Overview

Position Summary

As Vice President, Partner Direct, you will provide strategic leadership, operational oversight, and cross-functional collaboration to drive excellence within the Partner Direct (PD) marketplace. You will act as a key conduit between PHM senior management, clients, and internal teams, ensuring seamless execution of media strategies and alignment with broader business objectives.

In this role, you will be responsible for building organizational and people capabilities, optimizing media partnerships, and fostering a culture of continuous innovation. As part of the core account leadership team, you will play a crucial role in driving marketplace strategy, operational efficiency, and business growth.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities

Strategic & Operational Excellence

• Ensure the integrity and strategic alignment of tactical PD media recommendations.
• Provide marketplace intelligence to guide internal teams and clients on direct partnership opportunities.
• Lead cross-team connectivity and collaboration efforts, including all-hands meetings, peer groups, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Establish and monitor PD marketplace goals, ensuring alignment with broader agency objectives.
• Maintain and evolve a centralized knowledge library, including planning guidance, pacing tools, optimization toolkits, case studies, and ongoing training resources.
• Drive standards adoption across teams by identifying and implementing innovative approaches from the broader Publicis network.
• Identify new media opportunities and strategic partnership deals (e.g., SPA's, PHM product mashups, MAKRS).
• Support business growth efforts by developing new opportunities within existing client portfolios and contributing to new client acquisition initiatives.
• Serve as an industry leader with vision, anticipating and adapting to emerging media trends.
• Oversee program budgets, staffing, and resource allocation, ensuring operational efficiency.
• Lead major contract negotiations, including high-value media investments and performance-based agreements.

Industry & Business Expertise

• Translate client business objectives into actionable media investment and management strategies.
• Lead the development and negotiation of high-value partnerships, ensuring strategic alignment and business impact.
• Maintain a channel- and audience-agnostic approach, demonstrating deep expertise across multiple marketing disciplines beyond media.
• Provide thought leadership on the evolving media marketplace and partner landscape.
• Leverage Publicis Groupe partnership solutions to enhance planning effectiveness.
• Oversee the use of agency planning tools to optimize campaign efficiency and effectiveness.

Leadership & Team Development

• Foster a collaborative, high-performance culture, ensuring teams operate efficiently.
• Cultivate strong internal partnerships with key teams, including Partnerships, APEX, and PMX.
• Oversee team structure and resource allocation, ensuring effective delegation and workload balance.
• Provide clear, consistent communication regarding client goals, project priorities, and success metrics.
• Promote a positive work environment, encouraging professional growth and team cohesion.
• Mentor and develop junior team members, sharing expertise and industry insights.
• Deliver constructive, actionable feedback to drive continuous improvement.
• Strengthen client relationships, acting as a senior strategic partner.
• Contribute to new business initiatives as needed.

Qualifications

Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience in media strategy, planning and partner relationships.
• 5+ years of management experience, including team leadership and development.
• 2+ years recent HCP/pharma experience
• Expertise across all key media channels, including:
  • Digital (Endemic/Lifestyle)
  • Video
  • Audio (Terrestrial & Streaming)
  • Print
  • Out-of-Home (OOH)
  • Healthcare Professionals (HCP)
  • Payer/Managed Markets

Skills & Competencies

• Entrepreneurial mindset, with a proactive and solutions-driven approach.
• Proven leadership skills, with the ability to inspire, guide, and develop teams.
• Strong client relationship management skills, with a track record of driving business impact.
• Ability to manage multiple high-priority projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, with a strategic and innovative mindset.
• Demonstrated success in building and scaling teams from the ground up.

Additional information

Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off.

Compensation Range: USD $129,485.00 - USD $186,060.00/Annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 11/1/2026.