Senior Associate, Ooh Direct Activation

About WPP Media
WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships - all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open - we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth.WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.For more information, visit wppmedia.Com .ROLE OVERVIEW
WPP Media is looking for an experienced, strategic, and high-impact media professional to join our team as Manager, Direct Activation OOH in Toronto. In this role, you will be the primary activation and investment lead, orchestrating first-class OOH buys, while also directly managing relationships with client and planning leads. You will drive holistic investment strategies, lead high-stakes partner negotiations, ensure operational and financial excellence, and actively coach and mentor a team of Associates.This role sits at the intersection of media strategy, commercial negotiation, and operational leadership, requiring someone who excels at building media partner relationships and translating client business goals into top-tier media investments.HOW YOU WILL MAKE AN IMPACT
Strategic Investment & High-Level Negotiation
Lead Investment Strategy: Oversee and drive the development of comprehensive media investment recommendations across all formats of OOH, ensuring alignment with client business objectives.Commercial Leadership: Secure competitive pricing, added value, and priority placement for our clients.Media Partner Management: Cultivate and manage senior-level relationships with major OOH vendors. Lead Joint Business Partnerships (JBPs) and discover first-to-market opportunities.Portfolio Stewardship & Team Management
Team Leadership & Mentorship: Direct, develop, and mentor junior team members. Manage bandwidth, delegate responsibilities, conduct quality reviews, and foster career development.End-to-End Operational Governance: Oversee the team's campaign workflows within Prisma from buy creation and traffic instructions through to billing reconciliation, ensuring zero-error execution.Financial Accountability: Own the end-to-end financial integrity of client accounts. Lead quarterly/annual reconciliations, resolve complex billing disputes, and ensure adherence to internal audit and client contract guidelines.Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Strategic Planning, Ad Operations, and Client Leadership teams to build seamless workflows and ensure unified delivery of client expectations.Measurement, Performance & Audience Intelligence
Audience Analytics: Direct the application of audience measurement platforms to analyze reach/frequency, competitive intelligence, and market consumption shifts.Pre- and Post-Campaign Intelligence: Oversee rigorous pre-buy validations and lead comprehensive Post-Campaign Analyses (PCAs). Translate campaign data into actionable strategic recommendations for executive client presentations.Process Optimization: Identify and implement process improvements, standardization, and automation across the activation team to improve operational efficiency and workflow speed.WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Client Trust & Authority: Serving as a reliable, authoritative subject-matter expert on OOH media in senior client meetings and presentations.Commercial Excellence: Consistently meeting or beating buying benchmarks, delivering added value, and driving favorable commercial outcomes for client investments.Team Empowerment: Building a resilient, high-performing team that delivers accurate, timely executions with high employee engagement and retention.Operational Precision: Maintaining spotless financial records, proactive discrepancy management, and zero billing aging issues across your assigned accounts.WHAT YOU BRING
Experience: 4-6+ years of progressive media buying, planning, or investment experience within an advertising agency, with dedicated leadership in OOH media.People Leadership: Proven track record of managing, mentoring, or directly guiding junior planners, buyers, or coordinators.Enterprise Systems Mastery: Advanced, hands-on command of MediaOcean for campaign set-up, pacing, and financial stewardship.Audience & Market Tools: Working knowledge and analytical fluency with Canadian media tools, including COMMB, Vividata, and media research platforms.Commercial Acumen & Negotiation: Proven background negotiating large-scale OOH packages with Canadian media sales houses.Client & Presentation Skills: Poised, articulate verbal and written communication skills with comfort presenting complex investment strategies to VP/Director-level client stakeholders.Problem-Solvi
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