Associate Director, Client Operations

Business Overview

IPG Mediabrands is the media and marketing solutions division of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). IPG Mediabrands manages over $47 billion in marketing investment globally on behalf of its clients across its full-service agency networks UM, Initiative and Mediahub and through its award-winning specialty business units Healix, Kinesso, MAGNA, Mediabrands Content Studio, Orion Holdings, Rapport, and the IPG Media Lab. IPG Mediabrands clients include many of the world’s most recognizable and iconic brands from a broad portfolio of industry sectors including automotive, personal finance, consumer product goods (CPG), pharma, health and wellness, entertainment, financial services, energy, toys and gaming, direct to consumer and e-commerce, retail, hospitality, food and beverage, fashion and beauty. The company employs more than 18,000 diverse marketing communication professionals in more than 130 countries. Learn more at www.ipgmediabrands.com.

Position Summary

We are currently looking for someone to join our team as Associate Director, Global Operations. This role will partner closely with Client Ops & Business Ops SVPs and ideally have experience in Client Operations or a background in Media Planning / Buying. The Operations team leads internal functions including: account onboarding, implementation of client processes and compliance measures, financial oversight/stewardship, and management of account-wide tools/platforms/systems. In a client-facing capacity, this team is responsible for managing day to day relationships with Global Procurement, supporting UM Account on high-visibility Client leadership projects, and acting as a UM steward / liaison for legal, financial, and business performance workstreams.

This candidate should be extremely solution-oriented & comfortable operating “in the grey” to drive progress – continuously improving account infrastructure & unlocking efficiencies across our people, systems, processes and tools in service of client & agency growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Support Client Ops SVP in driving business strategy, commercial efficiency, and scaling operational excellence globally
• Accountable for commercial, contract & compliance management globally – including, but not limited to, global MSA development, market SOW stewardship, & related risk-assessment workflows
• Support global agency value tracking & implementation of agency KPI/bonus criteria; manage global performance evaluation process if applicable
• Liaison between various internal stakeholders, exhibiting a keen understanding of internal crafts to identify the appropriate internal stakeholders when workstreams/questions require internal collaboration
• Serve as the "go-to" for internal E2E process optimization, tool/platform troubleshooting, account connectivity, & streamlined ways of working
• Ensure standard of knowledge across all tools and platforms used is consistent across the teams
• Lead roll-out of standardized workflow management platform (i.e. Asana), and governance of E2E process templates across internal team
• Support the internal financial and budget processes with Business Ops
• Support resource management initiatives with Client & Business Ops

Required Skills & Experience

• Ability to independently investigate, analyze and solve problems as well as clearly communicate results
• Handle multiple projects in a fast-paced environment with the ability to learn and apply new concepts and tools quickly
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, ideally comfortable in a consultative, client-facing environment
• Strong project management and time management skills
• Quantitative, analytical skills with the ability to draw conclusions based on data
• Attention to detail, well organized and possesses the ability to priorities multiple tasks under pressure
• Excel proficiency is required
• Familiarity with workflow management / project management tools (i.e. Asana, Workday)
• Knowledge of media planning/buying tools (Guideline Planning, Mediaocean – Prisma/MBOX) is essential

Desired Skills and Experience 

• 5+ years’ experience within Client Operations or other Client-facing functions (Media planning, buying, etc.)
• Be a highly motivated team player, leading with empathy & diplomacy
• Previous experience managing a teams of 3+ people – while this role does not have a direct report, it requires lateral management across crafts/teams

We See You  

At IPG Mediabrands, we are unified behind a commitment to fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging. Toget