Associate Director, Business Operations

Overview

We are OMD, Cannes Lions 2024 Media Network of the Year, RECMA's Best-Performing Media Network Globally, and COMvergence's #1 Global Agency Network. As the world’s largest media network, with more than 12,000 people working in over 100 countries, we excel at making better decisions, faster. By combining innovation, creativity, empathy, and evidence, we help clients move faster, reach further, and take smarter risks in a world full of opportunities.

We pride ourselves on being a people-obsessed, outcomes-focused business that applies evidence and data-based solutions, married with the practice of empathy, to drive performance and growth. When working with our clients, we put ourselves in the shoes of the consumer in order to see the world through their eyes. We focus on finding greater empathy with the consumer so as to uncover insights and opportunities that deliver more valued and valuable connections.

• In this role you will be primarily and ultimately responsible for budget data aggregation, quality assurance, governance, reporting and communication of all campaign investment plans across media types.
• This is a client facing role accountable for coordination and project management with cross-functional teams. We require an agile, self-starter with knowledge across key functions including Media Planning, Investment, Finance and Operations.
• Consult and confirm implementation governance and best practices, ensure training compliance across platforms
• Confirm operational best practices with Project Management, embedding finance expertise into workflow definitions and project timelines (e.g. client and deliverable expectations, turnaround times, client escalations, client-facing deliverable consistency)
• Lead integration and connectivity between cross-functional teams (e.g. Planning, Integrated Investment, Marketing Science, Finance, Project Management) - inclusive of integration between onshore and offshore resources
• Collaborate with investment + activation and operations teams both onshore and offshore, act as liaison for offshore work deployment.
• Confirm consistency in client facing deliverables (e.g. Budget Deliverables) in partnership with Team Leadership and BPM
• Collaborate with Budget Project Management, Planning Analysts, and Account Leadership to ensure that all invoicing for fees and media is delivered timely.
• Support, audit, & enforce new budget and finance process rollouts across all team members including troubleshooting of common issues & serving as escalation point against any blockers
• Master and maintain planning and tracking tools to ensure accurate delivery of campaign data for the client (including Proof of Performance, monthly campaign budget tracking, and bi-weekly financial ‘status’, etc.)
• Manage Media Ocean, DDS and Media Tools and in house budget tracking infrastructure.
• Serve as the first POC for systems and tools related inquiries, including DDS, Prisma, Media tools, and Share Point
• Manage media campaign actualization and billing timelines to ensure teams are staying on track, while raising any red flags of possible delays.
• Provide financial rigor and strategic insight around business decisions that affect both client and agency.
• Leads and orchestrates uncleared campaigns with Investment, BPM and Media Rec teams to ensure timely clearing compliance and payment to our partners.
• Foster good working relationships and understanding with various teams as well as the client to facilitate flawless execution
• Leverage industry experience (where applicable) to advise on best practices and address questions and/or issues as they arise
• Participate in monthly finance meetings with regional/local account teams to review the status other client finance issues.
• Assist in the creation and communication of financial guidelines and roadmaps (templates, ways to work, best in class methods, etc.)
• Creation and communication of financial guidelines and roadmaps (templates, ways to work, best in class methods, etc.)
• Assist in managing relationships with vendors, especially when discrepancies arise, finding creative solutions to complex situations

• 5+ years Media/Finance…