, where everyone feels they belong and has opportunities to progress. This inclusive culture is fostered through a variety of employee resource groups and frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our comprehensive benefits package reflects this commitment, including 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 characteristics. We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection in this open and supportive environment. 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 that while our philosophy is the same across WPP, benefits may vary by office/country.

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

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