Account Director, Social

1557 - Account Director, Social - NMU

About WPP 650

Join an award-winning team at the heart of UK government, where your work will genuinely shape lives. As part of WPP 650 you’ll be part of a supportive, collaborative environment that values curiosity, kindness, and growth. Together, we use behaviour change principles to design smarter services, influence better decisions, and help millions of people across the country.

Named WPP 650, after the 650 UK parliamentary constituencies, the name is a reminder that our work must reflect the full breadth of the country, every community, every audience. No two days are the same. The challenges are complex, the problems worth solving, and the learning constant. You’ll tackle issues that matter, alongside talented colleagues who care deeply about what they do. It’s demanding – but always rewarding.

This is meaningful work with real-world impact – the kind you can point to with pride.

Role Summary and Impact

As Social Account Director for the Government New Media Unit (NMU), you will own the rapid, data led delivery of always on, tactical and reactive biddable media activity across search and social for central government.
Operating within an agile, test and learn delivery model, this role prioritises speed, accountability and continuous optimisation, while ensuring all government governance, compliance and assurance requirements are met.
This role sits within a new, fully integrated, end to end client marketing team and acts as a test bed for the Government’s ambitious media and marketing transformation programme. The successful candidate will help define and embed a new operating model for how government delivers responsive, high impact paid media.

Operating Model & Ways of Working

The NMU is designed to deliver a highly agile and responsive service, operating across three defined speeds of delivery:

• Always‑on activity
  Continuous delivery, optimisation and performance management
• Tactical activity
  End‑to‑end delivery (brief, creative, booking, live) within approximately two weeks
• Reactive activity
  24‑hour turnaround, from brief to creative development and live execution, responding to policy updates, announcements or external events

The Social Director will play a role alongside the VP and other digital leads on the account in enabling, governing and scaling this model within WPP Media and WPP 650.

Key Responsibilities

Agile Delivery & Optimisation

• Own and deliver rapid, data‑led biddable activity across all three operating speeds
• Lead iterative test‑and‑learn cycles, including sprints, daily optimisation and rapid hypothesis testing
• Operate effectively within short planning horizons (weekly or bi‑weekly), adapting to evolving priorities and incomplete briefs
• Capture, embed and scale learnings at pace across the NMU and wider government ecosystem

Ways of Working & Continuous Improvement

• Continually review, refine and optimise ways of working to increase speed and agility across:
• Planning
• Campaign setup
• In‑flight optimisation
• Reporting and post‑campaign evaluation
• Apply foresight, pre‑mediation and proactive setup to remove friction and enable rapid delivery
• Contribute to the development of playbooks, guardrails and best‑practice frameworks for agile government biddable delivery
• The role will be split across the clients location and WPP 650. It will predominantly be an in person and not virtual role.

Governance & Decision‑Making

• Ensure all government governance, compliance and assurance requirements for biddable media are met and documented
• Balance speed with risk management through clear guardrails, approval thresholds and escalation routes
• Exercise fast, confident decision‑making within defined autonomy, acting as a trusted senior lead for clients

Budget & Performance Accountability

• Manage multi‑million‑pound budgets (£40m+) with accountability for ROI, effectiveness and value for money
• Embed real‑time, data‑driven performance management, drawing on platform signals, social insight and trend analysis
• Advise on and implement evaluation frameworks, test roadmaps and structured learning agendas

Innovation & Transformation

• Re‑imagine government communications through innovative paid and owned media approaches
• Address share of voice challenges and support activity to counter misinformation where required
• Actively leverage WPP Open and WPP AI capabilities to support automation, insight generation and optimisation within the NMU operating model

Leadership, Collaboration & Capability

• Lead and develop biddable activation talent, embedding specialist knowledge and best practice
• Work collaboratively within a fully integrated, cross‑functional team spanning strategy, creative, data and client stakeholders
• Foster a culture of fast decision‑making, learning and continuous improvement
• Contribute to capability‑building initiatives, including GCS Advance, training agendas and knowledge‑sharing forums

Skills & Experience

• Experience delivering biddable media in fast‑paced, high‑pressure environments
• Expertise across the digital media and paid social landscape
• Proven experience managing large‑scale budgets with outcome accountability
• Confidence operating in regulated or complex client environments, including government
• Stakeholder management skills and advisory skills at senior level
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity, evolving briefs and rapid change
• Collaborative mindset with a clear appetite for transformation and new ways of working

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.

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

Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location

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