Paid Social Account Director   

If you require any adjustments or additional support during the recruitment process, for any reason whatsoever, please let us know at [email protected]    

At EssenceMediacom we want to eradicate inequity. We don't tolerate it and when we see it, we act. We attract, support and develop our talent without bias and strive to foster the empathy, creativity and diversity of thought needed to drive meaningful change for our people, our clients, our industry and our society. WPP and GroupM have already made strong commitments to combat racial injustice. While we are part of this group, we know we have an individual responsibility as an employer and an industry leader to fight against racism. That’s why we have pledged the following seven commitments.   

Even if you don’t meet all the requirements, that’s okay, and we encourage you to apply anyway to find out more about whether this is the right match for you.   

Did you know that marginalised groups including women, people of colour and people with a disability are more likely to discount themself for a role if they don't feel they meet every requirement or understand the reasonable adjustment that can be made? This is why we encourage connection and conversation to ensure that everyone has the opportunity and information needed to find the right role, for them. If this role isn’t quite right, you may be the perfect fit for another – so go ahead, apply and find out!   

About EssenceMediacom:   

We are a global communications agency leading with breakthrough thinking, building explosive growth for brands, and helping our clients see the bigger picture. Our daring global network of 10,000 influencers help our clients breach traditional boundaries in media, uncover novel ideas, and unleash exponential growth. EssenceMediacom challenges conventional thinking to build, propel, and supercharge our clients’ businesses at scale and lead our industry in critical areas such as diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability.     

EssenceMediacom understands that our people are tasked with big goals: building breakthrough growth for brands and leading with breakthrough thinking in our industry. Our people are at the heart of this work because their ideas will enable us to decode the intersections of people, content, and technology to bring our aspirations to life. Our success is down to our eclectic, diverse, and talented people. EssenceMediacom is a place for us to grow our careers and expand our horizons. EssenceMediacom is committed to building an agency culture that supports our people, puts diversity at the forefront of our operations, and creates opportunity for all. This collective culture will be our “new power” where ideas are freely exchanged, and collaboration is actively encouraged in a place where you can innovate in our hyperconnected world.  EssenceMediacom follows a hybrid working policy which requires all employees to be in the office together a minimum of 3 days a week.   

About GroupM Nexus:   

GroupM Nexus UK is a community of more than 1000 specialists comprised of Search, Social, Programmatic & Display, and Ad Tech Ops teams from across the GroupM agencies. GroupM Nexus is designed to help accelerate our clients’ businesses by leveraging the power and capabilities of GroupM and its agencies, through partnerships with the world’s leading digital platforms, advanced accreditations for digital practitioners or continued development and deployment of industry leading benchmarks.   

About the Paid Social team @ EssenceMediacom:   

The Paid Social team works to plan & execute market-leading social advertising campaigns for our clients across a variety of social media platforms. We are a supportive and welcoming team working on two of the most exciting accounts in the EssenceMediacom patch: Costa and Muller.    

Intro to the role:   

We are looking for a paid social specialist to continue their career as Account Director. This person will assume day-to-day responsibility for the paid social output of a busy client account (or accounts) and will also help oversee a team of more junior staff responsible for the everyday running of the account. Experience managing a team of social specialists, preferably in an agency environment, would be of benefit. This person will also be required to develop strong relationships with clients, suppliers, and other stakeholders becoming a trusted voice for all things paid social. As such the ideal candidate is someone with extensive knowledge of paid advertising across all of the key social channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snap, TikTok etc).   

A closer look..   

You hold excellent knowledge of the UK Social media landscape and are well-versed in planning and activating across digital media, both DR and Brand. You have strong communication and project management skills and can engage with stakeholders effectively. You will also work closely with other media specialists to oversee delivery of an integrated plan, often taking the lead in using digital/social to link other media channels and understanding how other media plans fit in the system.    

You will be responsible for delivering exceptional and exciting social work as well as the output of a manager and a team of planners and execs.   

