Associate Business Director - Communications Consultancy

Overview

Company description Publicis Groupe and Beiersdorf have created Publicis One Touch for their next digital transformation, a new type of agency model based on agility and interdisciplinary design. Publicis One Touch is designed to build a truly connected NIVEA marketing ecosystem, with data at its heart, to work with a single, connected view of marketing adoption and performance, brand health and customer insights across the entire customer journey to drive efficiency, effectiveness and brand love.

Overview The candidate will be responsible for leading integrated business delivery across assigned Emerging Markets hubs, with a primary focus on India and ASEAN markets, combining client leadership with cross-functional integration, operational governance, and commercial ownership. This is a hybrid leadership role requiring strong business acumen, structured operational oversight, and the ability to navigate complex multi-market work streams across Creative, Account Management, Production, Impact, Last Mile, and regional leadership teams.

Given the operational complexity and pace of the India and ASEAN business, the role requires a highly collaborative and solutions-oriented leader who understands the nuances of these markets, can connect multiple stakeholders, proactively identify risks, and ensure seamless delivery across evolving work streams. The role will work closely with senior leadership, regional hub teams, and client stakeholders to ensure delivery excellence, operational discipline, and continuous process improvement across the POUL operating model.

The candidate will also be responsible for mentoring and guiding junior team members while strengthening integration between India, ASEAN, and wider regional delivery teams.

• Technical & Product Lead
  • End-to-end delivery of integrated campaigns and content work streams across assigned India and ASEAN hubs, ensuring smooth transition from creative development through production and implementation.
  • Act as the integration conduit across CDU (regional), Impact, Last Mile, Production, Creative, and teams.
  • Maintain clear visibility across ongoing projects, milestones, dependencies, approvals, and delivery risks.
  • Ensure project workflows align with agreed POUL / CDU ways of working and governance frameworks.
  • Support creative development workflows including concept development, testing, storyboard / animatic development, production readiness, and digital adaptation.
  • Guide teams on practical delivery solutions under compressed timelines and evolving business requirements.
  • Ensure teams are aligned on ownership, roles, responsibilities, and next steps across work streams.
  • Bring practical understanding of delivery realities across India and ASEAN markets, including local stakeholder dynamics, operational dependencies, and regional nuances.
• Business Acumen & Operational Efficiency
  • Build trusted relationships with regional and local clients, positioning the team as a strategic and dependable business partner.
  • Demonstrate strong understanding of client business priorities, operational realities, market nuances, and delivery challenges.
  • Lead operational governance across assigned work streams, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within scope, and to expected quality standards.
  • Proactively identify risks, escalation points, resource gaps, and operational blockers; drive timely resolution within internal teams.
  • Maintain strong commercial discipline across projects, including PO tracking, billing readiness, burn rate awareness, forecasting support, and financial escalations.
  • Drive structured project management and disciplined follow-through across multiple concurrent work streams.
  • Improve efficiency across teams by identifying process gaps, operational inefficiencies, and handover challenges, and recommending scalable solutions.
  • Support regional leadership in managing complex delivery scenarios, compressed timelines, and evolving client asks across India and ASEAN hubs.
• Innovative & Analytical Mindset
  • Think strategically and operationally to solve business and delivery challenges across complex multi-market work streams.
  • Join the dots across clients,…