Title: Director Activation Location: London Reporting to: Head of Activation GroupM GroupM is WPP’s media investment group and the world’s leading media investment company with a mission to shape the next era of media where advertising works better for people. The company is responsible for more than $60 billion in annual media investment, as measured by the independent research bureau COMvergence. Through its global agencies Mindshare, Wavemaker, EssenceMediacom, and mSix&Partners, and cross-channel performance (GroupM Nexus), data (Choreograph), entertainment (GroupM Motion Entertainment) and investment solutions, GroupM leverages a unique combination of global scale, expertise, and innovation to generate sustained value for clients wherever they do business. Discover more at www.groupm.com. GroupM Nexus GroupM Nexus is the industry’s largest community of performance marketing experts designed to drive performance and innovation at scale for GroupM’s agencies and clients. With the most platform accreditations in the industry combined with proprietary technology, media, and solutions, culture of continuous innovation and scaled partnerships, GroupM Nexus consistently sets new benchmarks for effectiveness and efficiency across all forms of media to drive growth for the world’s leading advertisers. Discover more about GroupM Nexus at https://www.groupm.com/groupmnexus Role Overview The Activation Director is a pivotal role in our Activation team, tasked with leading a top-tier team to deliver exceptional media solutions. This individual will work under the Head of Activation, managing a specific agency/business area and spearheading cross-channel campaigns to achieve outstanding results for our clients. The role involves collaboration with both onshore and offshore specialists. Responsibilities Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to: Leadership - Collaborate with the Heads of Activation on the strategic vision and structure development and execution across the activation function. - Lead pivotal business projects and initiatives to enhance our solutions and capabilities, engaging with both internal stakeholders and external partners. - Lead your pods of activation experts to represent activation's voice within GroupM, offering in-depth, cross-channel insights and expertise. - Be the expert in the room, sharing insights as cross-channel specialists across the business and externally with agencies and clients. - Act as the senior escalation point for your agency "patch" and serving as a liaison for your agency teams. - Owner of a single channel demand management. - Collaborate with Marketing Science for the integration of data and AI in campaigns and e nsure best practices in data-driven, multi-channel campaigns from inception to reporting. - Support client engagement projects as expert, feed into testing roadmaps and new activity uptake. - Develop an independent activation team proficient in problem-solving. - Encourage the creation and uptake of data-driven, multi-channel, brand-safe best practices to achieve client goals from campaign setup to reporting and reconciliation. - Take ownership of activation requirements within A d Tech Product Development programmes. - Work closely with other teams in Nexus and the wider GroupM ecosystem to ensure the highest quality activation by implementing systems, tools, and processes that govern quality and performance. - Cultivate a culture of rigour and continuous improvement in best practices and processes combined with an agile, experimental approach to empower the team to innovatively expand the scope of our Nexus Media Solutions. - Facilitate knowledge sharing throughout the business. - Embed the intelligent use of data and AI analytics into the campaign lifecycle. - Develop a self-reliant activation team capable of independently resolving activation issues. Processes and efficiencies - Own key project s to improve ways of working and team efficiencies. - Continuously refine processes, SLAs and best practice to improve campaign quality and efficiency. - Ensure the continuous iteration and adoption of process and best practices that drive quality, efficiency, and accuracy across all campaigns. - Drive operational excellence through automation, training, and offshoring. - Unify onshore and offshore teams for effective campaign delivery. - Facilitate knowledge sharing and ensure documentation accessibility. - Utili s e systems for campaign monitoring, addressing recurring issues. - Align business processes with activation team needs and codify working practices. - Integrate data, AI, and analytics solutions with Marketing Science and data teams. - Ensure uptake of systems and tools for campaign delivery monitoring, reporting, and issue resolution. Performance and demand management - Monitor campaign pacing and demand forecasting. - Foster collaborative practices to enhance client performance. - Partner with Client Services for targeting and forecasting of client briefs. - Prioriti s e initiatives with Marketing Science, focusing on data governance. - Continually overseeing the entire portfolio of demand and supply, including forecasting and monetisation ; c ommunicating critical information to senior stakeholders, managing issues effectively, and considering multiple clients and supply points for optimal portfolio management. People & Culture - Lead and develop direct reports, fostering professionalism and high standards. - Guide team career development and performance, with effective stakeholder management. - Drive recruitment, onboarding, and training for new members. - Maintain up-to-date technical knowledge within the team. - Set performance KPIs and instil a collaborative 'one team' ethos. - Promote continuous learning through partnerships with key industry players. - Collaborate with colleagues in other markets and business areas within their specialism. Requirements / We are seeking a visionary leader with a strategic mindset to inspire and coach our teams towards continuous excellence. As a candidate, you should possess: - Proven experience in leading diverse teams within digital broadcasting or programmatic environments. - A robust understanding of the programmatic ecosystem, capable of clearly communicating its commercial and technical aspects. - Mastery in digital cross-channel operations, leveraging data for comprehensive planning, activation, reporting, and insights. - A track record of pushing activation practices' boundaries using market knowledge. - Preferred experience in integrating offshore and onshore operations. - Proficiency in utilising data, AI, and analytics to enhance campaign performance and profitability. - A talent for empowering teams to improve quality, efficiency, and effectiveness in activation practices. - Exceptional communication skills, effective across all organisational levels (Include C-level) - Capability to build and sustain relationships to meet client needs. - The skill to demystify technical concepts for a non-technical audience. - A commitment to operational excellence. - The initiative to drive change within the team and the broader business. - A self-starter with outstanding organisational and time-management skills. 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