Business Unit Director

Publicis Groupe · Johannesburg

Company description

Publicis Groupe Africa is a leading marketing, communications, and business transformation network operating across 36 African countries, combining creativity, technology, and local insight to deliver integrated client solutions.

Publicis Groupe Africa is part of Publicis Groupe, the second-largest communications group globally, founded in 1926. The African network operates as a partnership of 44 communications agencies with offices spanning 36 countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Morocco, and many others

Its headquarters are in Johannesburg and Cape Town, providing a central hub for continental operations.

Overview

THE OPPORTUNITY

Telecommunications is one of the most dynamic categories in the market, sitting at the intersection of technology, culture, connectivity, customer experience and everyday life. This role offers the opportunity to work with a leading telecommunications client and help shape the next generation of its agency partnership.

We are building a connected, future-fit model that brings together creativity, intelligence, data, technology, AI and world-class execution around the customer. It is an opportunity for ambitious client leaders to influence the work, the operating model and the capabilities we build - creating a partnership designed not only for today's challenges, but for what comes next.

ROLE PURPOSE

The Business Unit Director is a senior client and business leader responsible for the successful leadership, growth, integration and delivery of an assigned area of the Publicis/client partnership.

The role translates the Managing Partner's overall business ambition into strong day-to-day client leadership, integrated agency delivery, commercially sound account management and consistently high standards of strategic, creative and operational execution.

The Business Unit Director develops trusted client relationships, understands the client's business and marketing priorities, leads the account management team and coordinates relevant Publicis capabilities to ensure work is delivered effectively across TTL, digital, social, content, media, customer experience and emerging channels.

A critical part of the mandate is to move the relationship beyond campaign administration toward proactive business partnership - identifying opportunities, improving integration, using data and digital intelligence more effectively, and ensuring the team continually creates greater value for the client.

The Business Unit Director is ultimately accountable for ensuring their area of the partnership delivers strong client relationships, high-quality integrated work, sustainable growth, commercial discipline, effective resource utilisation and a high-performing client leadership team.

Responsibilities

STRATEGIC BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

Translate the Managing Partner's strategic direction into a clear business agenda for the assigned client portfolio, business unit or scope.
Develop a strong understanding of the client's business, customers, competitive environment, brand priorities and commercial objectives.
Support short- and long-term strategic, creative, operational and financial planning for the client business.
Ensure account teams are focused on solving the client's business and customer problems, not only delivering campaign outputs.
Bring proactive perspectives and opportunities to the client rather than relying only on incoming briefs.
Provide clear direction, accountability and decision-making across the account management team.

SENIOR CLIENT PARTNERSHIP

Own and develop strong day-to-day and senior relationships across assigned client stakeholders.
Act as a trusted client partner, bringing clarity, challenge and informed recommendations to business and marketing conversations.
Maintain high standards of responsiveness, communication, expectation management and follow-through.
Identify relationship, delivery or scope risks early and ensure timely corrective action.
Act as an escalation point for client issues within the assigned business area, escalating material risks to the Managing Partner where appropriate.
Translate client feedback into visible improvement across the team and agency product.

BUSINESS GROWTH & PARTNERSHIP EXPANSION

Support the Managing Partner in growing the value and scope of the client partnership.
Identify unmet client needs and opportunities across strategy, creative, digital, data, customer experience, media, content, production, technology and related capabilities.
Develop commercially sensible growth opportunities and coordinate the right Publicis expertise to respond.
Drive organic growth through proactive thinking, strong client relationships and consistent delivery performance.
Support pitches, proposals, scope expansions and strategic growth conversations.
Focus on sustainable growth that creates value for both the client and Publicis.

INTEGRATION & POWER OF ONE LEADERSHIP

Coordinate the relevant Publicis Groupe disciplines and partner agencies required to deliver integrated solutions for the client.
Drive collaboration across Strategy, Creative, Media, Digital, Data, Technology, Production, PR, Activation and other specialist capabilities.
Ensure the client experiences a connected agency team rather than separate departments or agencies.
Clarify roles, ownership, responsibilities and hand-offs across integrated workstreams.
Enable strong intercompany and interdepartmental communication, knowledge sharing and decision-making.
Resolve integration issues quickly and escalate structural barriers where necessary.

DIGITAL, DATA & FUTURE-FIT CLIENT LEADERSHIP

Lead with a digital-first mindset and understand how digital platforms support and enhance broader integrated campaign development.
Maintain working understanding of consumer journey mapping, search, SEO, UX/UI, digital development and QA, performance media, social platforms, CRM, data and insight gathering.
Ensure teams define meaningful KPIs linked to client business objectives rather than channel activity alone.
Use campaign and performance information to drive optimisation and proactive client recommendations.
Support the use of real-time dashboards, reporting and connected data to improve decision-making and campaign performance.
Build practical fluency in AI, automation and emerging marketing technologies and identify where these can improve client value, speed, quality or efficiency.
Champion responsible use of AI and technology while maintaining appropriate governance, security and human oversight.

FUTURE-FIT OPERATING MODEL & TRANSFORMATION

Support the Managing Partner and Operations leadership in implementing the future client operating model.
Help embed agreed workflows, governance structures, standards, platforms and ways of working across the account team.
Challenge legacy processes that create unnecessary duplication, delay or fragmented delivery.
Ensure transformation and new technology adoption do not compromise business continuity or client service.
Support behavioural change across teams and reinforce new ways of collaborating, briefing, reviewing and delivering work.
Provide practical feedback from client and team experience to continuously improve the operating model.

