Group Director, Performance (15-Month Contract)

About the Role

At the heart of our agency's mission is a commitment to connecting our clients' business goals directly to high-impact media execution, ensuring every media dollar spent is accountable to meaningful business outcomes.

We are seeking a Group Director (GAD), Performance for a 15-month contract. In this senior leadership role, you will own the strategic direction and commercial success of a highly prominent, fast-paced automotive client account. You will act as the key senior strategic partner to executive-level client stakeholders, ensuring that their performance media investments consistently drive measurable business outcomes (from brand favorability down to dealership leads and sales) through innovative, data-driven, and full-funnel omnichannel strategies.

You will directly manage and mentor one direct report (Performance Director), while playing a critical leadership role across a wider matrixed team. Crucially, you will act as the strategic bridge between the client and our activation teams, working closely with specialists across Search, Social, and Programmatic to ensure that every campaign tactic, channel optimization, and platform execution flawlessly ladders back up to the overarching strategy and the client's core business KPIs.

What You'll Be Doing (Key Responsibilities)

• Strategic Client Partnership: Serve as the primary senior strategic contact and trusted advisor for senior automotive client stakeholders, translating complex auto business challenges into impactful performance media solutions.

• Outcomes-Based Analytics Integration: Partner closely with client and agency Analytics teams to connect the dots across the data ecosystem. Lead the effort to integrate digital platform analytics with client CRM and dealer sales data to establish a single, unified view of performance and true business outcomes.

• Omnichannel Strategic Oversight: Oversee the development and execution of comprehensive, full-funnel performance strategies. You will ensure a robust omnichannel approach across Search, Social, Programmatic, and Commerce media.
• Activation Integration & Alignment: Work closely with and lead the channel Activation teams. Ensure there is no disconnect between strategy and execution, guiding teams to optimize towards business outcomes rather than just platform metrics.
• Team Leadership & Mentorship: Line-manage, mentor, and support the career development of your direct report, the Performance Director, while fostering a collaborative, high-performing environment across the wider integrated account team.
• Commercial & Portfolio Health: Manage the commercial health, profitability, and organic growth of the account during this 15-month period, ensuring optimal budget allocation, forecasting, and ROI.
• Performance Innovation: Drive the adoption of advanced measurement, cookieless audience targeting solutions, and testing roadmaps tailored to the evolving automotive landscape.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate seamlessly with brand Planning, Analytics, Solutions, Creative and external client agency partners to ensure integrated, seamless strategic delivery.

Who You Are (Your Skills & Experience)

We are looking for an experienced, adaptable performance leader who can step into a high-profile account and make an immediate impact. To be successful in this role, you will need:

Core Capabilities:

• Automotive or High-Value Consideration Experience (Highly Desirable): A strong understanding of the automotive industry's unique purchase funnel, dealership dynamics, and lead-generation strategies.
• Strategic Team Leadership: Proven experience line-managing senior strategists (Director-level) and leading large, multi-disciplinary matrixed teams.
• Activation Collaboration: A deep understanding of Search, Social, and Programmatic platforms, with a proven ability to direct and influence activation specialists to ensure tactical execution aligns with business-level KPIs.
• Omnichannel Full-Funnel Strategy: Mastery in designing connected, full-funnel strategies that move consumers seamlessly from awareness/consideration down to conversion.
• Senior Client Relationship Management: Exceptional ability to command the room, navigate complex client organizations, and influence C-suite/VP-level stakeholders.

• Advanced Analytics & Data Integration: Deep understanding of marketing analytics with proven experience bringing together disparate data sources-specifically platform performance analytics, CRM databases, and offline/dealer sales data-to construct a single, outcomes-based view of campaign performance.

• Financial & Budgeting Acumen: Strong financial management skills, including portfolio budgeting, forecasting, and resource allocation.
• Stakeholder Communication & Influence: Exceptional storytelling and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex digital performance data into clear business outcomes.

How this role differs from other disciplines on the account:

• vs. Planning: While Planning defines the overall high-level media investment and brand positioning, you will own the accountable, full-funnel performance strategy that connects those plans to measurable dealer leads and sales.
• vs. Biddable/Activation: While the Activation teams execute inside the platforms, you will partner closely with them to guide optimizations, ensuring their day-to-day work is tied directly to the client's business goals.
• vs. Analytics: While Analytics models the data and designs attribution frameworks, you will translate those insights into strategic actions that optimize the client's media investment.

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.

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.