Key Responsibilities:   

Account Directors are charged with responsibility for the day-to-day paid social output of one (or more) client accounts, with several key areas of focus. These include:   

Campaign Management   

• Overseeing the production of comprehensive paid social media plans (+ supporting material) that align with client’s objectives and KPIs. Able to clearly articulate the rationale for proposed campaign tactics (channels, budget, audience, formats etc.) and present these back, both to internal and external stakeholders.
• Overseeing a hybrid team (made up of both local and Global Hub employees) responsible for the end-to-end setup of paid social campaigns across all the relevant social platforms. Comfortable troubleshooting and helping train junior team members to use advanced features such as bid rules and 3rd party optimisation/creative/measurement tools.
• Responsible for maintaining the standard of regular quality assurance (QA) checks undertaken by those working on the account to ensure campaigns are set up to defined best practice standards (and helping to evolve these best-practices as necessary).
• Working with team to ensure the standard and accuracy of weekly/monthly campaign performance reports. Leading client calls on a regular basis and supporting the wider team to present results as necessary.
• Ensuring all performance commentary delivers valuable insight and recommendations to clients. Working with the team to identify trends and recommend actions on-platform to capitalise/mitigate these trends as necessary.
• Ensuring the standard of end-of-campaign reporting and quarterly/annual reviews. Leading standalone research projects as required by the client.

Client & Partner Management    

• Responsible for delivering on the over-arching paid social strategy across the account(s) and ensuring this ties in with the wider digital and comms strategy.
• Acting as a key social point-of-contact for your client(s) ensuring their continuing confidence in the quality of the team and agency’s social output.
• Demonstrating a deep understanding of the media and technology developments that influence your client’s business. Able to identify opportunities to test and innovate in the paid social space, presenting these opportunities to stakeholders and securing client backing.
• Managing internal and external stakeholders to ensure multiple projects can be delivered simultaneously and to the required standard.
• Building and maintaining relationships with the key media partners including Meta, Twitter, Snap, TikTok, Pinterest and others.

People Management    

• Ensuring the effective management of both the local team and Global Hub employees, ensuring workloads are sufficiently monitored & prioritised to ensure deadlines are met.
• Working your Account Manager and the team leadership to help train and develop entry level team members. Leading by example to motivate and encourage all those with less experience on the team.
• Communicate clearly and in a timely manner with internal and external stakeholders as required across email, chat, video and in-person. Leading presentations where necessary.
• Attend and lead regular internal meetings and training sessions in order to actively contribute to a collaborative and friendly paid social community.
• Leading the recruitment process for your immediate team and working with the head of department to assist with wider team recruitment as needed. This will involve leading interviews, making staffing decisions and acting as an ambassador for the team to potential candidates.

Operational Excellence   

• Identify opportunities to test and innovate in the paid social space. Presenting these opportunities to stakeholders and securing client backing. Developing these into initiatives that can be used to further evolve the standard & efficiency of paid social buying across the wider team.
• Developing tailored testing/learning agendas for clients that drive clear and actionable insight on each social platform.
• Working closely with planning team + other channel specialists to ensure paid social activity compliments and enhances the wider marketing mix.
• Collaborating on thought-leadership pieces and POVs for the agency and GMS social community.

• Responsible for the accurate and effective management of agency finance processes. Ensuring the immediate team fulfil the mandatory finance process in a timely and accurate manner to ensure prompt payment/invoicing and minimise finance queries.

About You:   

Experience working in a busy agency or client-side social team is key to this role. We are looking for a candidate who is able to display the following attributes:   

• Extensive experience setting up and optimising paid social campaigns across a number of the key social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snap, TikTok etc). Training certifications in any of the key platforms would be a plus (e.g. Meta Blueprint).
• Experience planning large-scale paid social campaigns, preferably across a mix of brand and direct-response objectives.
• Experience compiling detailed and insightful end of campaign reports & presentations. Experience managing a team to jointly compile regular client presentations (QBRs, annual reviews etc).
• A clear a track record of working with clients and external stakeholders. Forming strong relationships is key to the role, the ideal candidate should feel comfortable presenting to clients and leading calls as required. 
• Experience line managing others, helping ensure day-to-day workloads are effectively managed. The ideal candidate should also have experience training and mentoring those more junior across all things paid social and should be able to communicate effectively with people from all diverse backgrounds, cultures, countries.
• Teamwork is key to this role and we are looking for someone who is collaborative, friendly, and with a can-do attitude.

In return the successful candidate can expect to work as a member of a fun and engaging team that is part of a company that truly champions learning, development and will invest in your career over the long term.