Business Director, Planning

2235 - Business Director, Planning

Role Summary and Impact

Mindshare delivers Good Growth for its clients. As “Growth Architects," we drive growth that benefits all stakeholders — better for people, planet, and business — by using media with intention. This approach creates more meaningful connections with consumers, increases consumer trust in the brand, and delivers better outcomes for all stakeholders.

We are recruiting for a Business Director who is an exceptional and driven media planner, to join our Connections Planning team working on the Marks and Spencer account.

Joining the M&S account means stepping into a truly unique and influential role within our agency. You'll be working with one of the UK's most iconic and best-loved brands, a household name deeply woven into the fabric of British life. This isn't just about planning; it's about shaping the future of media for a brand with immense cultural resonance and commercial ambition.

We foster a highly collaborative environment with brilliant, forward-thinking clients who are not only engaged but genuinely enthusiastic about pushing boundaries. This partnership allows us to deliver truly exciting, market-leading work that sets industry benchmarks and drives significant impact.

Expect a role that is highly strategic, requiring deep analytical thinking, a keen commercial eye, and a flair for innovative solutions. We are consistently exploring new technologies, channels, and audience engagement models, ensuring your work remains at the cutting edge. Innovation is not just encouraged, it's expected.

Crucially, you'll have seamless access to a rich tapestry of agency expertise. You'll collaborate daily with our specialist teams in data science, advanced measurement & analytics, brand strategy, and consumer insights. This integrated approach empowers you to craft media plans that are not only creative and impactful but also deeply informed, measurable, and strategically sound.

For a Senior Media Planner, this means an extraordinary opportunity to build your legacy on high-profile campaigns that resonate across the nation, working at the forefront of media innovation with a supportive and inspiring team. If you thrive on strategic challenge, crave market-leading impact, and want to work with a truly cherished brand, this is the account for you.

You will be expected to demonstrate experience and knowledge in: 

• Good stakeholder management with both clients and agency alike 
• Ability to work with clients to ensure the brief is right with clear and measurable objectives in place 
• An ability to think and work ‘audience first’, translating audience insight into actionable audiences  
• Specify how to build and target audiences in addressable and non-addressable media and validate the approach to ensure that the defined audience can be reached at the scale required 
• Designing an approach that outlines how and where we will connect with defined audiences in media 
• Designing the connections ecosystem & plan, working closely and collaboratively with channel specialists  
• Day to day management of campaigns as a key liaison between clients and channel specialists  
• Designing measurement & testing framework to inform as well as measure and optimise the campaigns 
• Line management of planning team within account structure 
• Responsibilities to the planning department as senior member of the team, contributing to Business Director board meetings and leading work streams.  

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.

Skills And Behaviours:  

• You show a passion for media and the industry with knowledge of the main trends that help to inform your thinking and output.  
• You have clear opinions and an understanding of what makes a great media campaign - tangibly prove your plans are aimed at achieving excellence in planning craft. 
• You can create a holistic measurement framework that is relevant for the brand and every campaign (setting KPIs, methods i.e., which tool/system, necessary tracking) and plans for adaptation/optimisation).   
• You must have extensive experience leading senior client relationships, managing all agency teams, leading and delivering client projects and tackling challenging conversations. 
• You are an excellent team player taking the responsibility for working in a collaborative, inclusive way to allow specialists to contribute. 
• You demonstrate a high degree of organisation that leads to successfully managing workflow for self and more junior members of the team. 
• You are open-minded, flexible and embracing of agile ways of working. 

 The Ideal Candidate: 

 As Business Director you will be responsible for the leadership and delivery of best-in-class planning and implementation.  

• You will have a strong desire to deliver innovative and effective work both reactively (in response to briefs), and proactively (spotting those opportunities for insight and innovation outside of briefs).  
• We expect our Business Directors to show a breath of understanding of media channels, as well as in-depth and speciality understanding in how to discuss the present and future role each channel plays as part of a comms strategy.  
• Strong people management skills. 
• Collaborative both in the day-to-day account role and across the planning department.  

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

Please read our Privacy Notice (https://www.wppmedia.com/pages/privacy-policy) for more information on how we process the information you provide.

While we appreciate all applications received, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. 

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