Associate Director, Planning

Associate Director, Planning  

As an Associate Director in Planning at Omnicom Media, you are a strategic leader who oversees the delivery of innovative, integrated media strategies across multiple client accounts. You will drive planning excellence by providing high-level strategic guidance, nurturing client relationships, and ensuring the highest quality output from your team. Your role is key in shaping media vision, managing cross-functional collaboration, and elevating the performance of both clients and your planning team.

Within this role you have two core areas of responsibility: 

Planning Excellence for the Client

• Serve as the strategic lead, overseeing the development and implementation of sophisticated, multi-channel media plans that drive client business outcomes.

• Deepen client relationships by acting as a trusted advisor and proactively identifying new opportunities and solutions to address their business challenges.

• Guide and elevate all aspects of client communication, presentations, and deliverables, ensuring clarity, insight, and alignment with client objectives.

• Oversee the evaluation of in-market performance, ensuring data-driven optimizations and actionable insights are delivered consistently.

• Stay ahead of industry trends and best practices to provide thought leadership and innovative solutions for clients.

Planning Excellence for the Team

• Lead, mentor, and develop planning teams by fostering a culture of growth, collaboration, and accountability.

• Drive cross-functional alignment with activation, analytics, creative, and strategy teams to ensure seamless, best-in-class plan execution.

• Maintain rigorous standards of quality, accuracy, and consistency across all internal and external deliverables.

• Champion process improvements, adoption of OM tools, and continuous learning across the planning function.

• Identify and nurture emerging talent by providing direct coaching, feedback, and leadership development opportunities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in advertising, marketing, communications, business, or a related field.

• 7+ years of media planning experience with increasing leadership responsibilities, preferably within an agency environment.

• Demonstrated expertise in developing, presenting, and executing integrated media strategies for complex, high-value client portfolios.

• Exceptional leadership, communication, and strategic thinking skills.

• Advanced analytical ability and experience translating data into actionable business insights.

• Proficient in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and core industry planning tools; strong project management skills are essential.

• Ability to balance multiple priorities, lead in a fast-paced environment, and inspire team performance.

• Passion for innovation, continuous improvement, and team development.

How We Will Measure Success

• Deliver innovative, high-impact media plans that achieve and exceed client objectives.

• Demonstrate strong leadership by developing team capabilities and driving a culture of excellence and collaboration.

• Foster enduring, consultative client partnerships with positive feedback on strategic counsel and service.

• Ensure high quality and timely delivery of all project deliverables, supporting increased team efficiency and effectiveness.

• Lead adoption of new OM technologies, processes, and best practices within your team.