Media Planning Director, Manchester

Role Purpose

The Media Planning Director is the bridge between big-picture strategy and real-world results. You will translate strategic thinking into integrated, outcome-led investment plans that help our clients grow. By connecting high-level direction with practical, performance-driven budget allocation, you ensure every pound spent is commercially robust and grounded in marketing effectiveness.

Your Impact

• Strategic Translation: You turn complex strategic thinking and business objectives into clear, structured, and compelling investment narratives that stakeholders—from marketing teams to C‑Suite and private equity—can get behind.
• Commercial Growth: You drive successful new business wins and organic growth by creating investment plans that are persuasive, measurement-informed, and grounded in audience insight.
• Effectiveness Leadership: You ensure marketing effectiveness isn't an afterthought by embedding measurement frameworks and incrementality testing into the heart of every plan.
• Market Advantage: You unlock competitive edges for our clients by building deep relationships with Alpha Partners to access early innovations, new formats, and smarter trading dynamics.
• Collective Excellence: You raise the bar for the entire agency by developing best‑practice templates and coaching others to pitch investment plans to an elite standard.

What Success Looks Like In 6 Months

• Trusted Partner: You have built strong, collaborative relationships across Media, Creative, and Data teams, becoming a go‑to partner for turning strategy into action.
• Systemic Consistency: You have established centralised, consistent operational systems and templates for investment planning across the business.
• Impactful Wins: Your investment plans have directly contributed to at least one significant new business win or a major organic growth milestone for an existing client.
• Co-Intelligence: You are working co‑intelligently with our HI/AI workforce, using tools like Media Optimiser and RISE to sharpen audience strategy and channel prioritisation.

Capabilities You’ll Bring

• Strategic Logic: The ability to articulate the “why” behind budget allocation with authority and clarity.
• Analytical Confidence: Comfort working with budgets, forecasting models, and ROI dynamics without losing sight of the strategic perspective.
• Data‑Led Decision Making: A knack for turning data from tools (like YouGov or Nielsen) and research into decisive, actionable investment opportunities.
• Influential Communication: The ability to simplify the complex and persuade diverse audiences, adapting your narrative to suit the room.
• Outcome‑Obsession: A natural focus on marketing effectiveness, attribution, and growth goals.

Your Outputs & Results

• Investment Frameworks: Highly structured, commercially sound investment plans for pitches and client growth.
• Measurement Blueprints: Integrated measurement and measurement frameworks aligned specifically to client growth objectives.
• Standardised Toolkits: Best‑practice investment planning templates used consistently across the agency.
• Knowledge Sharing: Regular coaching sessions and upskilling materials for the Client Leadership team.
• Proven Success: A portfolio of case studies and award‑worthy work where your plans delivered measurable impact.

Role Details

• Your coach: Managing Partner - Media Strategy
• You will lead: n/a (Focus on cross‑functional influence and coaching)
• Location: Manchester & Hybrid / Remote First
• Hours / Days: Full Time (5 days per week)
• Specifics for this role: Occasional travel to meet partners or attend pitches may be required.
• Estimated Start Date: 01/07/2026

The Standards We All Hold Each Other To

• Demonstrate and be committed to growing the Open Partners mindset
• Live our values:
  • Smarter: Aim high, train hard, embrace next
  • Faster: Learn fast, adapt fast, act fast
  • Better: Think, say and do what’s best

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