Digital Lead in London

With a history that dates back over 80 years, Starcom is a global communications planning and media leader. We are an agency still grounded in our founding principle that people are at the centre of all we do. Each day, we apply this belief to harness the transformative power of data and technology to inspire and move people and business forward.

We place a huge focus on our People, and have driven flagship D&I and L&D programmes within Publicis Media; our goal is to help every individual reach their fullest potential, and we encourage everyone to make “Brave Plays” in how they approach their work and their own career development.

We are hiring a Digital Lead to shape the next phase of a client's Europe’s digital media journey. This is a senior leadership opportunity at the heart of one of Starcom Performics’ priority client partnerships, spanning more than 25 European markets. You’ll lead a growing biddable media hub across Search, Programmatic and Paid Social, bringing together brilliant people, technology and partners to deliver work that makes a measurable difference.

Responsibilities

• Lead the European biddable media relationship, acting as a trusted senior digital partner to regional and cluster teams while working closely with account leadership, planning teams and local markets.
• Shape the digital strategy across Search, Programmatic and Paid Social, creating connected, full-funnel approaches that balance brand building with performance and commercial outcomes.
• Build a scalable European operating model, establishing clear ownership, effective governance, service standards and escalation routes that enable consistent, high-quality delivery across markets.
• Drive the future of connected search, bringing together paid search, SEO/GEO, AI-powered search, social search and retail environments to help respond to changing consumer discovery behaviours.
• Turn experimentation and measurement into business impact, developing a test-and-learn roadmap, strengthening approaches to incrementality and lift, and helping stakeholders understand how digital media contributes to growth.
• Build influential relationships with media and technology partners, including Google, Meta, TikTok and Amazon, identifying opportunities for innovation, testing, research and additional client value.
• Lead and develop a multi-location team, creating clarity around priorities and capacity while building an inclusive environment where people across London and Publicis Global Delivery can collaborate, develop and deliver excellent work.

Qualifications

• Broad experience leading digital and biddable media across Search, Programmatic and Paid Social, ideally within multi-market, regional or centralised models.
• The ability to build trusted senior client relationships and bring clarity to complex conversations involving regional, local and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Strong knowledge of Search and emerging discovery behaviours, with an informed perspective on areas such as AI search, GEO, social search, SEO and connected search.
• A solid understanding of digital measurement and experimentation, including test-and-learn approaches, incrementality, brand or search lift and meaningful performance measures.
• Experience improving operating models and ways of working, including governance, roles and responsibilities, service standards, reporting and escalation processes.
• A collaborative approach to leading and developing teams across multiple locations, with the ability to prioritise effectively, support others and maintain quality as the scope of work grows.
• Good commercial judgement and communication skills, with confidence working across resourcing, scope and partner relationships.

Starcom offers a wide range of benefits to support our employees. Full details are shared when you join, but highlights include core benefits such as Pension, Life Assurance, and Private Medical cover, alongside enhanced policies like Reflection Days and Shared Parental Leave.

At Starcom, we are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, and do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age, citizenship, relationship status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected characteristic.