Group Director, Client Partner (Paid Social Strategy)

WHY DEPT®?

We are pioneers at heart. What this means, is that we are always leaning forward, thinking of what we can create tomorrow that does not exist today. We were born digital and we are a new model of agency, with a deep skillset in tech and marketing. That’s why we hire curious, self-driven, talented people who never stop innovating.

Our culture is big enough to cope and small enough to care. Meaning, that with people across 20+ countries, we’re big enough to provide you with the best tools, global opportunities, and benefits that help you thrive. While acting small by investing in you, your growth, your team, and giving you the autonomy to solve our clients' problems, no matter where you are in the world. 

The Role

You’ll be the beating heart of one of DEPT® 's Paid Social strategy and activation teams to one of the world’s most iconic brands in the social media space. At DEPT®, we don't just fill roles, we create careers. If you're ready to redefine what Paid Social strategy and activation looks like for brand awareness media leadership, we'd love to meet you.

We’re hiring a Group Director, Client Partner to be at the heart of the operation for one of our flagship global partnerships to drive brand awareness and user influence in the social media space. This role is perfect for someone who thrives at the intersection of changing user’s brand perceptions, has an affinity with pushing the barriers around topics such as brand lift studies and user influence. This person is someone who thrives on partnering closer with both Paid Social strategists and activation teams to drive end-to-end media excellence and redefine how user awareness is achieved and measured.

As a Group Director, you oversee a team of extremely passionate, qualified and experienced Paid Social awareness specialists. You are the connecting tissue between the sheer brainpower of the specialists and the strategic lead(s) on the client, ensuring alignment with the client’s vision. You drive incremental influence and user awareness leveraging Meta Ads, and have a deep understanding of Paid Social strategy, test methodologies, and thrive on out-of-the box thinking to disrupt best practices.

To achieve your goals in this role, you will maintain senior-level agency relationships with the client’s counterparts and consult on the best path forward to achieve tactical goals developed in relation to the client vision with the other cross-channel leads. Furthermore, you have experience building top-of-class teams and processes to adapt to client needs fast. 

You are experienced in consulting for varied clients in the digital marketing space, inclusive but not limited to public affairs, retail, technology, and user privacy. You are capable of influencing user perception leveraging targeting and creatives within DEPT®’s Paid Social offering.

Success in this role after 12 months looks like: 

• You’ve built strong relationships with key client stakeholders and your DEPT team,  and are seen as the go-to expert for all things Paid Social strategy and activation.
• Your team is firing on all cylinders, delivering consistently excellent performance across Meta Ads with clarity, accountability, and collaboration.
• You’ve successfully launched an expanded team and broken down silos across the entire planning and activation process, ensuring we are at the forefront of all applicable conversations.
• You have successfully positioned yourself and team as partners as not order takers, identifying and building processes and documentation to better help unify the clients businesses, eliminating individual business silos and more continuity across campaigns.
• You’re helping the client push the edge of what’s possible whether through a new targeting model, a measurement approach, or new platform feature.
• You’re laying the groundwork for the next chapter, whether that’s deeper measurement, test and learn roadmaps, and bold POVs on how the client can drive the strongest brand lift possible.
• You’ve successfully helped support the team in navigating up to twelve different sub-units within the clients business at once and can work autonomously on larger initiatives.

Key responsibilities & Essential duties:

• Lead the end-to-end development and delivery of awareness focused Paid Social programs across Meta Ads; partnering with specialist leads to ensure executional excellence and innovation.
• Co-create and drive the global Paid Social roadmap for the client in close collaboration with DEPT® strategists, project managers, and media planners based in the United States and United Kingdom.
• Act as a senior lead across all client and internal touchpoints, ensuring seamless integration of processes and updates across teams in the United States and United Kingdom for a variety of different audiences inclusive of consumer and some B2B.
• Oversee the teams that translate brand and product strategy into activation plans that drive measurable outcomes, especially in awareness and consideration.
• Lead the integration of brand lift study data and results into broader marketing and performance strategies, tying these types of data points to business impact.
• Work closely with client stakeholders across Paid Social strategy, media planning, activation, and marketing stakeholders media to align on budgets, KPIs, and evolving changes in planned versus delivered outcomes.
• Be the strategic voice within the cross-functional team, advocating for its role in shaping category leadership.
• Own and nurture senior-level client relationships; become a trusted partner that is not just focused on short term commercial success but a long lasting partnership.
• Support new business development or expansion of services through strategy consultation and thought leadership.
• Provide resourcing recommendations and continuously monitor the effectiveness and bandwidth of the team (in collaboration with Project Manager).  

