Business & Planning Director

Business & Planning Director 

Overview of the role

As the Business & Planning Director, you are both a visionary media planner and a trusted business advisor. you are responsible for having a deep understanding of your client’s business and challenges - this is not limited to just media & advertising.  

You will work with the client team to unearth & develop business challenges into solutions that will not only drive your client’s business forward but also offers commercial opportunity for Essencemediacom. You will lead end-to-end strategic planning across paid, owned, earned, and shared channels while nurturing deep, consultative client relationships. With a strong foundation in evidence-based media planning and a sharp understanding of broader business dynamics, you connect the dots between insight, planning, execution, and outcomes.

This senior role bridges media planning, activation, client service, and commercial leadership. You’ll inspire your team to deliver best-in-class media solutions, drive planning excellence, and play a critical role in shaping your clients’ business success. You will also contribute to broader agency goals, culture, and craft development, acting as a role model for cross-disciplinary collaboration and continuous improvement.

Core Responsibilities

Strategic Planning & Thought Leadership

• Lead the interrogation and response to client briefs to ensure evidence-based planning recommendations across POES media channels to create actionable comms tasks, roles of media/channel and the tactics within each channel and recommend sufficiency of investments within channel to ensure effective use of channels
• Understand internal product teams including WPP Media proprietary product and services to ensure an understanding about their offerings and relevance to our clients.
• Champion the integration of evidence-based theory (e.g., EBI’s Laws of Growth, ROI curves, hero-halo effects) to Identify and define audiences that drive outcomes for campaign briefs.
• Report on audience media consumption trends and habits and identify new and interesting opportunities to connect brands to audiences.
• Lead the creation of consumer journeys maps across paid, owned, earned and shared media
• Understand and apply media planning principles (e.g., scheduling, flighting, recency, effective reach theories, seasonality, market prioritisation, roles of all communication channels) and strong ability to utilise agency and industry tools to enhance and support planned recommendation.
• Develop and oversee measurement frameworks and learning agendas to link media investment to business outcomes.

Client Leadership

• Build deep, consultative relationships with senior client stakeholders, acting as a trusted advisor and business partner.
• Immerse yourself in your client’s industry, operations, competitive landscape, and KPIs—not just their media needs.
• Lead the end-to-end planning process, ensuring strategic alignment, strong project workflow management, accountability, and high-quality deliverables across your team.
• Facilitate and lead key meetings, workshops, and WIPs with gravitas, clear POVs, and strong problem-solving abilities.
• Champion cross-functional collaboration with agency and external partners to deliver integrated, outcome-driven solutions.
• Proactively identify opportunities for Essencemediacom’s diversified services to add value to the client’s business.
• Assist Client Managing Partner in financial forecasting and P&L management (resource planning, timesheets, profitability, debt minimisation).
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and team growth in collaboration with leadership.

What Success Looks Like

• High client satisfaction scores and strong, long-term client relationships.
• Tangible business results and brand growth delivered via planning excellence.
• Award-winning or high-performing campaigns across your client portfolio.
• Clear contributions to the national planning discipline and agency reputation.
• Positive feedback from team members, peers, and clients.
• Proactive identification and conversion of new business or growth opportunities.

What You Bring

• Minimum 9+ years' experience in media planning and/or client leadership within a media or marketing environment.
• Deep knowledge of media theory and evidence-based planning approaches, coupled with strong business acumen.
• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
• Proven ability to manage complexity, inspire teams, and lead cross-functional projects.
• Commercial understanding of agency operations, including financial levers and resourcing.
• Curiosity, passion, creativity, and a drive to stay ahead in a fast-evolving industry.

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