Company Description

Spark Foundry make up part of a thriving global media network and are part of the Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s leading communications groups. We are globally connected with over 8,000 employees in 110 offices across 70 countries.

Who We Are in the UK? 

Spark Foundry, the Acceleration Agency.

We help brands to identify, learn and respond to opportunities faster than the competition.

Every client has an area of their business they need to accelerate, from short-term goals to long-term transformation.

We’ve proven our approach during the most difficult year on record. Now we’re using it to provide a launchpad for their future.

Come be an accelerator with us.

How we accelerate

• Planning: an approach that works in practice rather than theory, arming planners with the ability to create cutting edge campaigns
• Intelligence: a suite of tools that give definitive answers to big questions, and uncovers actionable insights about real people
• Trading: a model built on flexibility and trusted relationships, underpinned with bold guarantees
• Relationships: a culture of asking challenging questions to better understand the brief – we are not a ‘yes’ agency
• People: a strong history of recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds and accelerating their careers

Our Commitment

We are diverse though our experience, people and the clients we look after - and we celebrate that diversity. Our people hold us accountable to our beliefs and via regular surveys and our grass roots D&I team, The Collective, and internal next generation board, Firestarters, we hold regular events and work continually towards generating ideas, initiatives and educating our people to ensure we are a diverse and inclusive agency.

As part of our dedication to create an inclusive and diverse workforce, Spark Foundry is committed to equal access to opportunity for people without regard to race, age, sex, disability, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, gender identity or religion. 

Job Description

The Head of Programmatic is a key leadership role that will oversee the growth and development of the channel within Spark Foundry.  This role has the direct responsibility and accountability for the leadership & management, quality of product output and commercial running of the department.   

The individual will be expected to manage and coordinate a team of channel specialists creating plans and delivering campaigns across a range of programmatic platforms. You will be expected to champion the Spark Foundry best practice approach to delivering campaigns, strategy coordination and communication. You will be a leader, creating an environment where all members of the team have an opportunity to fulfil their potential and deliver exceptional work for Spark. Your role in shaping and driving the commercials, innovation and strategy within the teams will be vital. 

Key responsibilities: 

Department Commercials 

• Revenue: Ensure revenue targets are met  

• Team costs: Tracking and reporting on team structure and costs. 

• Commercial: Identify areas of opportunity for commercial growth where additional funding is required for further resource and services 

• New business: Develop, pitch, and implement new / innovative ways to develop the channel offering through additional services outside of the existing scope of work. Support the agency in pitching for new business. 

• Revenue diversification: Champion and drive profitability through our bespoke inhouse tools  

Responsible for Operational excellence & quality output  

• Brilliant basics including QA processes, accurate planning, and optimisation. These should be consistently assessed in line with changes in platforms and industry update to maintain relevance. 

• Finance: Absolute financial accuracy and adherence to all processes (team training, query management, sticking to SLA’s as set by the business, PO management, finance tracking via relevant dashboards, ensuring supplier invoices are cleared within the required timelines) 

• Best in class output: Maintain and develop best practice guidelines and create additional material enabling the team to deliver excellence from planning through to optimisation 

• Innovation/Product development: Working with Head of Performance to drive innovation and adopt products that will drive efficiencies and quality output. 

Responsible for delivering Client Performance & Growth 

• Client satisfaction: Creating and overseeing the implementation of client TRR roadmaps 

• Client innovation: Responsible for developing and achieving quarterly channel roadmap and test & learn plans to deliver innovation and growth across the department 

• Client relationship: Be the lead point of contact for the discipline across the client portfolio. Building relationships is key with this role and will see you working with key senior clients, influencing, and driving strategies at this senior level 

• Client revenue and FTE: Maintain accurate and up to date view of revenue forecasts, commissions, spend levels and resourcing levels across your department.  

• Regular forecasting: Take ownership of the revenue forecasting for the channel. 

Team/People 

• Development plans and objectives: Set clear objectives by level to allow for a clear process for progression 

• HR Processes: Monitor team performance and output to spotlight areas of development for team members  

• Certifications and Training: Build, oversee and deploy annual certification and training plan across your departments and relevant vendors to ensure 100% compliance / certification of all team members 

• Onboarding processes: Own and oversee the onboarding process for all new starters to ensure a welcoming and consistent experience 

• Succession planning for teams: Clear development road maps and team mapping to ensure we have a view of promotions/succession etc. 

Department: 

• Partners/Media owners: Relationships, JBP’s, training, challenging for support – develop a strong partnership with all media owners in your channel 

• Expand The Team’s Profile: Surface and share great work from the team, collate case studies and share internally and externally 

• Awards: Enter industry awards for your discipline  

Qualifications

• Experience in senior Programmatic or Biddable roles within a media agency, tech or publisher environment 

• Knowledge of the programmatic ecosystem, the platforms, formats and channels 

• Experience managing high performing teams that deliver exceptional customer service to both internal and external stakeholders 

• Demonstrated track record of driving commercial success through organic growth and new business 

Additional Information

If you have any adjustment needs arising from a disability or medical condition to fully participate in the recruitment process, please discuss this with the recruiter who contacts you.

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