Head of Growth & Strategy

About WPP Media

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit wpp.com.

WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere and in everything, we bring the best platform, people, and partners together to create limitless opportunities for growth. For more information, visit wppmedia.com

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.

Head of Growth & Strategy Officer

Discipline: Leadership – Growth & Strategy

Reports to: CEO

Location: Pakistan

Purpose of the role:

The Head of Growth & Strategy Officer is a visionary and influential leader responsible for spearheading the company’s overall growth, strategic direction, and innovation. This executive role integrates proactive retention strategies, organic growth initiatives, and the development of compelling brand narratives and communication strategies to maximize diversified revenue streams and ensure the agency's future relevance and success.

Accountabilities:

• Achieve and surpass organic growth targets while expanding and diversifying revenue sources.
• Lead the strategic planning and execution, ensuring alignment with long-term objectives and financial goals.
• Drive marketing effectiveness, resulting in the creation of award-winning work that sets industry benchmarks.
• Act as a steward of the agency’s brand, ensuring that all strategies are cohesive and contribute to a strong, positive image in the marketplace.
• Maintain accountability for the innovation pipeline, ensuring a steady flow of groundbreaking ideas that contribute to client growth and agency recognition.
• Oversee the implementation and management of annual Statement of Work (SoW) with clients, ensuring it aligns with strategic growth objectives.
• Set organization-wide benchmarks for client advocacy, guiding the team to enhance client relationships and deliver exceptional outcomes.
• Master and direct high-stakes negotiations, shaping the terms of client engagements and agency contracts to optimize business success and client contentment.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the business planning process to pinpoint new growth opportunities to integrate innovative strategies.
• Co-author and execute robust annual joint business plans with clients in partnership with the Client leadership, tailored to the clients' growth ambitions and the organization’s resource capabilities.
• Champion the partnership agenda, fostering collaboration and leveraging synergies across the agency to achieve collective goals.
• Deliver on ambitious growth plans with a keen focus on diversification and margin enhancement, ensuring the agency's financial robustness.
• Architect and implement comprehensive agency-client relationship strategies, ensuring deep alignment with client business visions and expansion paths.
• Act as a pivotal strategist and influencer on client direction, refining agency protocols and outputs to exceed client expectations.
• Develop innovative client strategies that foster shared ambitions, driving significant growth and distinguished market positioning for both clients and the agency.
• Set the strategic direction for identifying and addressing unmet client needs, steering the agency's growth trajectory in harmony with client-centric opportunities.
• Promote a consultative approach to commercial strategy, proactively addressing client challenges and capitalizing on expansion potential.
• Define and track success through key performance indicators related to client satisfaction, value delivery, and business growth from addressed unmet needs.
• Develop and implement communication strategies that resonate with target audiences, incorporating cultural insights and ensuring relevance and impact.
• Own the audience strategy and measurement framework, refining these tools to better capture and respond to audience dynamics.
• Lead innovation and invention initiatives, aiming for industry recognition such as Cannes Lions, and establish the agency as a leader in creative excellence.
• Recommend cross-platform content strategy and modernize overall planning approaches to keep the agency at the forefront of industry trends.
• Establish a macro-level learning agenda, defining problem statements and solutions that will drive the agency’s strategic knowledge base.
• Provide expert insight on the intersection of technology, creativity, and business strategy, advocating for practices that enhance client value and agency differentiation.

Skills required:

Core skills:

• Effective communication: Expert
• Agility & Fluidity: Expert
• Data driven insights: Expert
• Strategic collaboration: Expert
• Media & marketing mastery: Expert
• Builds teams and people: Expert
• Owns outcomes: Expert

Discipline skills:

