Client Finance Manager, Media

Walton Isaacson•Culver City, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Walton Isaacson, LLC’s Client Finance Manager, Media sits within Client Finance and serves as the bridge between Media and Client Finance. The role owns the financial lifecycle of every media buy, from authorization and actualization through client billing, vendor payment, and month-end close, and is accountable for controls that keep the process accurate, timely, and aligned with client agreements. This is a client-facing leadership role. The manager partners directly with clients and their finance teams on billing, reconciliation, and reporting; works alongside Media, Account Management, and external partners; and anticipates and resolves issues while improving how processes run. The role manages and develops the team supporting media billing and vendor payment, maintains financial controls and operating tools, and provides reconciliations, variance analysis, cash-flow summaries, and reporting to leadership. The position is based in Culver City, California, with a hybrid schedule. Candidates must be able to work on-site Tuesday through Thursday, or additional days as business needs require, during designated work hours. The role reports to the Senior Vice President, Client Finance and has direct reports. The stated annual salary range is $110,000 to $130,000.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
Minimum 5 to 7+ years of media finance experience in an agency environment, focused on billing, reconciliation, and month-end close.
Deep understanding of media buying, planning, and billing cycles.
Demonstrated client-facing experience partnering with client finance, procurement, or marketing teams.
Experience owning accruals, unbilled and open-commitment reconciliations, and financial controls.
Proven ability to lead a team and drive cross-functional change with a proactive, solutions-oriented approach.
Proficiency with Microsoft 365, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.
Ability to effectively operate in macOS and/or Windows environments and learn agency-specific systems.
Proficient keyboarding and computer navigation skills sufficient to perform the essential functions efficiently.
Strong written and verbal business communication skills.
Strong organizational and time-management skills, including managing multiple priorities and meeting deadlines.
Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment.
Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
Ability to learn and adapt to new technologies, systems, and business processes.
Ability to work on-site in Culver City Tuesday through Thursday, or additional days as business needs require, during designated work hours.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary bridge between Media and Client Finance, translating media plans, buys, and actualized spend into accurate client billing, forecasts, and financial reporting.
Manage the working cadence between Media and Client Finance, resolving open items, budget revisions, and discrepancies before they affect client billing or vendor payment.
Act as a client-facing finance partner and present billing, reconciliation, and variance information to client marketing, procurement, and finance stakeholders.
Lead client conversations about billing questions, credits, and disputes, partnering with Account Management to resolve them.
Validate all client-facing financial figures before sharing them.
Translate client contract and billing requirements, including MSAs, insertion order terms, and billing deadlines, into the company’s billing processes and controls.
Manage timely and accurate client billing submissions in accordance with client requirements and contractual deadlines.
Manage end-to-end vendor invoice reconciliation within Prisma/Mediaocean or an equivalent system, ensuring timely approval, accurate coding, and transfer into Maconomy.
Manage intercompany billing and ensure invoices and revenue recognition align with monthly financial close.
Reconcile client reporting submissions to billing and resolve discrepancies ahead of client billing deadlines to protect revenue timing and cash flow.
Serve as the initial escalation point for reconciliation or billing delays affecting client relationships, revenue timing, or working capital.
Maintain the Media Billing, Vendor Payment & Financial Controls Playbook and its operating tools, including the month-end calendar, billing checklist, reconciliation templates, variance tracker, and exception log.
Coordinate client reporting updates so that reports reflect actualized spending.
Collaborate with Media and Account Management to review budget-to-actual reports, identify discrepancies, and confirm reconciled media spend.
Manage invoice and billing aging, including 30/60/90+ day items and spend held before invoicing, and own the exception log through resolution.
Run the media month-end close, including unbilled media, accrued vendor costs, open commitments, and forecast-to-actual variance, with reconciliations evidenced and reviewed.
Integrate actualized spend and revised estimates into the monthly forecast, with clear timing, ownership, approvals, and change tracking.
Prepare or review monthly reconciliations of planned versus actual spend and provide monthly variance analysis and cash-flow summaries to leadership.
Develop and maintain dashboards and reporting tools to track reconciliation status, aging, and exceptions by vendor, campaign, and client.
Manage, coach, and develop the team supporting media billing and vendor payment, including cross-training to reduce single points of failure.
Identify root causes, propose solutions, and drive problems through to resolution; anticipate risks to billing accuracy, cash flow, or client relationships and raise them early with options.
Collaborate cross-functionally to improve invoice accuracy and reduce discrepancies; support process-improvement initiatives addressing recurring reconciliation or invoice-flow blockers.
Represent Client Finance in cross-functional reviews with Media, Account Management, Finance & Accounting, and external partners.
Maintain working knowledge of media planning and buying platforms and use financial systems for coding, approvals, billing, and payment workflows.
Work across Prisma/Mediaocean, Maconomy, Wrike, and buys or billing packages managed outside those systems, identifying where manual work bridges gaps.
Support implementation of documentation tools and change-management processes to accurately track budget revisions and media plan updates.
Demonstrate behavior consistent with WI’s standards of conduct; duties may be modified or assigned to meet business needs.