Vice President, Client Operations

Vice President, Client Operations

As the traditional marketing funnel collapses and fragmentation increases, clients rely on Publicis Collective to connect media, data, technology, and teams by what matters most – business outcomes. We're a full-service media agency where nearly half our experts focus on data, research, analytics, technology, or strategy. At Publicis Collective, 100% of our 2,200 global practitioners can access advanced insights and scale media with precision through our proprietary OS, powering marketing that drives measurable business performance and transformation.

Our Client Operations Department manages client-specific operational tasks across virtually every practice area within the agency, including Strategy, Investment, HR, Finance, Invoice Reconciliation, and Agency Administration & Compliance. We centralize and standardize fundamental work required across all pieces of business as well as bring tactical and detail-oriented work streams together to find smarter, faster ways of working. We create a space for those whose strengths include being highly organized problem-solvers. We help differentiate Collective from our competitors and provide a critical foundation to the agency.

What you'll do:

The VP, Director, Client Operations will be part of a larger agency Client Operations team, supporting a specific client. This position has tremendous learning potential and provides the opportunity to work on a high-energy, highly visible account.

The Client Operations VP, Director leads all 3 pillars of the larger Client Operations function for the assigned client(s): Budgets & Compliance, Tools & Systems, and Vendor Management. Your primary focus will be driving operational excellence across client financials, data governance, system management, and vendor invoice reconciliation.

You will oversee and support processes tied to both syndicated and proprietary media planning and buying platforms (e.g., Mediaocean OX, Prisma, MediaTools), ensuring accuracy, consistency, and compliance across workflows.

This role offers meaningful exposure to senior leadership and the opportunity to grow within the media organization through ownership of project management initiatives, process improvements, development and sharing of best practices, and reinforcement of quality assurance standards through structured reporting and compliance workstreams.

Responsibilities

Daily Tasks

• Strategic Leadership:
• Collaborate with VP+ level leadership on departmental priorities and talent management.
• Act as the primary liaison for Client Business Lead to address account-specific needs.
• Serve as the escalation point/decision maker on Financial and Tools & Systems related needs
• Ensure client needs are managed/met while maintaining agency driven expectations.
• Operate with agility and accountability, proactively identifying obstacles and leading solution development in fast-paced, evolving environments.
• Team Management:
• Oversee and allocate workload for a team of 10+, ensuring timely delivery and accuracy of internal projects and client deliverables.
• Lead career development initiatives through task-specific training and coaching.
• Financial Compliance:
• Oversee planning/buying/billing system setups to align with client-specific needs while meeting agency standards.
• Manage critical financial tasks, including buy authorizations, maintaining ordered vs. approved & planned vs. purchased reports and ensuring accurate client billing and budget documentation.
• Address internal and client inquiries related to media billing and budgets.
• Manage internal and external Audits
• Contract Management & Audit Readiness:
• Ensure adherence to client-specific billing procedures to maintain audit compliance.
• Support client lead in scope development and execution.
• Manage tracking and delivery of contractual obligated operational KPIs
• Understand MSA expectations and ensure requirements are followed.
• Manage staff lists efficiently and effectively partnering with HR, Finance, and other Operations teams.
• Platform and Process Optimization:
• Enforce workflows for billing verification and financial reporting (e.g., diversity reporting, monthly financial updates, forecasting and accruing).
• Partner with Strategy and Investment teams to address account-specific needs and proactively identify opportunities for efficiency improvements.
• Solution oriented with focus on efficiency, raising issues where needed
• Maintain positive relationships with agency contacts, system contacts, and ReSources
• Lead team that stewards key processes that involve multiple agency verticals; ensure all teams are trained on the systems accurately to maintain data consistency
• Expected to periodically check emails to respond to urgent issues after close of business
• Review work (as necessary) in progress by team as issues arise to help guide to a resolution or raise issues as needed
• Oversight of accuracy of inputs into proprietary Operation System, ensuring all systems are accurately set-up by team for internal and external reporting needs
• Participate in system enhancement testing or training as needed
• Global Governance:
• Establish and maintain governance frameworks to ensure consistency and compliance across all markets.
• Partner with global teams to standardize system setups and workflows, ensuring compliance with organizational standards.
• Collaborate with global leads to define and maintain a structured taxonomy for key values, enabling accurate and efficient global reporting.
• Work closely with collaborators across markets to ensure seamless integration of governance standards into operational processes.
• Relationship Building:
• Develop strong cross-functional relationships to drive client success
• Serve as a collaborative problem solver and client expert for internal teams and clients.
• Communicate insights effectively, translating data analysis into actionable recommendations for strategists, planners, and buyers.

Qualifications

What you're like:

• Driven by a passion for learning, innovation, and delivering excellence in client service.
• Able to balance numerous, simultaneous work streams
• Aligned with taking the time to teach others how to do something vs. doing it for them
• Motivated to ensure a competent team, who has fun while achieving accomplishments
• Organized, diligent, good with time management, obsessed with accuracy, a strong critical thinker, and able to juggle multiple tasks
• Willingness to jump in on all requests to ensure all projects are completed in timely manner
• Committed to push a project through to completion by coordinating with the right team members to accomplish a task
• Good at building relationships – a creative problem solver, a customer service expert, a great teammate
• A strong communicator – able to write clearly, speak professionally, and translate data analysis into insights
• Excited by the idea of diving deep into data, including new technologies where benchmarks are just beginning to emerge
• Able and willing to jump into the weeds to ensure projects are completed efficiently and accurately

What we seek in a VP, Director:

• 10+ years of previous agency experience in Operations role, preferred
• College educated preferred, not required
• Able to manage multiple priorities and meet tight deadlines without compromising quality.
• Invested in both personal growth and the development of team members.
• Experience in MediaTools, Prisma, and/or MediaOcean required

• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft 365 (Excel, PowerPoint, Word), including building dynamic models, using complex formulas and pivot tables, and translating data into clear, compelling executive-ready presentations.
• Experience with data automation and visualization tools (e.g., VBA, Power BI) is preferred but not required; a strong skills in learning new systems and demonstrating technology to drive efficiency is highly valued.
• Demonstrates initiative by independently assessing projects, finding opportunities for process improvement, and implementing efficient solutions across teams.
• Strong critical thinking with the ability to align operational and client goals.
• Adaptable and agile in fast-paced, evolving environments.
• Proactively contributes new ideas, challenges the status quo, and helps complete innovative solutions.
• Collaborative, stand outing colleague who also excels in independently managing projects.
• Experienced in implementing and monitoring compliance frameworks.
• Knowledgeable of industry regulations (e.g., GDPR, SOX).