CREATIVE, STRATEGIC & PRODUCT EXCELLENCE

Maintain oversight of the quality of strategic and creative work delivered within the assigned business area.
Ensure briefs clearly reflect business objectives, audience understanding, desired outcomes and agreed success measures.
Create the conditions for Strategy and Creative teams to develop ambitious, effective and culturally relevant work.
Ensure digital, data and customer-experience thinking are integrated into the agency product from the outset.
Participate actively in key strategic, creative and integrated reviews.
Use campaign performance and client feedback to improve future strategic and creative output.

COMMERCIAL LEADERSHIP & PROFITABILITY

Manage the commercial health of the assigned client portfolio in partnership with the Managing Partner, Finance and Operations.
Maintain visibility of scope, fees, estimates, budgets, resource requirements and commercial risks.
Support revenue planning, forecasting and delivery against agreed contribution targets and ratios.
Identify resource and infrastructure optimisation opportunities and drive efficiencies and economies of scale.
Ensure new or expanded work is appropriately scoped and commercially viable.
Balance client value, delivery quality, resource efficiency and agency profitability.

TALENT & CLIENT LEADERSHIP

Lead, coach and develop a high-performing Account Management / Client Leadership team.
Attract, retain and grow strong client-service talent and create clear accountability for performance.
Embed Publicis values, expected behaviours and a culture of collaboration, ownership and continuous learning.
Develop the team's ability to lead integrated campaigns, build client confidence and operate effectively across digital and traditional channels.
Support knowledge transfer, upskilling and exposure to best practice across the Groupe.
Conduct regular performance conversations and support formal review and development processes.
Demonstrate professional maturity and collaborate effectively with specialist agencies and partners.

OPERATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

Partner closely with Operations to translate client and business priorities into effective delivery.
Implement and monitor agreed workflow processes, operating standards and governance.
Support efficient internal and external resource allocation and utilisation.
Ensure projects are appropriately scoped from a resourcing, timing and delivery perspective.
Maintain visibility of delivery health, workload, risks, dependencies and escalation requirements.
Use agreed systems, reporting and planning rhythms to improve accountability and transparency.
Ensure the Account Management team can seamlessly coordinate integrated campaign delivery.

PERFORMANCE, EFFECTIVENESS & ACCOUNTABILITY

Create clear accountability for client satisfaction, commercial performance, delivery quality and team performance within the assigned business area.
Track whether campaigns and programmes are meeting agreed business and communication KPIs.
Use real-time and post-campaign performance information to drive optimisation and learning.
Ensure operational issues are solved decisively and not allowed to become repeated delivery failures.
Maintain strong standards of written, verbal and presentation communication.
Provide regular visibility to the Managing Partner on business health, growth opportunities, risks and required decisions.

MEASURES OF SUCCESS

Strong client satisfaction and trusted relationships across assigned stakeholders.
Consistent delivery of high-quality, integrated strategic and creative work.
Achievement of agreed revenue, contribution and profitability targets for the assigned business area.
Growth in the value and scope of the client relationship.
Effective integration across Publicis Groupe agencies, disciplines and specialist partners.
Improved digital, data and performance-led decision-making across client activity.
Effective adoption of agreed workflows, platforms and future ways of working.
Efficient resource utilisation and strong delivery discipline.
A high-performing, engaged and developing Account Management / Client Leadership team.
Early identification and resolution of client, commercial, delivery and operational risks.
Strong contribution to the client's perception of Publicis as a strategic and integrated business partner.

Qualifications

CRITICAL CAPABILITIES

Strategic business and client leadership.
Senior client relationship management.
Integrated marketing and communications leadership.
Digital ecosystem and customer-journey understanding.
Commercial and financial acumen.
Business growth and organic opportunity development.
Operational judgement and delivery oversight.
Resource planning and project-scoping understanding.
Data, measurement and performance literacy.
AI and emerging technology literacy.
Cross-agency integration and collaboration.
Talent leadership, coaching and development.
Strong analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
Excellent communication, influence and presentation capability.
Ability to lead through complexity, pressure and change.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Relevant tertiary qualification within advertising, marketing, business, communications or a related discipline.
At least 12 years of relevant experience in the advertising, marketing or communications industry.
At least 4 years of experience in a leadership capacity.
Demonstrated ability to lead across brand building, communications, experiences, digital and technology.
Strong experience leading complex, integrated client relationships and multi-disciplinary agency teams.
Strong understanding of ATL, BTL and the broader digital ecosystem, including how digital supports integrated campaign performance.
Experience managing commercial performance, resources, workflow and delivery at a senior client-leadership level.
Previous experience with multinational, technology or telecommunications organisations is advantageous.
Business Management or relevant postgraduate qualification is advantageous.
Solid written, verbal and presentation skills in English.

Additional information

Publicis Groupe Africa is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits any forms of Discrimination or Harassment. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all our employees in line with our Employment Equity Plan.

All appointments will be based on qualifications, experience and best fit but preference will be given to candidates from designated groups. Interested candidates must please submit a concise CV including a link to your portfolio if necessary. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Should you not hear from us within 2 weeks after submitting your application, please consider your application as unsuccessful.