Director, Planning and Buying in London

About WPP Media

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale.

Join an award-winning team at the heart of UK government, where your work will genuinely shape lives. As part of WPP650 you’ll be part of a supportive, collaborative environment that values curiosity, kindness, and growth. Together, we use behaviour change principles to design smarter services, influence better decisions, and help millions of people across the country. Named WPP 650, after the 650 UK constituencies, the name is a reminder that our work must reflect the full breadth of the country, every community, every audience. No two days are the same. The challenges are complex, the problems worth solving, and the learning constant. You’ll tackle issues that matter, alongside talented colleagues who care deeply about what they do. It’s demanding – but always rewarding. This is meaningful work with real-world impact – the kind you can point to with pride.

Role Summary and Impact

We are looking for a Planning Director to join our growing planning team, to drive planning across specific clients and be a media planning expert.

Media planning craft:

• Develop an advanced understanding of media channels, channel ecosystems and planning best practices.
• Start to translate strategic approach into planning practices for specific client briefs and pitches.
• Have an advanced understanding of Purchase Journey thinking and planning philosophy across all client work.
• Have an expert overview of the media market landscape, trends and start to build media owner relationships.

Campaign management & effective communication:

• Oversee campaign management, ensuring quality control and output is of the highest standard.
• Develop a skilled understanding of commercial practices and of the wider agency.
• Build and maintain client and agency relationships at a mid-senior level, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of stakeholders and client business.

Comms planning and storytelling:

• Own planning presentations including defining the inputs needed and working with the wider teams to compile work and meet deadlines.
• Lead brainstorm and idea creation for campaigns.
• Start to independently problem solve, including integrating and questioning data and insights and find solutions based on knowledge and experience.

Skills and Experience

At WPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people. It’s what elevates us to deliver exceptional experiences for both our clients and each other. In this role it will be critical to embrace WPP & WPP Media’s shared core values:

• Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire transformational Creativity.
• Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences by Cultivating Trust.
• Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise.

Skills & Experience:

• Practice Area Knowledge - Skilled: Develops breadth and depth of industry understanding. Becomes confident using tools, technology, techniques and systems and is able to train others.
• Problem Solving – Skilled: Uses critical questioning and maintains a broad perspective when analyzing information to gain a deeper understanding of the problem and wider impact.
• Stakeholder Relationships – Skilled: Has an expert knowledge of client and agency structures. Can identify key decision makers and understands their perspectives which is used to build relationships.
• Effective Communication - Advanced: Leads the delivery of relevant and accurate information to drive maximum impact.
• Campaign Management – Advanced: Reviews the work of others to ensure accuracy and thoroughness objectives have been met; provides coaching on ways to improve work outputs.
• Compelling Storytelling – Skilled: Applies big picture thinking in work and proactively leverages an understanding of the organization and key industry trends.
• Ideas Creation – Advanced: Lead new projects/activities that can create ideas to deliver effective solutions to clients' business objectives.
• Comms Planning – Skilled: Applies knowledge of client, audience, channel, market and category to effectively deliver compelling multi-media plans.

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our benefits include competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days.

WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location.