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

What you bring & your qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in consumer media or performance marketing ideally at a leading agency, consultancy, or platform. 
• Deep understanding of Paid Social mechanics and how audience, creative, and measurement impact each other. 
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams of specialists with accountability for strategy, performance, and operational quality.
• Ability to confidently navigate client-side marketing, measurement, and planning teams, providing strategic clarity and earning trust.
• An analytical mindset with experience using data to tell stories, inform decisions, and optimize investments.
• Collaborative, empathetic leadership style with a bias toward clarity, accountability, and shared outcomes.
• Experience working with complex, matrixed client orgs with multiple stakeholders and objectives.
• Profound comprehension of brand lift studies: what they are, how to properly assess set-up, measurement, and how to translate learnings into tests or future iterations. 
• Willingness to travel to client sites on a quarterly basis.

Bonus points if you: 

• Experience working across multi-market or global accounts, with fluency in regional dynamics.
• Have partnered with internal teams located in different regional markets (EX: United Kingdom) to drive cohesive processes and alignment on narratives around new innovations, process updates, etc. 
• Bring experience navigating the consumer marketing category and understand how to reach users based on known and desired brand perception.
• Are passionate about building team culture, mentoring others, and raising the bar in how awareness media is perceived and executed.
• Thrive in disrupting media best practices to craft unique learnings and best practices at a client and business unit level. 

Education/Experience: 10+ years of media activation, in a digital marketing and brand awareness focused environment with brand lift studies at the forefront. Bachelor's degree or equivalent degree of education relevant to the industry. 

Language Ability: Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations.  Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals.  Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public. 

Supervisory Responsibilities: The Group Director, Client Partner may directly supervise employees on the strategy and Paid Social activation teams. They carry out supervisory responsibilities by following the organization’s policies and applicable laws.  Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.

WHAT DO WE OFFER?

We are a collaborative, open-door, best-idea-wins environment that fosters personal and company growth and has fun doing it. Here is a snapshot of our  benefits package:

• Healthcare, Dental, and Vision coverage
• 401k plan, plus matching
• PTO
• Paid Company Holidays
• Parental Leave
  
  

WE SUPPORT YOU BEING YOU: 

DEPT® is an equal opportunity employer (EOE). We believe our work is its best when our people feel safe and free to be themselves. We’re committed to an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment and selection process and workplace, regardless of anyone’s identity, background, beliefs, lifestyle or disabilities. So tell us about any accommodations you need. It’s totally confidential and only used to make sure you feel fully supported at every step. 

DEPT® participates in E-Verify, meaning your Form I-9 information will be sent to the federal government to confirm you are authorized to work in the U.S. 

We are a B Corp-certified company passionate about purpose-driven work.  Our hope is that you can feel good about the contributions DEPT® is making to the world and we always have an open door for your ideas in making the world a better place. 

DEPT® is a pioneering technology and marketing services company that creates integrated end-to-end digital experiences for brands such as Google, KFC, Philips, Audi, Twitch, Patagonia, eBay and more. Its team of 2,500+ digital specialists across 30+ locations on 5 continents delivers pioneering work on a global scale with a boutique culture. 

Learn more about DEPT®

 

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION

At DEPT®, we take pride in creating an inclusive workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We actively seek to recruit, develop, nurture, and retain talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, with varying skills and perspectives.

Not sure you meet all qualifications? Apply, and let us decide! Research shows that women and members of underrepresented groups tend not to apply for jobs when they think they may not meet every requirement, when in fact they do. We believe in giving everyone a fair chance to shine. 

We also encourage you  to reach out to us and discuss any reasonable adjustments we can make to support you throughout the recruitment process and your time with us.

Want to know more about our dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion? Check out our efforts here.

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