Head of – Publicis Media

Overview

Role Overview

The Head of Performance will lead the central Performance Hub for Publicis Media Africa — a data-driven capability center designed to power client performance, conversion growth, and automation excellence across the region.

This role sits at the heart of Publicis Media’s transformation, unifying people, platforms, and partners to deliver measurable outcomes for clients. The incumbent will drive regional scalability, cross-market consistency, and AI-led optimization, working through a hub-and-spoke model that supports agencies and local markets in achieving KPI excellence.

The successful candidate will combine strategic leadership, deep technical expertise, and strong commercial acumen — building a performance culture that integrates insight, automation, and creativity to push campaign performance beyond benchmarks.

• Lead and scale the Publicis Africa Performance Hub, serving as the central engine for campaign optimization, data analytics, and automation.
• Define and execute the Performance Strategy for Africa, aligning with Groupe’s global product roadmap (Epsilon, APEX, PMX Precision, Performics).
• Build a hub-and-spoke operating model — providing central strategy, tools, and best practices while enabling local market autonomy and speed.
• Serve as the strategic advisor to agency leads and client CMOs, driving KPI accountability and insight-led decision-making.
• Ensure performance delivery aligns with Publicis’ broader transformation framework, integrating profitability and operational efficiency.

• Build, mentor, and lead a centralized team of performance specialists across Search, Social, Programmatic, and Conversion Optimization.
• Partner with offshore delivery hubs (India, Poland, MEA) to scale setup, trafficking, and optimization support for efficiency.
• Design workflows, governance models, and performance dashboards that enable real-time monitoring and optimization across clients.
• Drive continuous upskilling of local market teams through Performance Academies, certifications, and shared learning initiatives.
• Foster collaboration across media, data, and adops teams to ensure cohesive campaign delivery and optimization.

• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with platform partners (Google, Meta, Tik Tok, Xandr, Amazon Ads, The Trade Desk), tech enablers, and data providers to drive innovation and preferential access.
• Collaborate closely with PMX (Publicis Media Exchange) to ensure buying efficiency and deal optimization.
• Partner with Performics global network to align on frameworks, automation tools, and case study creation.
• Engage with regional and local technology partners, including ad verification vendors, analytics platforms, and data clean room providers.
• Develop joint business plans and co‑investment agreements with key partners to accelerate automation and AI adoption in Africa.

• Create best-in-class optimization models for client campaigns — using AI, predictive algorithms, and automation to improve conversion rates and ROI.
• Implement performance frameworks that drive business KPIs across diverse sectors (FMCG, Finance, Telco, Automotive, eCommerce).
• Ensure seamless alignment between central hub performance strategy and local execution teams.
• Partner with data teams to enable cross‑channel measurement and attribution, connecting upper‑funnel exposure with conversion and sales.
• Drive conversion rate optimization (CRO) initiatives across all major clients, turning data insights into tangible growth.
• Lead strategic performance reviews and present results directly to client CMOs and marketing heads.

• Develop integrated performance dashboards in Power BI / Looker Studio for real‑time visibility into campaign KPIs.
• Build standardized templates for reporting to ensure data consistency and narrative quality across markets.
• Showcase data‑led case studies that demonstrate the impact of Publicis’ performance media excellence.
• Collaborate with analytics and strategy teams to turn data into client‑facing…