Executive Production Architect

Publicis Groupe · Johannesburg

Company description

Within Publicis Groupe’s Intelligent Creativity business, we specialize in bringing creative ideas to life, and to consumers. By combining 100 years of craft excellence with 6,000 experts across 52 locations of the world’s biggest studio network, we leverage the industry’s richest data, through the power of agentic AI, to radically redefine content production with Intelligent Content. We intuitively deliver this through Marcel Make, the world’s first Intelligent Content agent. The result? Predictively performing content that unlocks business growth in unprecedented ways. No more guesswork. No more waste.

Just content that works, working a lot harder.

Overview

Title: Executive Production Architect
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Reporting to: Senior Vice President

The Executive Production Architect is responsible for leading and evolving the agency's end-to-end production capability across film, video, digital content, social media and emerging platforms. This role combines creative production leadership, operational excellence, financial stewardship, and team development with a tech focussed mindset to deliver world-class content at scale.
The role drives the successful execution of integrated campaigns from concept through to delivery, ensuring creative ambition is balanced with commercial effectiveness, production innovation, and exceptional client service. The Executive Production Architect serves as a strategic partner to creative, strategy, client leadership and brand teams while fostering a high-performing, future-fit production department.

Responsibilities

PRODUCTION LEADERSHIP

Lead the end-to-end production of film, content, social, digital, experiential and integrated campaigns.
Oversee all production phases including pre-production, production, post-production and delivery.
Ensure the highest standards of production craft, quality and creative execution.
Drive consistency in production processes, workflows and governance across all projects, instilling & enforcing clear ways-of-working that successfully navigate complex global agency mandatories.
Champion innovation in production methodologies, tools and emerging technologies, including AI-enabled workflows.

STRATEGIC CONTENT & CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP

Partner with Creative, Strategy and Client Leadership teams to shape production solutions that maximise creative impact.
Contribute to pitch development, production strategy and integrated campaign planning.
Identify opportunities to improve content effectiveness, scalability and production efficiencies.
Provide strategic counsel on content ecosystems, platform-specific requirements and production innovation.

COMMERCIAL & FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Own production revenue, profitability and financial performance.
Lead budgeting, scoping, forecasting and cost management processes.
Ensure efficient resource allocation across projects and business requirements.
Maintain strong supplier negotiations and procurement standards.
Drive operational efficiency while protecting production quality and creative ambition.

TEAM LEADERSHIP & CAPABILITY BUILDING

Lead, mentor and develop producers, production managers and production specialists.
Build a high-performing culture focused on collaboration, accountability and continuous learning.
Ensure succession planning, capability development and talent retention across the production department.
Foster an inclusive, innovative and commercially aware team environment.

CLIENT & STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

Build trusted relationships with senior clients and agency stakeholders.
Ensure seamless collaboration across creative, strategy, account management and external production partners.
Act as the senior escalation point for production matters and complex problem-solving.
Maintain high levels of client satisfaction and delivery excellence

VENDOR & PRODUCTION ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT

Develop and maintain a strong network of directors, production companies, post-production partners, talent and specialist suppliers.
Source innovative production partners and technologies.
Ensure compliance with procurement policies, legal requirements and production best practices.
Drive strategic supplier relationships that deliver quality, efficiency and value.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Production revenue growth
Gross margin performance
Resource utilisation rates
Budget accuracy and financial control

DELIVERY EXCELLENCE

On-time project delivery
Production quality scores
Client satisfaction ratings
Reduction in production risk and rework

INNOVATION

Adoption of new production technologies and workflows
Efficiency improvements delivered
Pilot initiatives successfully implemented

PEOPLE & CULTURE

Team engagement and retention
Capability development and succession planning
Cross-functional collaboration effectiveness
Leadership and coaching impact

Qualifications

Relevant tertiary qualification in Film, Production, Communications, Marketing, Business or related discipline.
10+ years of production experience across film, content and integrated campaigns.
Minimum 5 years in a senior production leadership role.
Proven experience managing complex multi-channel campaigns.
Strong financial acumen with experience managing large production budgets and P&L responsibilities.
Deep understanding of content production, post-production, content ecosystems and emerging technologies.
Exceptional leadership, stakeholder management and communication skills.

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.