Job Description

About the role

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The Activation Director leads the activation craft for the agency and client teams, ensuring the best possible ROI and outcomes from clients' media investment through high quality execution, optimisation, governance and commercial delivery. This role holds end to end accountability for workflow, quality control, and delivery excellence across activation disciplines (including Search & Social and Programmatic), ensuring campaigns meet or exceed agreed benchmarks/KPIs and contractual obligations.

The Activation Director partners closely with agency leadership, planning disciplines and product partners (e.g., PMX) to deliver leading solutions, provide thought leadership, and drive innovation, efficiency and capability uplift across the agency.

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Responsibilities

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- Provide senior thought leadership and activation expertise, guiding clients through new opportunities in the evolving media landscape.

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- Develop and deliver formal presentations on market landscape trends, insights and activation innovations.

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- Build exceptionally strong relationships with senior clients and establish effective operating rhythms and ways of working.

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- Act as a primary escalation point for client and media related issues, ensuring timely resolution while maintaining solid relationships.

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- Identify opportunities to leverage broader agency capabilities (e.g., tech/analytics/experience) to solve client challenges and deepen partnership.

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- Lead and inspire the activation team, setting standards for delivery excellence, operational discipline and craft reputation across the agency.

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- Manage, coach and nurture the Activation team, supporting skill development, accountability and career growth.

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- Develop best in class playbooks, operating standards, and market‐leading first‐party tools that improve activation quality and efficiency.

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- Provide market overview summaries and bring industry‐leading thinking into activation recommendations and operational practices.

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- Lead strategic initiatives that refine benchmarking processes (rate/value and performance) using internal and external tools to maximise client outcomes.

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- Identify and integrate new activation capabilities and products (including Internal Propriety product integration where relevant) to improve effectiveness and efficiency.

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- Be accountable for delivery of client contractual and commercial KPIs,



including audit requirements and documented learnings/recommendations.

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- Lead (or oversee) negotiation frameworks, investment strategies and annual media deal inputs where relevant to activation outcomes and value delivery.

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- Oversee the process for media audit reporting and contract KPI tracking, maintaining strong stakeholder relationships with auditors/procurement as required.

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- Lead monthly forecasting alignment with client leadership (e.g., CSD) to ensure delivery against commitments and commercial performance.

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- Build and maintain strong relationships with media vendors/platform partners and ensure clear briefing/feedback practices.

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What you'll bring

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- Deep expertise in activation disciplines, including Search & Social and/or Programmatic trading & background in Activation.

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- Strong understanding of the Australian media landscape and how market dynamics influence activation outcomes.

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- Ability to translate performance data and market trends into actionable activation strategy and client recommendations.

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- Proven ability to lead, inspire and develop high performing teams through coaching, training, growth planning and career conversations.

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- Strong stakeholder influence and ability to manage upwards and across leadership teams.

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- Commercial and financial acumen including forecasting, invoicing accuracy, governance, audit requirements and KPI delivery.

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- High competence in operational workflow oversight, quality control and process improvement across activation delivery.

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- Exceptional communication and presentation skills to articulate complex strategies and insights to clients, partners and internal stakeholders.

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- Strong relationship management across clients, media/platform partners and internal teams, including senior external stakeholder.

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Benefits

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- A comprehensive Wholeself program supporting physical, mindful, and financial wellbeing.

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- A creative, lively, and rewarding office environment where people love working with each other,



supported by our Publicis Liberté flexibility approach — "working your way with us."

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- Access to our Global AI Platform Marcel, connecting Publicis Groupe employees with opportunities for career mobility and collaboration across our global network.

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- Extensive Learning & Development opportunities including more than 15,000 learning programs via our online learning platform, Marcel Classes.

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- A culture of open feedback and support to reach your goals through our Career Conversations program.

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- A committed Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion strategy driven through our Viva Women, Égalité, enABLE, EmbRACE, and Écologique committees.

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- Leave benefits including Birthday Leave, Versatile Public Holidays, and an additional 5 days of leave after 2 years of service.

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- Work Your World program enabling employees the flexibility to work from anywhere in the world for up to 6 weeks per year.

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- Parental leave policy with up to 18 weeks based on tenure, paid primary carer leave, secondary carer swap, and Cub Care leave.

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- Access to counsellors, psychologists, and professionals through Sonder, an all‐in‐one digital wellbeing technology platform designed to support psychological, medical & safety needs.

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- A workplace that stands together to provide a more open, supportive, and recovery‐forward culture for all employees with life‐threatening illnesses. Read more about our Working With Cancer Pledge: https://workingwithcancerpledge.com/.

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- Proud partners of Diversity Council Australia, Pride in Diversity, Family Friendly Workplaces, Supply Nation, and the Australian Disability Network.

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Diversity. Inclusion. Equity. More than just words; these are part of our DNA. At Publicis Groupe, we are committed to the inclusion and recognition of all people regardless of race, age, culture, ability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, and religious affiliation.

We believe that to deliver the best solutions to our clients, our people need to reflect the diverse communities in which our clients operate. We value diversity and the skills, knowledge, and experience that difference brings to our culture and solutions.

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We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for people with disability or those that require additional support throughout the application process.

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📌 Activation Director (Performance Director-Search/Social/Prog) (Melbourne)
🏢 Starcom Australia
📍 Melbourne