Operations Executive

Starcom is the Human Experience Company; we believe that our clients’ competitive advantage lies in understanding people better, and acting on that understanding faster than the competition.

The future lies in bringing together media, creativity and data to create powerful experiences that will drive faster growth. We are the flagship Publicis Media agency to do this through our Power of One client teams that span clients such as Stellantis, P&G, Samsung, P&O and Visa.

We work differently to most agencies and base many of our models on consultancy ways of working to build a more agile workforce in this hybrid world. We complement our account teams with Squads – small teams that work for a short period to solve a specific brief. We hold cross discipline Sprints to crack client briefs at speed. These processes are designed to fuel high performance and fast results through collaboration.

Even in this most challenging period, Starcom has had an exceptional 12 months. We have welcomed brilliant clients such as Stellantis, Ferrero, Axa, KP Snacks and E.ON into the fold. Our client satisfaction scores are among the highest in the market, significantly above agency norms. We place a huge focus on our team and have driven flagship D&I and L&D programmes within Publicis Media; our goal is to help every individual reach their fullest potential and we encourage everyone to make “Brave Plays” in how they approach their work and their own career development. As a result, we have an exceptionally energised and committed talent base, all of us proud of our welcoming and supportive culture, as evidenced by our recognition as one of Campaign’s Best Places to Work in 2021.

Starcom operates in over 100 markets across the world. We have very close ties to our global HQ in Chicago who encourage learning and sharing best practice with our colleagues around the world. We are part of Publicis Groupe.

Job Description

This is an entry level role within the PMX Operations team. The Operations Executive will work across a number of different clients, carrying out financial administration relating to the approval, booking, invoicing and reporting of media campaigns. The majority of the tasks are carried out using databases and excel spreadsheets. A broad knowledge and understanding of all media and buying is beneficial in this role as well as specific client requirements. They will be supported by a Manager / Associate Director, who report in to the PMX Operations Director.

This is an opportunity for an enthusiastic and committed person who enjoys working with data and figures to join a vibrant media agency. We are looking for someone who is self-motivated and eager to learn who will come in and hit the ground running. Key requirements will be excellent numerical skills and attention to detail.

Key Responsibilities

• Completing all tasks accurately and in a timely manner
• Building and maintaining strong internal relationships across multiple teams / departments
• Maintaining central folder containing client approval of media plans
• Putting all campaign budgets on to the database and matching to correct client Purchase Order to ensure that media activity is invoiced  accurately and paid on time
• Sending approvals of media budgets to media owners
• Setting up campaigns each month and dealing with any ad hoc changes
• Completing administrative tasks to ensure campaigns go live on time and that delivery is monitored
• Vouching bookings and reconciling monthly spends in conjunction with Investment team and media owners
• Cross-checking draft invoices and approving them before they are sent to the client
• Investigating and resolving (or escalating) any media vendor invoice queries in a timely manner
• Trafficking digital campaigns
• Pulling data for competitive analysis and compiling the reports
• Developing basic knowledge and understanding of all media in order to spot any errors on plans received from other teams
• Proactively contribute to team meetings, team initiatives and knowledge sharing
• Developing sound knowledge of all necessary tools and systems

Qualifications

This is an opportunity for an enthusiastic and committed person who enjoys working with data and figures to join a vibrant media agency at entry level. We are looking for someone who can come in and hit the ground running. This person should be curious, self-motivated, and eager to learn. They should also be open to getting ‘stuck-in’ with the nuts-and-bolts of the accounts they work on so they can understand the end-to-end process of activating a media plan, enabling them to adopt best practices.

The successful candidate will:

• be self-driven, results-oriented, solutions-focused with a positive outlook
• possess strong communication skills, promptly responding to e-mails and requests.
• excellent project management skills to prioritise tasks on these busy accounts
• have absolute accuracy in all work undertaken
• have excellent maths and numeracy skills
• be confident working with numbers and large amounts of data
• be adept at interpreting data and identifying themes and inconsistencies
• be proficient in the use of Excel spreadsheets with the ability to write and understand basic formulae
• be able to quickly learn and adapt to new systems and databases
• be able to meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment and be effective under pressure
• be able to assimilate information quickly and adhere to processes and best practices
• demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving abilities

Additional Information

Starcom is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of society and does not discriminate on grounds of race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation or gender identity. We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities and for candidates in our application process.  If you need assistance or adjustment due to a disability, please contact us.