Nexus | Head of Social, Sydney

Description

Position at GroupM Nexus

GroupM is the leading global media investment management company serving as the parent to WPP media agencies including Mindshare, EssenceMediacom and Wavemaker, each global operations in their own right with leading market positions. With more than 1,000 people based in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, GroupM's primary purpose is to maximise performance of WPP's media agencies by operating as leader and collaborator in trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, proprietary tool development and other business-critical capabilities. GroupM's focus is to deliver unrivalled marketplace advantage to its clients, stakeholders and people.

YOUR ROLE IN A NUTSHELL:

The role of Head of Social is the custodian of paid social excellence across GroupM and ensure that this is reflected across all facets of our business. You will work with various stakeholders, from CEOs through to buying teams, to be both the figurehead for social craft and to supervise delivery to these standards.

This role sits on the GroupM Nexus Practices SLT, and is expected to contribute to a high-performing team culture. You will be a key supporter of agency new business efforts and client-facing capabilities. Alongside this, you will also create, deliver, and oversee training & development that motivates our people and provides our clients with the best social practice in Australia. This extends to official recognition of these capabilities through certification, accreditation, and awards. Much of the work is alongside the Heads of Delivery in each market, who are also on the SLT.

This role is supported by a team of Director-level reports in the Activation team, and oversees the growth of junior team members through them. Our agency structure has our teams living in the agencies, with matrix reporting lines through to the agency Client Partners or Digital leadership. This means you will be able to work well in a matrix organisation to assert authority in a diplomatic fashion and to a very high degree of success.

This role will work closely with the Data & Technology, and Transformation teams to support national tent pole initiatives as agreed with the GroupM Nexus CEO and the General Manager of Practices. In addition, you'll consult with, advise and collaborate with the internal GroupM Influencer agency, GOAT, to share learnings and support their growth where needed.

REPORTING OF THE ROLE:

General Manager of Group Nexus Practices - Ryan Goldsworthy

KEY OBJECTIVES:

People: certification and development support

Process & operations: continuous improvement of craft excellence

Client: client (agency) satisfaction

Commercial: creation and commercialisation of social agency capabilities

KEY STAKEHOLDERS:

- GroupM Nexus delivery teams (CDT)

- GroupM agency MDs and Client Partnership teams

o By extension, on occasion a select group of Tier 1 named clients

- GroupM and Agency commercial directors, trading & investment leadership

- Social and adjacent vendors, and publisher partners

WHAT YOU SHOULD SPEND YOUR TIME DOING:

For our business to work, you will be required to spend time in certain areas of the business and make sure that your (direct and indirect) reports do the same. Your key responsibilities are as follows:

People
• Live and breathe the GroupM values every day
• Via matrix management, oversee social activation across our network
• Work with delivery leads to attract, develop, and retain the best social talent in market
• Provide ongoing coaching, feedback, and leadership to the Activation teams as required and in a variety of ways
• Work with the talent team to develop and own the social onboarding experience for all new starters
• Work with the talent team and delivery leads to grow skills and capabilities of the team through custom-developed training and certification programs

Process & operations
• Collaborate with stakeholders to understand needs and anticipate areas for improvement
• Oversee social standards across the group, ensuring a continuous improvement of excellence scoring through leadership and strategic intervention
• Lead by example, playing both an ambassadorial role managing in a matrix style with shared accountabilities
• Work with global and regional counterparts, and agencies, to define the optimal process to ensure quality, efficiency, and accuracy in all social delivery
• Identify and implement tools, technology, data, and automation solutions through the group
• Maintain strong vendor and publisher relations including:

o Reviewing potential new social products & partners, and communicating a clear POV (including to external press and partners)

o Representing GroupM's needs to existing partners through both formal reviews and day-to-day interaction

o Ensuring that industry developments are quickly and concisely communicated across the group

Client
• Support the agency in new business where required
• Maintain a strong view of client satisfaction and proactively develop strategies for improvement in collaboration with agency stakeholders
• Work in tandem with delivery leads to resolve escalations as they arise

Commercial
• Maintain, in collaboration with delivery leads, a view on key commercial indicators and work proactively on areas of improvement
• Work as a partner to agency Chief Product/Growth Officers in leading the creation and commercialisation of agency social capabilities
• Troubleshoot and proactively manage business challenges
• Show expert grasp of the commercial, strategic, and technical elements of all relevant products and services

EXPERIENCE:
• Expert experience in social and digital media buying roles, with latest experience being of leadership and supervision
• Solid experience in successfully leading large teams
• Well-versed in all of GroupM's major social partners, including Meta, X, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snap, TikTok, Reddit, and an eagerness to tackle new platforms like YouTube Shorts.
• Successfully delivered programs of work across matrix organisations, demonstrating strong network-leverage skills and stakeholder management to get the job done
• Experienced communicator, able to deliver well-designed presentations to a range of stakeholders, and shows strong upward management skills
• Able to work independently to create & deploy strategies that deliver the company vision
• Skilled in working through ambiguity with minimal supervision

COMPETENCIES:
• Ongoing interest in digital marketing, industry trends, best practices, and emerging technologies
• Analytical with high attention to detail, able to diagnose and solve the most challenging problems
• Effective and efficient working style; manages others through clear direction and objective-setting while providing space to operate
• Able to form strong relationships with internal/external teams; experience managing a large team

GroupM Nexus