Senior Director, Brand Partnerships EMEA in London

About the team

Equativ's EMEA Demand team is responsible for growing relationships with agencies, advertisers, DSPs and other demand partners across the region, helping them leverage Equativ's full suite of omnichannel advertising solutions. As we continue to strengthen our position with the world's leading agencies, we are also increasing our engagement directly with brands - understanding their business and media challenges, and ensuring Equativ's capabilities are represented in the conversations that shape future investment.

We are looking for a Senior Director EMEA, Brand Partnerships to define and lead this strategy, reporting to our VP Demand, EMEA. This role is about creating stronger connections between brands, their agencies and Equativ, helping us build more strategic relationships with advertisers while creating incremental opportunities for our existing agency ecosystem. This is a highly visible, entrepreneurial role for someone who knows the European advertising industry exceptionally well, has strong relationships with senior marketers, and can build a new commercial motion from the ground up.

What you'll do

• Define and lead Equativ’s EMEA Brand Partnerships strategy, identifying priority brands, verticals and markets, and building a scalable plan to strengthen Equativ’s position with advertisers across the region.
• Build senior relationships with leading brands, engaging CMOs, Media Directors, Digital, Programmatic and Marketing leaders to understand their priorities and position Equativ as a strategic partner across programmatic, CTV, data, curation, commerce media and omnichannel activation.
• Work closely with Equativ’s agency teams and partners to ensure Brand Direct initiatives complement — rather than compete with — existing agency relationships. Develop coordinated account strategies for shared clients and identify opportunities to create incremental value for both brands and their agencies.
• Develop strategic commercial partnerships, from initial engagement through proposals, joint business plans, pilots and long-term agreements, while building a strong pipeline of advertiser opportunities across EMEA.
• Act as the voice of the advertiser within Equativ, bringing market insight back to Product, Marketing and Commercial teams, helping shape Equativ’s proposition and representing the company across key advertiser forums, industry events and senior-level conversations.

About you

We are looking for someone who combines industry relationships, strategic thinking and commercial execution. You will ideally have:

• 10+ years of experience in advertising technology, digital media, programmatic advertising, media, data or a related sector.
• A strong and active network of senior brand-side relationships across EMEA, particularly among CMOs, Media Directors, Heads of Digital, Programmatic and Marketing.
• A proven track record of opening doors and building meaningful commercial relationships directly with major advertisers.
• Deep knowledge of the European advertising ecosystem and a strong understanding of how brands, agency holding companies, independent agencies, trading desks and technology platforms work together.
• Strong knowledge of programmatic advertising and the broader adtech ecosystem, including DSPs, SSPs, CTV, data, identity, curation and omnichannel media.
• Experience developing sophisticated strategic partnerships, annual agreements or Joint Business Plans with large advertisers.
• A demonstrated ability to turn senior relationships into measurable commercial outcomes.
• The ability to navigate complex brand/agency dynamics with diplomacy, transparency and sound commercial judgement.
• Strong executive presence and the ability to engage credibly with C-level marketing executives.
• An entrepreneurial mindset: you are comfortable building a strategy and operating model where there is not yet a complete playbook.
• Excellent communication, presentation and negotiation skills.
• Strong internal collaboration skills and the ability to bring multiple stakeholders together around shared commercial objectives.
• A willingness to travel regularly across EMEA.
• Above all, you should be someone who is deeply connected to the advertising industry, intellectually curious about where the market is heading, and excited about helping Equativ build a significantly stronger position with the world's leading brands.

Growth Expectations

Within your first 90 days, you will have developed a deep understanding of Equativ's EMEA demand business, product portfolio and existing agency relationships. You will have identified priority advertiser accounts and verticals, established an initial EMEA Brand Partnerships strategy, and defined clear rules of engagement between Brand Direct and Agency teams. Within 6 months, you will have developed senior relationships across a focused portfolio of strategic advertisers, built a meaningful pipeline of opportunities, launched the first strategic partnerships or pilots, and demonstrated an effective model for collaborating with agencies on shared clients. Within 12 months, you will have established a repeatable Brand Partnerships motion across EMEA, generated measurable incremental revenue and strategic product adoption, built a portfolio of flagship advertiser relationships, and created the foundation for Equativ to further scale its Brand Direct organisation.