Vice President, Media Operations

Company Description

Mars United℠ Commerce is a global commerce marketing practice that aligns people, technology, and intelligence to make the business of our clients better today than it was yesterday. Our worldwide capabilities coalesce into four key disciplines — Strategy & Analytics, Content & Experiences, Digital Commerce, and Retail Consultancy — that individually deliver unmatched results for clients and collectively give them an unparalleled network of seamlessly integrated functions across the entire commerce marketing ecosystem.

These disciplines are powered by our industry‑leading technology platform, Marilyn®, which helps marketers understand the total business impact of their commerce marketing activation, enabling them to make better decisions, create connected experiences, and drive stronger, measurable results. Learn more at

The Vice President, Media Operations will be a solution‑oriented business partner to media teams within a complex, multi‑agency environment. The candidate will be responsible for media and financial operations, integrating multiple parties across the media team, process improvements, systems management, general reporting, and driving compliance. They will coordinate and support the media finance process flow — specifically regarding budgeting, billing, and forecasting — with oversight of ad operations, and will ensure end‑to‑end operational excellence for the client.

We are looking for a leader with expertise in marketing technology and media performance management and measurement. The ideal candidate is a dot connector with an analytic mindset, strong problem‑solving skills, and the ability to organize and track multiple projects simultaneously. They should be proactive, resourceful, agile, and a creative problem solver who can foster client relationships and partner with clients to work through process changes, escalations, and forward‑thinking ideas.

Candidates must reside within a commutable distance to our Chicago or New York office for a hybrid work schedule.

• Help build and continue to optimize the paid media financial process to further streamline and deliver operational excellence to agency teams and the client.
• Participate as an active leader in developing a framework and building a bespoke media operations team in support of client operational excellence.
• Serve as a key partner in overseeing the management of delivery according to the SOW, including contracted guarantees.
• Track key operations‑led activities, anticipate challenges, and raise appropriate flags to ensure timely execution of deliverables.
• Drive process adoption and optimization while maintaining integrity in a high‑urgency, outcomes‑oriented environment.
• Execute routine process and data quality checks to ensure accuracy and optimal efficiency, re‑inventing processes as needed.
• Ensure accuracy of data pulls from various systems (e.g., Media Ocean/Prisma, Guidelines Planning).
• Monitor Standard Operating Procedures to identify problems and recommend process efficiency improvements in alignment with SOX requirements.
• Create training materials to document processes and instill best practices across teams.

• Serve as the media business partner across agency financial teams.
• Manage budgets and partner with media finance on billing and financial compliance.
• Build media budget forecasting and actualization processes, and partner with media finance on billing to ensure all reconciliations are completed according to client needs.
• Provide guidance and consultancy across budget hygiene from planning through billing handoff, working closely with key stakeholders including Media Strategy & Activation, Media Finance, and Corporate Accounting.
• Partner with Media Finance to establish an authorization process aligned with client needs.
• Prepare budget management and actualization reports drawing from Guidelines Planning and Media Ocean/Prisma.
• Work with internal stakeholders to resolve discrepancies prior to monthly billing.
• Analyze and explain variances.
• Prepare ad‑hoc reports for internal and external clients.
• Manage the monthly budgeting process and…