Investment Planning Partner

Role Purpose

The Investment Planning Partner is the bridge between big-picture strategy and real-world results. You will translate strategic thinking into integrated, outcome-led investment plans that help our clients grow. By connecting high-level direction with practical, performance-driven budget allocation, you ensure every pound spent is commercially robust and grounded in marketing effectiveness.

Your Impact

• Strategic Translation: You turn complex strategic thinking and business objectives into clear, structured, and compelling investment narratives that stakeholders-from marketing teams to C Suite and private equity-can get behind.
• Commercial Growth: You drive successful new business wins and organic growth by creating investment plans that are persuasive, measurement-informed, and grounded in audience insight.
• Effectiveness Leadership: You ensure marketing effectiveness isn't an afterthought by embedding measurement frameworks and incrementality testing into the heart of every plan.
• Market Advantage: You unlock competitive edges for our clients by building deep relationships with "Alpha Partners" to access early innovations, new formats, and smarter trading dynamics.
• Collective Excellence: You raise the bar for the entire agency by developing best practice templates and coaching others to pitch investment plans to an elite standard.

What Success Looks Like in 6 Months

• Trusted Partner: You have built strong, collaborative relationships across Media, Creative and Data teams, becoming a go to partner for turning strategy into action.
• Systemic Consistency: You have established centralised, consistent operational systems and templates for investment planning across the business.
• Impactful Wins: Your investment plans have directly contributed to at least one significant new business win or a major organic growth milestone for an existing client.
• Co Intelligence: You are working co intelligently with our HI / AI workforce, using tools such as Media Optimiser and RISE to sharpen audience strategy and channel prioritisation.

Capabilities You'll Bring

• Strategic Logic: The ability to articulate the "why" behind budget allocation with authority and clarity.
• Analytical Confidence: Comfort working with budgets, forecasting models and ROI dynamics without losing sight of the strategic perspective.
• Data Led Decision Making: A knack for turning data from tools such as YouGov or Nielsen and research into decisive, actionable investment opportunities.
• Influential Communication: The ability to simplify the complex and persuade diverse audiences, adapting your narrative to suit the room.
• Outcome Obsessed: A natural focus on marketing effectiveness, attribution and growth goals.

Your Outputs & Results

• Investment Frameworks: Highly structured, commercially sound investment plans for pitches and client growth.
• Measurement Blueprints: Integrated measurement and measurement frameworks aligned specifically to client growth objectives.
• Standardised Toolkits: Best practice investment planning templates used consistently across the agency.
• Knowledge Sharing: Regular coaching sessions and upskilling materials for the Client Leadership team.
• Proven Success: A portfolio of case studies and award worthy work where your plans delivered measurable impact.

Role Details

• Your coach: Managing Partner - Media Strategy
• You will lead: n/a (focus on cross functional influence and coaching)
• Location: Manchester & Hybrid / Remote First
• Hours / Days: Full time (5 days per week)
• Specifics for this role: Occasional travel to meet partners or attend pitches may be required.
• Estimated Start Date: 01/07/2026

The standards we all hold each other to

• Demonstrate and be committed to growing the Open Partners mindset
• Live our values:
  • Smarter: Aim high, train hard, embrace next
  • Faster: Learn fast, adapt fast, act fast
  • Better: Think, say and do what's best