Associate Director, Comms Planning

Adelphi Group•New York, NY

4d•$70,000 - $125,000•Hybrid

About The Position

OMD is seeking an Associate Director, Comms Planning to shape how a leading brand connects with consumers through media. The role translates business priorities, audience understanding, and brand strategy into communications plans that build relevance, strengthen consideration, and support business growth. Working with OMD Strategy leadership, the Associate Director leads day-to-day communications planning across assigned workstreams on a high-profile, fast-moving account. The role develops a clear point of view, brings teams together, and moves work from insight through recommendation to activation. It connects OMD’s strategy, planning, Data Strategy, analytics, and Investment teams with the client and its integrated agency team. The position also coaches junior colleagues, supports direct-report development as the team structure evolves, and helps raise the quality of planning work. Omnicom policy requires employees to work in the office at least three days per week, to the extent permissible by local law, unless additional in-office days are directed by the agency or manager.

Requirements

At least 6 years of relevant experience in communications planning, media strategy, integrated media planning, or audience strategy; agency experience is preferred.
Experience leading planning workstreams on a complex account and turning business objectives into recommendations that teams can activate.
Strong understanding of audience research, segmentation, and customer journeys, including the ability to interpret quantitative and qualitative evidence and work effectively with data specialists.
Broad knowledge of video, social, digital, audio, out-of-home, and partnerships, including how channels work together across brand building and demand generation.
Experience partnering with Investment or activation teams, including briefing, evaluating proposals, and navigating delivery constraints.
Strong storytelling, presentation, and client relationship skills, with confidence in making and defending recommendations.
Ability to manage competing priorities, work independently, and maintain quality in a fast-moving environment.
Experience coaching or supervising junior colleagues.
Proficiency in presentation and analysis tools and familiarity with audience and media research platforms.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience.

Nice To Haves

Omni experience.
Insurance or financial services experience.

Responsibilities

Develop audience-led communications plans by translating client briefs into business and communications objectives, priority audiences, and desired perception or behavior changes.
Combine consumer, category, competitive, and cultural insights to identify opportunities and determine how the brand’s positioning should influence its media presence.
Develop communications frameworks defining channel roles, messaging context, sequencing, timing, and investment priorities across brand and performance activity.
Partner with Data Strategy and client teams to turn audience segmentation, personas, and customer journeys into planning and activation choices.
Use Omni and relevant first-party, syndicated, platform, and qualitative research to develop recommendations; brief specialists on research questions and interpret findings for planning.
Work with Data Strategy and activation teams to assess audience scale, addressability, overlap, and data limitations, ensuring audiences can be reached and data use follows client and agency requirements.
Engage Investment early to shape achievable recommendations that balance audience fit, reach, frequency, cost, timing, and partner capabilities.
Write briefs for Investment and activation teams that set out audience priorities, channel roles, desired outcomes, and criteria for evaluating partner responses; resolve gaps between strategy and execution proposals.
Collaborate with creative, social, sponsorship, and other agency partners to connect paid media with the broader communications plan; evaluate cultural, sports, and partnership opportunities against client objectives and brand fit.
Own assigned workstreams from brief through recommendation and activation handoff; set priorities, coordinate inputs and deadlines, and clarify decisions and next steps.
Respond to changing briefs and tight timelines with sound judgment; make evidence-based recommendations, state assumptions, and escalate material risks with proposed solutions.
Present persuasive recommendations to clients and internal teams, challenge assumptions constructively, and turn discussions into decisions and agreed actions.
Partner with analytics and Investment to define success measures and a focused learning agenda before activation, connecting communications objectives to brand and business outcomes.
Translate campaign results, audience findings, and market developments into recommendations for optimization and future planning; develop tests with clear hypotheses and decision criteria.
Coach junior colleagues, delegate clearly, and review work for accuracy, strategic logic, and readiness for client discussion; support direct-report development as the team structure evolves.
Bring relevant media, technology, and cultural developments into team discussions, share useful learning, and develop promising ideas into practical client opportunities.