Media Operations Manager

Company Description

Publicis Media is looking for a highly organised, commercially minded and future-focused Regional Media Operations Manager to strengthen media delivery across Central and West Africa. 

 

This role will build the operational discipline that enables our teams to deliver accurate, timely, compliant and commercially responsible media services across multiple markets. 

 

Working at the intersection of media, finance, data, technology and governance, the successful candidate will connect campaign workflows, financial controls, reporting, reconciliation and partner accountability into one visible and scalable operating system. 

 

This is not simply a traffic or administrative role. It is an opportunity to help shape the future of media operations in CWAR, improving how teams work today while preparing the region for more automated and AI-enabled ways of working. 

Responsibilities

Media operations and workflow governance 

• Own and improve end-to-end workflows across briefing, planning, authorisation, buying, activation, reporting, reconciliation, billing and campaign closure. 

• Establish clear roles, responsibilities, service levels, approval routes and escalation processes across Hub, cluster and local-market teams. 

• Maintain visibility of priorities, deadlines, dependencies, workload, risks and campaign status. 

• Identify operational bottlenecks early and coordinate practical recovery actions. 

Campaign quality and data governance 

• Lead campaign-readiness and quality-assurance processes across media plans, budgets, taxonomy, platform setup, tracking, creative assets and reporting requirements. 

• Ensure campaigns are correctly classified and structured for accurate dashboard and reporting outputs. 

• Maintain clear QA checklists, issue logs, supporting evidence and audit-ready campaign documentation. 

• Partner with Data and Insights teams to improve data completeness, dashboard readiness and reporting automation. 

Financial stewardship 

• Connect approved budgets, purchase orders, booked media, supplier costs, client billing and reconciliations. 

• Track planned, authorised, booked, delivered, invoiced and actual spend. 

• Identify budget discrepancies, invoice mismatches, unbilled activity and overdue reconciliations early. 

• Support accurate forecasting, accruals, campaign closure and agency revenue protection. 

• Work closely with Finance, Planning, Buying and Account Management to ensure strong financial control throughout the campaign lifecycle. 

Technology and transformation 

• Lead operational adoption and governance of Starscape across planning, campaign, billing and reconciliation workflows. 

• Coordinate access, onboarding, refresher training, process guidance, issue management and user adoption. 

• Coordinate process mapping, data preparation, user-acceptance testing, pilot adoption, change management and benefits tracking. 

• Identify opportunities to reduce manual effort through standardisation, automation and responsible use of AI. 

• Ensure automated workflows retain appropriate human review, financial control and data governance. 

Partner, compliance and service governance 

• Establish clear operational standards for local agencies, affiliates, media owners, monitoring partners and technology vendors. 

• Maintain service scorecards, action trackers, risk registers and escalation logs. 

• Coordinate audit readiness and ensure all required approvals, contracts, invoices, reports, reconciliations and evidence are properly maintained. 

• Lead root-cause reviews and convert recurring issues into process, capability or technology improvements. 

Capability building 

• Develop practical onboarding, playbooks and training for media teams and partners. 

• Coach teams on workflow discipline, prioritisation, financial controls, documentation and escalation. 

• Build a culture of accountability, continuous improvement and early issue resolution. 

• Help teams adopt new processes and technologies with clarity and confidence. 

Qualifications

• At least five years’ relevant experience in media operations, advertising operations, campaign governance, project management, finance operations or a related discipline. 

• Strong understanding of the media campaign lifecycle across planning, buying, activation, reporting, reconciliation and billing. 

• Practical experience managing budgets, purchase orders, supplier invoices, reconciliations and financial trackers. 

• Advanced Excel capability and strong PowerPoint and written-documentation skills. 

• Ability to influence senior stakeholders, specialist teams, finance colleagues, market agencies and external partners. 

• Excellent organisation, attention to detail, communication and follow-through. 

• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-moving, multi-market environment. 

• Excellent written and spoken English. 

 

Advantageous experience 

 

• Regional or multi-country media-agency experience. 

• Experience with Starscape or a comparable media planning, buying, billing or reconciliation platform. 

• Experience supporting automation, AI-enabled workflow transformation, UAT or system adoption. 

• Familiarity with Power BI or other reporting and visualisation tools. 

• Working proficiency in French. 

• Formal training in project management, process improvement, finance, data or operations. 

Additional Information

This role offers the opportunity to shape how a modern regional media function operates across CWAR. You will work across markets, disciplines and technology platforms to improve operational visibility, financial discipline, campaign quality and ways of working. 

You will also help prepare the region for the next generation of media operations, where reliable data, standardised processes, automation and human judgement work together to deliver stronger outcomes.