Vice President, Client Operations

At Publicis Collective, we know tomorrow’s challenges won’t be solved by today’s solutions. It’s why we support our teams with the resources and tools they need to continue redefining the future of marketing. It’s also why clients rely on us to lead the way in connecting media, data, technology, and teams by what matters most – business outcomes. 
 
Publicis Collective’s consultative practitioners are catalysts for business growth and innovation, we’re more than media experts. We are an incubator for high-performing talent and a launchpad for ideas that push the boundaries of what’s possible. 
 
As part of the global Publicis Media network, we’re backed by the power, scale, and benefits of Publicis Groupe, one of the largest and most celebrated marketing and communications platforms on the planet. 
   
How are we different? There are three core values at the center of our approach that help us stay ahead – curious, open, and driven.  
  
Curious - A deep curiosity compels us to go beyond the brief to deliver exceptional outcomes.  
  
Open - We value diverse perspectives and new ways of working. 
  
Driven - We are ambitious, rigorous, self-disciplined, and resilient in our pursuit of excellence.  
 
If you're a collaborative and enterprising practitioner with a passion for media and a desire to make a real impact, we want to hear from you. 
 
Let's shape the future together. 

Our Client Operations Department manages client-specific operational tasks across virtually every practice area within the agency, including Strategy, Investment, HR, Finance, Invoice Reconciliation, and Agency Administration & Compliance. We centralize and standardize fundamental work required across all pieces of business as well as bring tactical and detail-oriented work streams together to find smarter, faster ways of working. We create a space for those whose strengths include being highly organized problem-solvers. We help differentiate Collective from our competitors and provide a critical foundation to the agency.

What you’ll do:

The VP, Director, Client Operations will be part of a growing Client Operations team on a well-known client(s). This position has tremendous learning potential and provides the opportunity to work on a high-energy, highly visible account(s).

The Client Operations VP, Director supports the SVP, Director and each of the  Budgets & Compliances and Tools & Systems team. Your primary focus will be on the operational management of the media planning, buying and management systems that our teams use (Mediaocean OX, Prisma, MediaTools as well as various internal tools). In addition to this, you’ll have leadership exposure with the opportunity to continue to grow your career in media by working on project management, process improvements, helping to develop and share best practices and helping to enforce quality assurance across the agency via regular reporting and compliance workstreams.

• Strategic Leadership:
  • Collaborate with VP level leadership on departmental priorities and talent management.
  • Act as the primary liaison for Client Business Leads to address account-specific operational needs.
  • Act as the point of contact for the internal brand teams for all Tools & Systems related questions to ensure consistency and accuracy across the brands, but also clients across the Collective agency while understanding the big picture of requests – act as the point of contact for leadership questions
  • Connect with Analytics, Strategy and Investment peers on account-specific requests
• Team Management:
  • Oversee and allocate workload for a team of 10 , ensuring timely delivery and accuracy of internal projects and client deliverables.
  • Lead career development initiatives through task-specific training and coaching.
• Financial Compliance:
  • Oversee planning/buying/billing system setups to align with client-specific needs while meeting agency standards.
  • Manage critical financial tasks, including buy authorizations, maintaining ordered vs. approved & planned vs. purchased reports and ensuring accurate client billing and budget documentation.
  • Address internal and client inquiries related to media billing and budgets.
  • Manage internal and external Audits
  • Oversight on
• Compliance Application:
  • Ensure adherence to client-specific billing procedures to maintain audit compliance.
  • Understand the scope expectations and help deliver on them from an operational perspective.
  • Manage staff lists efficiently and effectively partnering with HR, Finance, and other Operations teams.
• Platform and Process Optimization:
  • Enforce workflows for billing verification and financial reporting (e.g., diversity reporting, monthly financial updates, forecasting and accruing).
  • Partner with Strategy and Investment teams to address account-specific needs and proactively identify opportunities for efficiency improvements.
  • Proactively solve problems and improve efficiencies, escalating issues where needed
  • Maintain positive relationships with agency contacts, system contacts, and ReSources 
  • Lead and steward key processes that involve multiple agency teams; ensure all teams are trained on the systems accurately to maintain data consistency
  • Expected to periodically check emails to respond to urgent issues after close of business 
  • Review work (as necessary) in progress by team as issues arise to help guide to a resolution or escalate issues as needed
  • Identify and surface issues related to Media Systems or ReSources process and staff and help with resolution
  • Oversight of accuracy of inputs into proprietary Operation System, ensuring all systems are accurately set-up by team for internal and external reporting needs
  • Participate in system enhancement testing or training 
• Relationship Building:
  • Serve as a collaborative problem solver and client expert for internal teams and clients.
  • Communicate insights effectively, translating data analysis into actionable recommendations for strategists, planners, and buyers.

What you’re like:

• Driven by a passion for learning, innovation, and delivering excellence in client service.
• Able to balance numerous, simultaneous work streams
• Aligned with taking the time to teach others how to do something vs. doing it for them
• Motivated to ensure a competent team, who has fun while achieving accomplishments
• Organized, detail-oriented, good with time management, obsessed with accuracy, a strong critical thinker, and able to juggle multiple tasks
• Willingness to jump in on all requests to ensure all projects are completed in timely manner
• Committed to push a project through to completion by coordinating with the right team members to accomplish a task
• Good at building relationships – a creative problem solver, a customer service expert, a great team player
• A strong communicator – able to write clearly, speak professionally, and translate data analysis into insights
• Excited by the idea of diving deep into data, including new technologies where benchmarks are just beginning to emerge
• Able and willing to jump into the weeds to ensure projects are completed efficiently and accurately

What we seek in a VP, Director:

• 10 years of previous agency experience in Operations role, preferred
• Expertise in MediaTools, Prisma, and/or MediaOcean required
• Advanced skills in Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) with proven expertise in complex Excel formulas (vlookup, pivot tables, etc.) to support reporting.
• Quantitative and analytical skills, yet willingness to embrace a role that requires a mix of art and science
• Ability to making progress/completing work, even with overlapping deadlines 
• An individual who equally cares about his/her own career as well as the those they are managing
• Willingness to jump into a project independently to troubleshoot and determine efficient next steps to improve processes across all teams
• Strong strategic thinking with the ability to align operational and client goals.
• Eager to be a leader when working with other agency teams 
• Experience developing and presenting your thoughts and ideas in a clear and concise manner
• Flexible and able to adapt to change in a fast-paced and constantly changing environment 
• Someone who likes to thrive on a team yet can also meet tight deadlines on independent assignments
• Experience implementing and monitoring compliance frameworks.
• Familiarity with industry regulations (e.g., GDPR, SOX, etc) preferred
• Certifications such as PMP or Six Sigma preferred
• Leadership training such as Dare to Lead, Situational Leadership, etc. preferred

Compensation Range: $146,490 - $200,400 annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 04/21/2025.

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Salary : $146,490 - $200,400