• Client advocacy & negotiation: Expert
• Sets agency-wide standards for client advocacy, mentoring others to enhance client relationships and outcomes.
• Masters high-stakes negotiations, shaping the terms of client engagements and agency contracts to optimize business success and client satisfaction.
• Drives the agency's negotiation strategies, developing frameworks that consistently yield advantageous results for clients and the agency.
• Client insight & strategic management: Expert
• Architects comprehensive agency-client relationship strategies, aligning intimately with client business visions and expansion paths.
• Positions as a pivotal strategist and influencer on client direction, shaping agency protocols and outputs to surpass client aspirations.
• Catalyses groundbreaking client strategies that cultivate shared ambition, propelling significant growth and distinguished positioning in the market for clients and the agency alike.
• Cultivating future leaders: Advanced
• Designs and leads advanced development programs, including succession planning and leadership training, to cultivate high-potential talent.
• Demonstrates a strong link between team development, client service excellence, and business outcomes, measuring the impact of growth initiatives.
• Serves as a mentor for emerging leaders, providing strategic feedback and guidance to enhance the organization's talent pipeline.
• Identifying & managing risk: Advanced
• Leads risk assessment sessions, aligning risk management strategies with business and client objectives.
• Champions a proactive risk culture, fostering an environment where risk considerations are integral to decision-making processes.
• Oversees the communication of risk postures to all stakeholders, ensuring alignment on risk mitigation approaches and contingency planning.
• Innovative solution development: Expert
• Serves as an innovation thought leader within the organization, setting the direction for how innovative solutions contribute to strategic goals and client growth.
• Champions a culture of innovation, influencing agency-wide initiatives, and inspiring cross-functional teams to pursue excellence through creative solution development.
• Provides expert insight and guidance on the intersection of technology, creativity, and business strategy, advocating for practices that drive both client value and agency differentiation.
• Managing the matrix: Expert
• Sets strategic direction for managing the matrix at a senior level, shaping how WPP and its agencies collaborate for maximum client and business impact.
• Serves as a thought leader in matrix management, advising on best practices for leveraging the network's diversity and capabilities.
• Leads transformative initiatives that exemplify effective matrix management, driving substantial growth and market differentiation for WPP and its clients.
• Operational excellence: Expert
• Sets strategic direction for operational excellence, aligning operational models with business evolution and client service frameworks.
• Leads significant initiatives to drive continuous improvement and efficiency at an organizational level.
• Champions best practices in operations, influencing WPP’s approach to excellence in client service delivery.
• Problem solving: Expert
• Oversees complex problem-solving initiatives, integrating cross-disciplinary insights to arrive at strategic solutions.
• Demonstrates mastery in dissecting intricate issues and guiding teams through a structured decision-making process.
• Leads organizational efforts in developing innovative approaches to problem-solving, fostering a culture of analytical thinking and risk assessment.
• Strategic commercial leadership: Expert
• Sets the strategic direction for identifying and meeting unmet client needs, shaping the agency’s growth trajectory in line with client-centric opportunities.
• Champions a consultative approach to commercial strategy, ensuring the organization is proactively addressing client challenges and harnessing potential for expansion.
• Defines and measures success through key performance indicators related to client satisfaction, value delivery, and business growth stemming from addressed unmet needs.
• Transformative digital growth: Expert
• Architects a comprehensive digital transformation strategy, positioning the organization as a leader in innovative client solutions.
• Champions strategic growth by identifying future trends, setting the direction for new business development, and aligning with overarching organizational goals.
• Cultivates executive-level partnerships and thought leadership in digital innovation and transformative growth, leading high-impact initiatives that redefine industry standards.

Experience required:

• Proven track record in a similar senior leadership role with responsibility for growth strategy, business development, and strategic planning within a dynamic agency environment.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and inspire teams to achieve exceptional results in client growth, revenue diversification, and creative excellence.
• Extensive experience in crafting and implementing strategic growth plans, client relationship management, high-stakes negotiations, and compelling brand narratives.
• Established history of successful partnership building and strategic alliance formation that has led to significant business growth.
• Adept at setting and achieving ambitious targets, with a strong analytical mindset for measuring performance against key indicators.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, capable of mentoring and advocating for team development and client relationship enhancement.
• Strategic and innovative thinker with the capacity to identify new opportunities for growth, anticipate future industry trends, and drive groundbreaking solutions.
• Expertise in audience strategy development, measurement frameworks, and the integration of Paid-Owned-Earned media strategies.
• A deep understanding of the intersection of technology, creativity, and business strategy, with the ability to leverage this knowledge to drive client and agency growth.
• Demonstrated success in defining and measuring key performance indicators related to client satisfaction, value delivery, and business growth.

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, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, employee wellbeing facilities, and employee mental health awareness days.

WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to 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.

About Pakistan

WPP Media Pakistan is the leading global media investment management operation in Pakistan. We see major growth coming on Digital platforms with internet penetration growing to 162 million broadband users and 158 million 3G/4G subscribers. Social media platforms have also grown substantially in Pakistan where Facebook stands at 52 million subscribers and Tik Tok has replaced Instagram to become the most penetrated social platform. While the digitalization of the market is happening at a fast pace, it has also opened up opportunities for specializations like e-commerce, Digital Content, Video Planning solutions, Technology and Data & Analytics in Pakistan.

Please read our Privacy Notice (https://www.wppmedia.com/pages/privacy-policy) for more information on how we process the information you provide. While we appreciate all applications received, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

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