Global Media Planning Lead H/F - CDI

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by ourpioneeringagentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth.

WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.

For the sake of clarity and accessibility, we have chosen not to use gender-inclusive writing in our communications. WPP Media is firmly committed to diversity: we value inclusion and equality, considering all candidates regardless of gender identity, ethnic background, or religion. All our positions are also open to individuals with disabilities.

About WPP Media

WPP is the trusted partner for growth to the world’s leading brands. We combine cutting-edge media intelligence, world-class creativity, next-generation production, solutions to transform marketing in the AI era, and expert strategic consultancy within a single company.

Powered by exceptional talent and WPP Open, our agentic marketing platform, we deploy AI at scale to help our clients navigate a rapidly changing world and optimize their marketing investments.

WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere, we bring together the best platform, top talent, and leading partners to develop the most innovative solutions, delivering unparalleled growth to our clients. For more information, visit wppmedia.com.

At WPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people. It is through this synergy that we create truly exceptional experiences, both for our clients and for our internal teams.

To succeed in this role, it is essential to embody the core values that unite WPP and WPP Media:

• Be Extraordinaryby fostering collective leadership that inspires truly transformational creativity.
• Be Openby finding the perfect balance between employee fulfillment and client satisfaction, all grounded in mutual trust.
• Lead with Optimismby actively driving growth and development to mobilize our entire organization.

Role Purpose

The Global Media Planning Lead is a senior leader within a Global Financial Services/Insurance account team reporting to the Client Lead, responsible for driving media excellence, communications-planning excellence, and operational quality across B2C and B2B activity.

Working in close partnership with the Global Strategy Lead, the role translates overarching global media and business strategy into clear, effective, and actionable communications-planning frameworks, campaign approaches, channel plans, and market guidance.

The Global Planning Lead will lead the strategic media planning across global brand and regional campaigns for B2C/B2B, ensuring that communications plans are insight-led, integrated, innovative, measurable, and executable across markets.

The role manages and develops a planning team comprising two Account Directors, two Account Managers, an Account Executive, and an Intern, spanning both B2C and B2B remits. The successful candidate will create the conditions for the team to grow: providing strategic direction, coaching and quality assurance while empowering team members to lead their workstreams and maintaining high operational standards without micromanagement.

This role is a key senior client-facing position and a critical link between the client’s global media and brand teams, Wavemaker’s strategy, planning, data, investment and activation functions, and the client’s external agency partners.

Key Responsibilities

Communications Planning & Media Excellence

• Lead the development of best-in‑class global communications plans for B2C and B2B priorities, including the global brand campaigns, regional campaigns, and corporate campaigns.
• Drive the translation of the client’s objectives into clear communications/media objectives, audience strategies, channel roles, investment principles, and activation approaches.
• Partner closely with the Global Strategy Lead to ensure that campaign planning fully reflects and delivers against the client’s global media strategy, strategic guardrails, and growth priorities.
• Develop and maintain global communications‑planning frameworks, campaign toolkits, media principles, and implementation guidelines that can be effectively adopted across markets for Global/Regional campaigns.
• Ensure plans are audience‑led, integrated across paid, owned and earned touchpoints where relevant, and built around clear communications tasks for each channel.
• Bring a strong point of view on media innovation, emerging channels, digital ecosystems, content, partnerships, and media creativity—identifying opportunities that are relevant, scalable, and commercially meaningful for the client.
• Champion high standards of planning craft, including audience definition, channel architecture, phasing, reach and frequency thinking, investment allocation, creative‑media integration, and measurement design.

Strategic Partnership with the Global Media Strategy Lead and Creative Agency

• Work as a seamless strategic partnership with the Global Media Strategy Lead and external Creative Agency, with clear and complementary responsibilities:
• The Global Media Strategy Lead defines the overarching global media strategy, strategic direction, innovation agenda, and senior strategic counsel.
• The Global Communications Planning Director turns this direction into excellent communications‑planning outputs, campaign frameworks, market guidance, and consistently strong execution.
• Bring market, campaign, audience, and implementation learnings into the strategic agenda, helping to refine future global strategy and identify new growth opportunities.
• Support the development of senior client recommendations, ensuring strategic thinking is grounded in practical, deployable planning solutions.
• Partner with Creative Agency to ensure strategic alignment during strategy development and creative development to deliver a seamless integrated campaign.
• Lead the planning relationship with the regional and local market teams across Europe, Asia, Latin America.
• Partner with Market Excellence team to ensure best in practice is cascaded.
• Be a champion of media effectiveness across the account, ensuring measurement is built into planning from the outset.
• Partner with data, analytics, econometrics, brand‑tracking to follow relevant KPIs, learning agendas, and measurement frameworks.
• Translate campaign results, brand studies, econometric findings, audience insights, and market intelligence into clear recommendations for optimisation and future planning.
• Create a culture of continuous learning by capturing, sharing, and scaling best practices across markets and business lines.
• Ensure that both B2C and B2B planning approaches reflect the different customer journeys, decision‑making dynamics, consideration cycles, and measurement requirements of each audience.

