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.

3654 - Associate Director, Video - UK

Role Summary and Impact

We’re looking for an AV Account Director to lead best-in-class AV planning and buying across a portfolio of clients, predominantly Nationwide, Audible and JML.

The role is central to delivering market-leading AV strategy across TV, BVOD/VOD, Cinema and YouTube, ensuring excellence across both agency and client investment objectives. Working closely with senior internal stakeholders and client teams, this person will build strong, credible relationships, lead responses to briefs, oversee the delivery of campaigns with rigour and integrity, and help shape future-facing AV recommendations that drive growth for clients.

This role requires a strong AV practitioner with excellent planning and buying expertise, commercial acumen, and confident leadership skills. The successful candidate will be responsible for maintaining high standards of output across the team, ensuring strong day-to-day account leadership, and helping push AV recommendations from good to great through audience insight, innovation and joined-up thinking.

Responsibilities of the role include:

• Leading AV planning and buying across clients such as Nationwide, Audible and JML.
• Delivering best-in-class implementational planning across TV, BVOD/VOD/Online Video, and Cinema.
• Owning responses to client briefs and ensuring clear, insight-led storytelling underpinned by data and audience understanding.
• Overseeing the day-to-day investment process for clients, ensuring a sharp and highly efficient approach to value, quality and delivery.
• Building strong senior client relationships, while maintaining a close connection with day-to-day client contacts.
• Supporting and developing direct reports through clear roles, stretching goals and engaging career paths.
• Managing the AV planning and buying team for your brands with an inclusive leadership style and clear direction.
• Working closely with relevant accountability and investment stakeholders to ensure the highest quality delivery in the most commercially beneficial way.
• Maintaining close oversight of buying output, with expert judgement on plans and the wider AV marketplace.
• Ensuring contractual commitments, campaign delivery standards and client guarantees are met.
• Driving innovation across AV output, including future-facing activation opportunities in addressable TV, video and audio.
• Proactively forging strong relationships with media owners to unlock opportunities for clients.
• Contributing to new business pitches and supporting the transition of new clients where required.

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.

Key skills and experience required:

• Strong AV planning and buying experience across TV, BVOD/VOD, Online Video, and Cinema.

• A deep understanding of audience planning and the ability to translate insight into effective AV recommendations.

• Strong marketplace knowledge, ensuring you’re on top of all relevant industry headlines, viewing trends, content and developments

• Knowledge and experience with key AV tools and booking systems including (but not limited to) MediaExplorer, DDS, AdvantEdge, techedge, Caria, Prisma and Adwords.

• Proven experience leading client accounts and building trusted senior client relationships.

• Experience managing and developing teams, with a clear and inclusive leadership style.

• A track record of delivering against client targets, guarantees and investment commitments.

• Commercially aware, with strong attention to detail across buying quality, value delivery and financial forecasting.

• Strong understanding of measurement across AV channels, alongside current market challenges and solutions.

• Comfortable handling complex situations, resolving conflict and proposing clear solutions.

• Effective delegation and strong team management skills.

• Confident presenter with the ability to communicate clearly and persuasively to both internal and external stakeholders.

• Strong negotiator with the ability to influence across clients, media owners and internal teams.

• Proactive, collaborative and pitch-ready, with a future-focused mindset and appetite for innovation.

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

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