Business Director, Paid Social

623 - Business Director - Paid Social

WPP Media: Social Business Director

About WPP Media

WPP is the creative transformation company, using the power of creativity to build better futures for people, planet, clients, and communities. WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective, uniting the best platforms, people, and partners to create growth. Built for the new communications economy, we combine analytics, data, technology, creativity, and diverse expertise to help clients navigate modern marketing and unlock breakthroughs.

Role Summary and Impact

The Paid Social Business Director is the senior lead for paid social across designated clients and campaigns, responsible for delivering category‑defining work across all biddable channels with a strong emphasis on paid social. The role requires strategic leadership, operational excellence, and senior‑level client partnership, overseeing a multi‑market team based primarily in the UK and supported by the WPP Global Operations Centre in India.

You will shape multi‑market paid social strategy, lead activation excellence, drive innovation, and ensure that paid social plays a critical role within broader integrated marketing plans. Success requires deep expertise in social platforms, mastery of performance and measurement frameworks, strong commercial acumen, and the ability to operate as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Lead the development and delivery of sophisticated, multi‑market paid social strategies aligned to client business objectives.
• Translate complex paid social and cross‑channel concepts into clear business outcomes for senior clients.
• Integrate Paid, Owned, Earned, and Shared strategies, using organic, influencer, and creator insights to strengthen paid performance.
• Champion a culture of structured experimentation, test‑and‑learn, and continuous optimisation to keep clients at the forefront of social innovation.

Operational Excellence

• Provide effective oversight of all paid social campaigns, ensuring quality, consistency, and operational integrity across markets.
• Support the Media Activation Practice Lead with capacity planning and resource management.
• Architect and operationalize a scalable activation model across EMEA, balancing local market needs with the efficiency of global operations centres.
• Embed operational controls and best‑practice frameworks across channels, ensuring consistency with global guidelines.

Innovation & Technology

• Champion emerging social technologies, AI solutions, data‑driven optimisation tools, and next‑generation measurement approaches.
• Evaluate platforms, partners (e.g., Smartly), and ad‑tech solutions using a rigorous framework for strategic fit, efficiency, and commercial return.
• Maintain a strong POV on platform trends, consumer behavior shifts, and innovation opportunities to ensure clients stay ahead of the industry.

Measurement, Analytics & Performance

• Establish and enforce robust measurement and attribution frameworks using first‑party data, incrementality testing, and advanced analytics.
• Provide clear, data‑driven narratives to demonstrate impact and inform strategic recommendations.
• Ensure KPIs are met or