Media Operations Manager

BRAND: Publicis Groupe
Job Function: Operations
Location: London, United Kingdom
Experience Level: Intermediate
Workplace Type: Hybrid

Company description

Publicis Groupe

Publicis Media is part of Publicis Groupe and is present in more than 100 countries with over 23,500 employees worldwide.

APEX is a growth and solutions hub focused on problem-solving and driving value for clients across all media. As the principal investment arm of Publicis Media, APEX takes on the investment risk to drive growth, guaranteed performance, and business outcome solutions for Publicis Media clients.

APEX has redefined what inventory media means for our clients with solutions that provide unique benefits made possible by our strategic approach to investment and risk. Through exclusive advantages, we help our clients deliver meaningful growth for their businesses by focusing on the challenges that matter most to them.

Our Guaranteed Outcomes solution is a novel approach to digital media and helps to remove risk and uncertainty from biddable environments. We deliver a variety of media and business outcomes for our clients from across the entire marketing funnel. This includes upper-funnel metrics such as brand lift, attention and even in-store footfall. This is a comprehensive offering, deployed programmatically across OLV, display, OOH & audio along with social platforms including Meta and TikTok.

From AFP & content integration opportunities to retail media and sustainable media solutions - we are continually innovating and are always looking for new ways to apply our ability to invest and shoulder risk to create new opportunities for Publicis Media clients.

Publicis Media Exchange (PMX)
PMX is the trading, investment, and commercial arm of Publicis Media. PMX is designed to support and provide market-leading capabilities for Publicis Media's agency brands; Zenith, Starcom, and Spark Foundry.

PMX guarantees safe and effective media investment for our clients with premium publishers and platforms that help businesses grow. Our client-led planning approach, insight, and leverage drive our unrivalled negotiation strategy. The UK team comprises over 300 investment specialists, embedded within each agency, powered by a central team of excellence including programmatic, data, negotiation, product development, and market insight.

PMX thrives on an entrepreneurial spirit and a persistent need to innovate and improve what we do for our clients.

We take on strategic, brave challenges, and relentlessly explore new ways to reach our clients' business goals. We are always looking forward to the next big thing and the next big players - ensuring we are always focused on driving operational excellence against our client's business goals.

Overview

This Operations Manager position will sit in the APEX Operations team which is the heartbeat of Apex, managing £200m of offline and digital client billings annually and ensuring all processes are compliant, efficient, and run smoothly for all stakeholders

Currently, we are a team of fifteen led by the Operations Director, supported by the Associate Director and Operations Managers across three agency patches (Zenith, Starcom, and Spark). In 2025, we are introducing a fourth agency patch to support the growth in Global billings, increasing the team to twenty

As APEX Operations, we engage with the UK's leading agency brands including Spark, Starcom, Zenith, Zenith International and Digitas, supporting their offline activations across AV, OOH, cinema and audio and monthly digital reconciliations.

• You will be working with a diverse portfolio of exciting clients across all categories such as Disney, Adobe etc.
• You will support accounts that plan and buy media from UK agencies.
• You will have close collaboration with various stakeholders across the business, key to successful and efficient operations, including investment teams, OOH trading, Apex digital strategy/programmatic and finance teams.
• From an offline viewpoint, you will be partnering with some of the biggest media owners in the market, including ITV, Sky, Channel 4, Global, Bauer, DCM, JCDecaux and Clear Channel.

Responsibilities

• Oversee and mentor 3-4 junior team members within senior exec/exec roles, setting a standard of professional integrity and cultivating a positive team culture.
• Lead team status meetings to enhance communication, idea generation, and innovation, ensuring a collaborative team environment.
• Serve as the primary contact for agency teams and media owners, driving inventory opportunities forward.
• Assess individual team member's motivations and capabilities, collaborating with the Associate Operations Director to implement tailored responsibilities, training plans, and KPIs.
• Enhance the team's prioritisation skills and ensure the timely delivery of tasks, conducting quality checks, and offering guidance for improvement.
• Assume responsibility for team outputs by ensuring accurate offline and digital campaign reporting, reviewing financial metrics, and supporting regular forecast and reporting updates.

Qualifications

• Possess a deep understanding of the media landscape, coupled with excellent math and numeracy skills.
• Proficient in advanced Microsoft Office Excel and Media Ocean applications, skilled in filtering, tables, pivot tables, lookups, and Prisma.
• Capable of working with large datasets, showing methods for tracking progress, changes, and differences effectively.
• Detail-oriented with a strong ability to ensure quality work, conducting thorough checks on both personal and team outputs.
• Results-oriented, with a focus on solutions and process improvements, whether through automation or other innovations.
• Highly organised with exceptional project management skills, capable of prioritizing tasks in a fast-paced environment while fostering strong internal and external relationships.

Additional information

Publicis Media has fantastic benefits on offer to all of our employees. In addition to the classics, Pension, Life Assurance, Private Medical and Income Protection Plans we also offer;

• WORK YOUR WORLD opportunity to work anywhere in the world, where there is a Publicis office, for up to 6 weeks a year.
• REFLECTION DAYS - Two additional days of paid leave to step away from your usual day-to-day work and create time to focus on your well-being and self-care.
• HELP@HAND BENEFITS 24/7 helpline to support you on a personal and professional level. Access to remote GPs, mental health support and CBT. Wellbeing content and lifestyle coaching.
• FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES We provide 26 weeks of full pay for the following family milestones: Maternity. Adoption, Surrogacy and Shared Parental Leave.
• FLEXIBLE WORKING, BANK HOLIDAY SWAP & BIRTHDAY DAY OFF You are entitled to an additional day off for your birthday, from your first day of employment.
• GREAT LOCAL DISCOUNTS This includes membership discounts with Soho Friends, local restaurants and retailers in Westfield White City and Television Centre.

Full details of our benefits will be shared when you join us!

Publicis Groupe operates a hybrid working pattern with full time employees being office-based three days during the working week.

We are supportive of all candidates and are committed to providing a fair assessment process. If you have any circumstances (such as neurodiversity, physical or mental impairments or a medical condition) that may affect your assessment, please inform your Talent Acquisition Partner. We will discuss possible adjustments to ensure fairness. Rest assured, disclosing this information will not impact your treatment in our process.

Please make sure you check out the Publicis Career Page which showcases our Inclusive Benefits and our EAG's (Employee Action Groups).

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