Commercial Associate Director, London

Publicis Media is the world's second largest media agency network and part of the French communications group Publicis Groupe. As a global holding company, Publicis Media lives through its global agency brands Zenith, Starcom and Spark, which manage and continuously develop customer business in strategic communications consulting in over 100 countries. In addition, central specialist teams at Publicis Media support the agencies' customers in the areas of: data and technology, analytics and insights, research, content, performance, buying and business development.

About PMX Consulting

PMX Consulting is a 3rd-millennium consultancy dedicated to keeping ambitious brands at the forefront of a constantly evolving marketing landscape. We catapult businesses into the age of acceleration with the right tools, processes and world-class experts to win and thrive at pace. Through our global network of consultants, we rapidly mobilise pioneering strategic solutions into robust implementation.

Our applied consultancy model blends deep technical expertise with decades of solid experience and future-facing focus, positively impacting growth areas from in-housing best practice to agile platform optimisation, to ground-breaking innovation trials, maximised cross-channel media effectiveness practices and more. We simplify, implement and scale in an unrivalled way addressing the strategic, operational and cultural challenges of the real-time era. Our unique power lies in our ability to embrace today’s sea of technological complexity by shifting beyond theory into pragmatic application thus fueling rapid business acceleration.

Role

Reporting to the Commercial Director, the Commercial Associate Director will take the lead in managing all commercial aspects of one or more major existing global client relationships.  This will include negotiating the fee and contractual relationship with client procurement, supporting the relevant Global Client Leads on all commercial matters, and cascading the globally agreed deal down to Regional/Local offices for implementation.

They will also be expected to manage the commercial aspect of new business pitches with a regional/global footprint. This will entail developing the remuneration model and ensuring a competitive yet sustainable commercial proposal, as well as acting as a primary point of contact with senior stakeholders.

Knowledge of commercial contracts terms and relevant fee propositions are essential.

Providing guidance to a Commercial manager, Teamwork, proactivity, and ability to meet deadlines is very important within this expanding team.

Excellent communication skills are essentials, especially when dealing with colleagues where English is not their first language. An ability and confidence to communicate with senior stakeholders within the agency group, external clients and consultants is also required.

Team Department/Profile

This role sits within the commercial team but will also work closely with the Commercial Compliance, PMX Trading, Investment & Accountability, Group Media Solutions, Finance, Legal & Client teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Working with the Commercial Director to develop the commercial strategy and manage ‘mid-level’ Global/regional pitches and being a key contact for senior internal stakeholders.
• Facing one or more global clients on commercial discussions.
• Acting as commercial business partner to Global Client Leads for global/Regional media clients run out of London.
• Engage with Regional/Local business and finance leads on commercial and financial discussions, to ensure global deals are successfully implemented in a contract-compliant manner.
• Guide the junior Commercial staff.
• Cover for the Commercial Director(s) during absences.
• Coordinating with Legal on commercial contracts for clients and pitches.
• Regular interaction with client procurement.
• Oversee (with Global Client Leads) scopes of work and ensure out of scope work captured, costed and highlighted.
• Ad hoc commercial and finance queries across clients.
• Manage the commercial timeline of all reporting to be completed within the fiscal year, e.g.:
  • Working with Finance and Client Leads in FTE preparation and reconciliation - reviewing costings, hours reports, formulas and calculations.
  • Collate and review the annual bonus calculations and assist with any queries.
  • Collaborate with the Commercial Compliance Unit to forecast, track & report unbilled media and AVBs as required.

Core Competencies

Functional expertise – Has the functional and technical knowledge and skills to do his/her job at a high level of accomplishment, in line with his/her position in the organisation and his/her seniority. Has a good command of the field.  Must be comfortable with data management, finance systems & excel formula (V/H/XLOOKUP/SUMIF/ Pivot tables).

Attention to detail – looks for errors in own work before sharing. Accuracy is paramount.

Diligence – a conscientious attitude towards meeting tight deadlines and possession of good time management to manage multiple tasks.

Proactivity - able to take initiative and work independently to complete tasks, but also maintain good coordination with the commercial team.

Client focus - dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of external and internal clients; get first-hand information and uses it for improvements in product services; acts with clients in mind.

Commercially orientated – Proactively seeks opportunities to drive Client Commercial benefit and company revenue in both new business opportunities and through organic Client growth

Experience Required

• Extensive experience with Microsoft Office, but specifically Excel.
• Ability to understand and construct detailed spreadsheets is essential, and any proficiency with VBA is desirable.
• Commercial or Financial background or quantitative discipline and commercial negotiation experience advantageous.
• Excellent communication skills in various methods.
• Previous experience in a similar global/regional commercial role desirable.
• Excellent stakeholder management

The Transformation Pillars

Nimbly straddling the breadth of the Publicis platform with its connected practices, PMX Consulting harnesses the brightest talent, experience and knowledge locally, regionally and globally across five key digital transformation pillars: Platform Impact, Futurescapes, Commerce, Biddable Power, Ops Powerhouse.

TRUST
Trust is the cornerstone upon which we build our relationships. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of how a partner should behave.
We treat our people and our clients with respect, transparency and honesty.

TALENT
This is first and foremost a people business. We are committed to ensuring Publicis Media a destination for the best talent in our industry. We value people as individuals, growing ourselves as we grow our client’s business.

TRANSFORMATION
True transformation comes when we stop managing change, and instead initiate change. We believe in our purpose to be the admired force for business transformation. We believe that focusing on performance and results has the power to transform client business.