Influencer Programmatic Manager

About this role

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.

3025 - Influencer Programmatic Manager - UK

Role Summary and Impact

The Programmatic Manager is a key strategic, technical, and leadership role within the Campaign Delivery and Activation team, responsible for leading the planning, execution, and optimization of programmatic media campaigns. This role focuses on transforming client briefs and budgets into high-performing, full-funnel programmatic strategies across leading DSPs (including DV360, TTD, Walmart, and Amazon DSP). As a manager, you will work with a high degree of autonomy, serving as the go-to programmatic expert for client teams and Account Managers, while mentoring and developing junior team members to ensure all deliverables are technically flawless, commercially viable, and strategically aligned.

Key Responsibilities:
Campaign Activation & Quality Assurance:

• Lead End-to-End Execution: Oversee the successful build, implementation, and launch of full-funnel, multi-objective programmatic campaigns across key platforms (DV360, TTD, Amazon DSP, Walmart, etc.).
• Rigorous QA Ownership: Take overall responsibility for the programmatic briefing and QA process. Ensure all campaigns are set up accurately in-platform, aligned with briefings, and documented thoroughly with zero mistakes once live.
• Team Support & Guidance: Provide active guidance and direction to Programmatic Executives (PE) and Senior Programmatic Executives (SPE) during campaign setup and troubleshoot technical issues, such as reporting pixels, with minimal senior input.

Strategy, Media Planning & Commercials:

• Strategic Media Planning: Formulate actionable, multi-platform, and multi-month media plans and deliverables for strategies with budgets up to £/$500,000, ensuring clear rationale and thorough benchmarking.
• Budget & Platform Optimization: Recommend strategic budget allocations between Programmatic, Paid Social, and Organic channels, accounting for key calendar moments (e.g., Q4 price increases, Black Friday).
• Commercial Growth: Actively identify opportunities to upsell programmatic capabilities, confidently pitching and explaining different commercial models to clients while upskilling junior team members on what they mean for the business.

Analysis, Reporting & Number Handling:

• Advanced Data Insight: Pull and analyse deep programmatic insights beyond basic metrics—evaluating performance across verticals, content styles, platforms, and audiences.
• Client-Ready reporting: Formulate, write, and present polished Post-Campaign Analyses (PCAs) and performance reports, confidently translating complex data into clear, story-driven narratives on client calls.
• Review & Sign-Off: Oversee, QA, and sign off on all external-facing typed updates, reports, and PCA drafts produced by junior team members, ensuring high standards of spelling, grammar, data accuracy, and succinctness.
• Financial Pacing: Master campaign pacing and "cost-per" metrics (CPE, CPM). Independently recalculate pacing projections and recommendations to keep campaigns within margin and on target, escalating to seniors only when necessary.

Communication, Collaboration & Leadership:

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Account Managers, Strategy, and Campaign teams to ensure programmatic strategies integrate seamlessly with broader influencer and organic marketing efforts.
• Internal and External Consulting: Act as the primary point of contact for programmatic questions on client accounts, leading client calls confidently and resolving campaign performance issues with solutions-oriented thinking.
• Team Mentorship: Manage the workload, delivery, and professional growth of junior staff, clearly communicating workflows, deadlines, and execution standards.

Performance Requirements:

• The consistent delivery of flawless, highly optimized campaigns that meet or exceed client objectives and guarantee deliverables.
• The successful, autonomous strategic planning and execution of mid-to-high value programmatic budgets (up to £/$500,000).
• Zero-error execution of QA protocols across your own campaigns and those of your direct reports.
• Strong, proactive communication across Slack and email, ensuring client and internal teams receive clear, concise, and timely performance updates.
• Positive feedback from Account Managers, strategy teams, and direct reports regarding your leadership, collaborative spirit, and programmatic expertise.

Skills and Experience

• Proven Experience: Strong track record working in programmatic media buying/planning within an agency or client-focused environment, demonstrating clear progression in campaign scale.
• Platform Expertise: Hands-on, expert-level proficiency in leading DSPs (specifically DV360, The Trade Desk, and Amazon DSP) and audience/data management tools.
• Analytical Rigor: Strong math and data handling skills; comfortable analysing complex datasets, identifying trends, and presenting data-led narratives to non-technical stakeholders.
• Strategic & Commercial Mindset: Ability to write media plans from scratch, align programmatic tactics with broader business outcomes, and identify commercial upsell opportunities.
• Meticulous Attention to Detail: A commitment to maintaining rigorous QA standards, checking data accuracy, and delivering polished client-facing documentation.
• Leadership…