Account Director

Company description

With a history that dates back over 80 years,
Starcom is a global communications planning and media leader. We are an agency still grounded in our founding principle that people are at the centre of all we do. Each day, we apply this belief to harness the transformative power of data and technology to inspire and move people and business forward. With more than 7,000 employees in over 100 offices around the world, we are the flagship Publicis Media agency that uses our ‘Power of One’ business model, with teams that span multiple disciplines across clients such as Aldi, P&G, Primark, Samsung, Stellantis, and Visa.

We place a huge focus on our People, and have driven flagship D&I and L&D programmes within Publicis Media; our goal is to help every individual reach their fullest potential, and we encourage everyone to make “Brave Plays” in how they approach their work and their own career development. As a result, we have an exceptionally energised and committed talent base, all of us proud of our welcoming and supportive culture, as evidenced by our recognition as one of Campaign’s Best Places to Work for five years in a row,
Media Week's Agency of the Year 2025 and one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025.

We are hiring an Account Director, Deployment Lead to join One Mars, Publicis Groupe’s bespoke agency partnership for Mars, working across Pet Nutrition Europe and iconic brands including Pedigree, Whiskas and Sheba. You’ll play a pivotal role in turning regional media strategy into clear, actionable plans that connect markets, capabilities and teams. Working at the heart of an integrated model spanning media, production, data and technology, social, influencer and commerce, you’ll help Mars create joined-up consumer experiences while supporting its marketing transformation journey.

• Own the regional deployment plan, translating media strategy into clear implementational recommendations and tangible budget allocation decisions across Pet Nutrition Europe.
• Lead the annual planning laydown for your allocated brands, bringing together media, influencer, production, analytics and commerce specialists around one coherent and executable direction.
• Be a trusted partner to regional clients, presenting recommendations, explaining the thinking behind decisions and guiding tactical changes and optimisations throughout the year.
• Connect planning across markets, consolidating inputs, maintaining key multi‑market plans and proactively resolving inconsistencies, risks or gaps.
• Bring capabilities together, ensuring influencer activity, paid media, production and creative requirements work as an integrated whole and that teams have clear visibility of asset needs.
• Drive in-year planning and optimisation, coordinating tactical updates and working with activation, analytics, production and influencer teams to keep deployment aligned with evolving brand priorities.
• Champion operational excellence, building strong relationships across regional and market teams while sharing learnings and creating consistent, effective ways of working.

What are we looking for?

• Strong client communication skills, with the confidence to present complex plans, explain recommendations clearly and lead constructive conversations with senior stakeholders.
• Implementational and tactical planning expertise, with experience turning strategic direction into practical media plans, deployment requirements and briefs.
• An ability to create clarity from complexity, bringing specialist perspectives together and translating them into coherent, actionable planning frameworks.
• Excellent collaboration and influencing skills, with a…