Commerce, Retail Media & Marketplace Strategy Director (6-Month FTC) in London

Publicis Groupe is a global leader in communication.

The Groupe is positioned at every step of the value chain, from consulting to execution, combining marketing transformation and digital business transformation.

Publicis Groupe is a privileged partner in its clients’ transformation to enhance personalization at scale.

The Groupe relies on expertise concentrated within four main activities: Communication, Media, Data, and Technology.

Through a unified and fluid organization, its clients have facilitated access to all its expertise in every market.

Present in over 100 countries, Publicis Groupe employs around 80,000 professionals.

Our clients compete in the platform world, a horizontal marketplace between creators and consumers, between speakers and listeners, between buyers and sellers.

To thrive and unlock growth in the platform world, companies must continue to innovate their products, services, and business models.

The Role

As our Commerce & Retail Strategy Director, you will be strengthening brand and product discoverability across retail, commerce, marketplace, and retail media environments - where consumer decisions are made and where AI systems may source or validate product information.

This role is first and foremost a commerce and retail media position.

We are looking for practitioners with strong experience across retail media, marketplaces, digital shelf, retailer search, ecommerce activation, shopper marketing, or omnichannel commerce.

Experience with GEO/AEO or AI-driven discovery is advantageous but not required, as this capability can be developed on the job.

• Core Responsibilities
• Identify commerce and retail environments most relevant to each segment, including retailer. com, marketplaces, retail media networks, and product detail page ecosystems.
• Evaluate how product content, retail taxonomy, reviews, availability, ratings, and merchandising may influence search, AI answer visibility, and consumer conversion.
• Partner with commerce, retail media, SEO, and brand teams to recommend practical changes that improve product discoverability and downstream performance.
• Translate GEO/AEO needs into commerce actions, such as improved PDP content, structured product information, retailer search optimization, marketplace presence, and retail media alignment.
• Identify where teams have control versus where retailer or partner coordination is required.
• Support activation planning across top priority retailers and marketplaces.
• Help connect AI/search visibility learnings to commerce performance and retail media planning.
• Develop retailer-specific strategies across retailer search, digital shelf, retail media and marketplace environments, ensuring brands are discoverable and conversion-ready where consumers shop.
• Partner with retail media, ecommerce, category management and shopper marketing teams to drive execution across key retail partners and commerce channels.
• Required Experience
• Demonstrated experience in commerce, retail media, ecommerce, digital shelf, marketplace management, shopper marketing or omnichannel activation.
• Hands-on experience working with retailer ecosystems, retail media networks, retailer search, marketplace platforms, ecommerce activation or digital shelf optimisation.
• Understanding of retailer search, PDP optimization, marketplace content, retail media activation, and conversion drivers.
• Ability to work across brands, retail partners, and internal commerce/media teams.
• Experience with platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kroger, Instacart, Chewy, Pet Smart, or similar preferred.
• Comfortable translating strategic AEO/GEO needs into practical commerce activation steps.
• Experience within FMCG/CPG, retail, consumer health, consumer electronics, petcare, lifestyle or similar consumer-focused categories strongly preferred.
• Experience with Amazon, retailer. com environments, retail media networks and digital shelf content optimisation is highly desirable.
• Candidates whose experience is primarily focused on SEO, GEO, content strategy or organic search should also be able to demonstrate meaningful hands-on commerce, retail media, marketplace or retailer search experience..

Publicis Media 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.

You’ll also have access to a range of additional initiatives.

📖 Please check out the Publicis Career Page which showcases our Inclusive Benefits and our EAG’s (Employee Action Groups).

Publicis Groupe works primarily from the office or our clients' office four days per week.

Publicis Media , 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.

We are committed to providing a fair, accessible, and inclusive recruitment process.

If you have any access needs - for example, related to disability, neurodivergence, or a health condition - please let us know.

We’ll work with you to ensure the process works for you.

Sharing this information will never impact your application.

Guided by our values, we listen with empathy, uplift each other, take responsibility, and embrace change - building a culture where everyone feels seen, respected, and genuinely included.