Associate Director, Business Transformation; Optimization & Enablement

Company Description

Publicis Groupe is a global leader in communication and is positioned at every step of the value chain, from consulting to execution, combining marketing transformation and digital business transformation. Through a unified and fluid organization, Publicis Groupe partners with its clients across communication, media, data and technology to ensure access to the full breadth of capabilities in every market. Present in over 100 countries, Publicis Groupe employs around 103,000 professionals.

Business Operations is a centralized function that partners with business leaders. It improves how work gets done, operationalize systems and processes, and supports central initiatives. The team acts as an internal business partner, helping collaborators solve business challenges through structured problem-solving, multi-functional coordination, scalable ways of working, and disciplined execution.

The Business Operations team supports initiatives ranging from project and program management to systems deployments, agency integrations, process optimization, business analysis, workflow redesign, operating models, playbooks, and organizational enablement. Team members work across multiple functions and business areas in a highly matrixed environment, partnering closely with collaborators to drive efficiency, alignment, and operational excellence.

Core Capability Areas

• Systems Deployments & Integrations
  :
  Supports the successful deployment, integration, optimization, and adoption of systems and platforms. This includes requirements gathering, user acceptance testing (UAT), implementation support, systems integration, training, change enablement, and operationalization.
• Business Optimization & Enablement
  :
  Focuses on improving how the business works through process mapping, workflow optimization, business analysis, ways of working, operating models, POV development, playbooks, and scalable enablement solutions.
• Project and Program Management
  :
  Provides structured project and program management support to drive successful delivery of critical initiatives. This includes governance, project plans, timelines, risk and dependency management, partner coordination, executive status reporting, and multi-functional delivery leadership.

Business Operations team members are aligned to a primary capability area while partnering multi-functionally across initiatives. Projects are staffed through a matrixed model based on business need, complexity, and abilities, enabling teams to bring together the right mix of project management, systems expertise, and business optimization capabilities to solve business problems and deliver outcomes.

We are seeking a highly strategic, collaborative, and hard-working Associate Director, Business Transformation to lead the Business Optimization & Enablement workstream. This role will coordinate initiatives focused on enhancing business performance, operational efficiency, organizational alignment, and scalable ways of working across the organization. This role serves as the functional leader and is responsible for driving the successful delivery of process optimization, workflow redesign, business analysis, operating model, governance, and organizational effectiveness initiatives.

The ideal candidate is a strong business operator and internal consultant who excels at solving complex business challenges, facilitating partner alignment, and translating business needs into practical, scalable solutions. The Associate Director will coordinate a portfolio of optimization initiatives while establishing methodologies, frameworks, and guidelines that improve how work gets done across the organization. This role requires strong leadership, business analysis, facilitation, organizational design, partner management, and critical thinking capabilities.

• Serve as the workstream leader, overseeing a portfolio of operational improvement and organizational effectiveness initiatives
• Lead prioritization, resource planning, staffing, and workload management across the workstream
• Partner with senior collaborators to identify business challenges, define priorities, and shape optimization strategies
• Provide strategic oversight for initiatives involving process improvement, workflow redesign, operating models, governance structures, and ways of working
• Ensure successful delivery across multiple concurrent initiatives by providing guidance, removing roadblocks, and supporting decision-making
• Establish and maintain methodologies, frameworks, templates, tools, and guidelines for business analysis, process optimization, and organizational effectiveness
• Oversee discovery, partner assessments, current-state evaluations, and future-state design activities across engagements
• Drive the development of executive recommendations, POVs, reasons, and implementation roadmaps
• Partner with business leaders to find opportunities to simplify, standardize, and optimize operations
• Collaborate closely with Project…