Client & Agency Partnership

• Act as a trusted senior partner to client’s global media stakeholders.
• Lead planning conversations with confidence and clarity, balancing strategic ambition with operational realism.
• Build productive working relationships with creative agency partners, contributing audience insight, customer journeys, communications strategy, media creativity, and channel expertise throughout the campaign‑development process.
• Collaborate effectively with all relevant agency and client partners, including creative, research, analytics, brand‑tracking, technology, and media‑owner teams.
• Ensure all client deliverables are of a consistently high standard, delivered on time, and aligned with agreed objectives and expectations.

Team Leadership, Development & Operational Excellence

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of two Account Directors, two Account Managers, an Executive, and an Intern across B2C and B2B workstreams.
• Set clear priorities, roles, responsibilities, and standards, ensuring the team understands both the strategic purpose and expected quality of its work.
• Provide active senior guidance at key strategic moments—such as briefing, campaign architecture, client recommendations, major presentations, and issue resolution—while avoiding unnecessary involvement in day‑to‑day detail.
• Delegate ownership appropriately and empower Account Directors and Account Managers to lead their respective workstreams, client relationships, and team members.
• Maintain strong operational oversight across workload, resourcing, timelines, deliverables, governance, and financial processes, identifying risks early and resolving them constructively.
• Foster a collaborative, curious, accountable, and supportive team culture.

Skills & Experience

• 12-15+ years’ experience in media planning, communications planning, integrated media strategy, or related disciplines.
• Significant experience working with global, regional, or multi‑market clients; experience across both global and local market environments is preferred.
• Strong B2C experience, with proven ability to lead or adapt planning approaches for B2B audiences and complex decision‑making journeys.
• Demonstrated expertise in modern media planning, integrated channel strategy, audience planning, full‑funnel communications, and media effectiveness.
• A strong understanding of digital media ecosystems, data and audience capabilities, measurement, performance analytics, and emerging media opportunities.
• Proven experience translating high‑level business and media strategy into clear, practical, and effective campaign‑planning outputs.
• Strong senior client‑leadership skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders with varying levels of media knowledge and across complex organisational dynamics.
• Experience leading and developing teams, with a coaching‑led leadership style that combines empowerment with accountability.
• Excellent presentation, storytelling, written communication, and facilitation skills.
• Ability to navigate cultural differences and collaborate effectively across international markets.
• Comfortable working in a fast‑paced, matrixed environment involving multiple agency, client, and specialist partners.
• Fluent English and French required.

What Success Looks Like

• Success in this role will mean:
• Client receives consistently high‑quality, strategically robust, and operationally excellent communications planning across B2C and B2B activity.
• The Global Media Strategy Lead’s strategic vision is translated into practical, scalable, and impactful plans across markets.
• Media effectiveness, learning, innovation, and planning best practice are embedded in the account’s ways of working.
• The planning team is empowered, well‑managed, and visibly developing in strategic capability and confidence.
• The client and its agency partners view Wavemaker as a proactive, trusted, and commercially valuable strategic partner.

Life at WPP Media and Benefits

Our commitment to shaping the future of media is reflected in our active support for the professional development of our talent, helping them reach their full potential. This approach goes hand in hand with a responsible vision in our media investment strategies, reflecting our dual priority: valuing our people while adopting sustainable practices within our industry. WPP Media employees enjoy privileged access to the international networks of WPP Media and WPP, enabling them to pursue their passions, expand their professional network, and remain at the forefront of marketing and advertising innovation.

We provide vast and varied resources to support our employees, and our company actively fosters the inclusion of talent from all backgrounds. The achievements and expertise of our teams are regularly celebrated during unifying events held throughout key moments of the year, strengthening our collaborative and diverse company culture.

Our Benefits Include

• Remote working :up to 2 days per week and 2 full weeks to be taken in two separate blocks during the year
• Two additional paid days off, including Whit Monday (Pentecost Monday)
• Additional leave days awarded for every 5 years of service
• 5 additional remote working days per month for employees suffering from endometriosis
• Disability policy:3 paid authorized absence days per year, access to Universal Employment Service Vouchers (CESU), and dedicated support for employees with recognized disabled status (RQTH)
• Volunteer / community missionsavailable through the We care and we act program
• Access to high‑performing, cutting‑edge toolsfor campaign management (including internal reporting tools)

Recruitment Process

• Interview with the Recruitment Team:An initial telephone or video interview with Soukaina from the Talent Acquisition team. This will allow us to learn more about your skills and experience, and give you the opportunity to ask questions about the role and the company.
• Operational Interviews:A meeting with your future managers. At least one in‑person interview is mandatory.
• Case Study:Completion of a business case to assess your analytical skills, thoroughness, problem‑solving abilities, and tool proficiency.
• Final Interview:Potential final interview with the client.

WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers all applicants without discrimination or regard to specific personal characteristics. We are committed to cultivating a respectful environment where everyone feels they belong and enjoys equal opportunities for professional growth.

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