Senior Social Director

Social Media Director

Company: VML, a part of WPP.

Role Description

We are seeking an accomplished Senior Social Media Director to set the vision and lead our social capability for a leading brand. The role is senior and requires strategic leadership within the VML social team, ensuring we deliver socially exceptional work at scale.

Key Responsibilities Strategic Vision & Leadership

Set the overarching social vision across your client portfolio, ensuring all work ladders up to client business objectives and represents the best of what social can offer. Guide hypotheses and decision making even when information is incomplete.

Client Counsel

Serve as a senior trusted advisor to client stakeholders, continuously counselling on opportunities, risks and effectiveness in social. Build and maintain high trust relationships at senior client level.

Team Leadership & Development

Lead, mentor and develop a team of social specialists across disciplines. Provide consistent coaching to build a high performance team culture and match talent to client needs.

Business Growth

Identify growth opportunities on current business and develop plans to win. Lead pitch preparation and play a client facing role in new business presentations. Understand agency financial and operations structure to make sound staffing and resourcing decisions.

Capability Building

Identify opportunities to improve and evolve VML's social offerings and contribute to new capability creation.

Cross Agency Collaboration

Foster strong relationships with senior leaders across VML - strategy & planning, creative, data and client engagement - to integrate social into the broader agency offering.

Agency Stewardship

Represent VML's expertise and core values to clients, vendors, partner agencies and industry groups/publications. Champion the social practice internally and externally.

Ideal Candidate

• Established social media leader with significant experience directing social strategy and delivery for major brands.
• Proven ability to set vision and inspire teams to deliver against it.
• Natural relationship builder who can adapt communication style to influence a wide variety of senior stakeholders.
• Enthusiastic about rewarding innovation, welcoming risk taking and valuing diverse perspectives.
• Proficient at navigating complexity, managing multiple clients, teams and priorities simultaneously.
• Nuanced perspective on social marketing built from wide ranging experience, continuous learning and specific insights into consumer trends, brand storytelling and platform innovations.
• Passionate about growing people, capabilities and business in equal measure.
• Proactive, results oriented leader with strong work ethic and commitment to excellence.

Qualifications & Experience

• Extensive experience in a senior social leadership role within an advertising/marketing agency or major brand.
• Proven track record of leading social strategy and delivery for large, complex client accounts.
• Demonstrated experience building, managing and developing high performing teams.
• Strong commercial acumen with experience contributing to business growth and pitch activity.
• Expert level understanding of social platforms, emerging technologies and the evolving social landscape, particularly for high value product launches and community engagement.
• Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills at senior/board level.
• Experience working with cross functional teams across multiple disciplines.
• A degree of some sort will help us understand your background and point of view.

Benefits

• Generous annual leave allowance and pension benefits
• Life Assurance
• Permanent Health Insurance - BUPA
• Flexible hybrid working schedule
• Enhanced family friendly policies
• Well being programme
• Employee Assistance Support
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Eye care and glasses vouchers
• Season ticket loans
• WPP discounts
• Clear long term career development plan and access to learning activities and online platforms

Equal Opportunity & Accessibility Statement

VML is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, colour, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, military/veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical or mental disability. We believe in creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion and strives to recruit a diverse slate of candidates to help us achieve that goal.

If you are unable or limited in your ability to access our career site as a result of a disability, we will be happy to assist you. Please contact our People Team at to request an alternate accommodation.

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.