Group Director, Client Operations

Adelphi Group•New York, NY

1d•$180,000 - $200,000•Hybrid

About The Position

If you are looking for a people-first organization that can offer you the career you crave, UM is your home. We are the destination of choice for the world’s best talent, where every individual is empowered to unleash their limitless potential and do the best work of their careers. We are always searching for passionate team members who love media and live and breathe our core values of Curiosity, Courage, and Community. We seek out those who aren’t afraid to ask the tough questions, are excited to explore the nuances, and are hungry for personal growth and continuous learning. People who thrive at UM are collaborators by nature who pursue diverse perspectives because they understand that true innovation is driven by inclusivity. As a people-first agency, we provide the information, tools and technology, career development, and empowerment our people need to realize their potential and achieve their career ambitions. A global media network within the IPG Mediabrands family, UM operates in over 100 countries, with 3,000+ people innovating on a roster of powerful brands and our client campaigns have been recognized by the industry’s most competitive global showcases like Cannes Lions, Festival of Media Global, and WARC. As a result of our people-first commitment, UM has been celebrated as a FORTUNE Best Workplace in Advertising & Marketing in the US, a Campaign Best Place to Work in EMEA, a Campaign Asia Diverse & Inclusive Workplace in APAC, a top 3 agency in LATAM by The Effies, and ranked the number one agency in both Canada and MENAT by RECMA. The Client Operations Lead is responsible for driving operational excellence across key client accounts, ensuring a high-quality, scalable client experience through strong governance, effective workflows, budget stewardship, and disciplined ways of working. Working closely with Client Leaders, Finance, Activation, and Media Capability teams, the role ensures client operating models are clear, fit for purpose, and consistently applied, while supporting smooth onboarding, transitions, and transformation initiatives. As part of the Client Operations community, the Client Operations Lead also contributes to building capability, driving consistency, and advancing best practices through automation, AI, integrated data and technology solutions, and well-defined processes.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in client operations, agency operations, delivery governance or operational leadership within a complex, multi-market environment.
5+ years of leadership experience in operations or client operations within a US-based media or marketing services environment.
Strong understanding of US media workflows, financial operations and delivery models
Proven ability to design, embed and govern operational processes at scale, including tool adoption and change management programs.
Experience leading financial tracking modernization efforts — including workflow tool implementation, reconciliation process improvement and budget governance.
Demonstrated success in media operations process redesign, including campaign lifecycle mapping, SLA management and trafficking workflow optimization.
Comfortable making decisions in ambiguous, multi-stakeholder environments with competing priorities.
Strong client credibility and calm executive presence; able to operate confidently at senior client and leadership levels.
Pragmatic, outcome-focused mindset with a bias toward simplification, automation and clarity.

Responsibilities

Own the operational integrity for a key client, ensuring our operating model is delivered with accuracy, consistency and confidence across all teams.
Lead best practice approaches to operational delivery, embedding rigor across workflows, controls, reporting and escalation.
Act as a senior operational escalation point for complex delivery, governance or execution issues, ensuring swift resolution and minimal client impact.
Partner with Client Leaders and Finance to support scope development, staffing models, resource governance and labor tracking.
Ensure robust operational controls, audit readiness and financial governance are embedded into day-to-day delivery.
Drive automation and simplification of financial and operational processes to reduce manual effort, error and duplication.
Partner closely with Finance to ensure operational processes support commercial accuracy, transparency and accountability.
Establish a single source of truth for budget pacing, reconciliation and spend accountability across all campaigns.
Define and enforce financial governance workflows — including approval chains, audit trails and variance reporting — to ensure commercial accuracy and client confidence.
Partner with Finance and Client Leaders to automate recurring financial reporting and reduce manual reconciliation burden.
Drive the assessment, rollout and governance of workflow management platforms (e.g. task management, campaign trafficking, approval workflows) across the team.
Define clear tool ownership, usage standards and compliance expectations to ensure consistent adoption across all workstreams.
Identify and resolve workflow gaps and duplication, ensuring tools function as an integrated operational system rather than isolated point solutions.
Develop and maintain workflow documentation, SOPs and training materials to support sustained tool adoption.
Design and execute a structured change management approach for all new tool and process rollouts — covering communications, training, adoption tracking and feedback loops.
Build stakeholder buy-in at all levels — from exec sponsors to day-to-day practitioners — ensuring changes land with clarity and minimal disruption.
Proactively monitor adoption metrics and address non-compliance or usage gaps with targeted enablement, not just enforcement.
Champion a culture of continuous improvement - gathering user feedback, iterating on tools and processes, and sharing lessons learned across the team.
Lead and optimize operations for purposes of enhanced client integration, alignment and work product - including campaign lifecycle mapping and workflow standardization.
Conduct automation assessments leveraging OMC capabilities and resources to identify opportunities to reduce manual lift and accelerate delivery.
Establish a harmonized set of operating protocols across media channels, ensuring consistent standards for trafficking, quality control and delivery governance.
Conduct a deep-dive assessment of performance against the current SLA structure, with particular focus on Core SLA obligations.
Identify key friction points, bottlenecks and systemic delivery risks - translating findings into actionable process improvements and governance updates.
Define and implement an ongoing SLA monitoring cadence, including clear escalation paths, resolution timelines and client-facing reporting.
Partner with clients and agency teams to design and deliver operational solutions that meet specific client requirements while aligning to Omnicom standards.
Analyze complex and competing requirements, translating them into practical, scalable operational solutions.
Resolve conflicting stakeholder input by making clear decisions that prioritize standardization, delivery integrity and client satisfaction.
Steward best practice assets, playbooks, templates and toolkits to support operational excellence at scale.

Benefits

medical and dental coverage
401(k) plans
flex spending
life insurance
disability
employee discount program
employee stock purchase program
paid family benefits
discretionary time off days
company-wide Appreciation Weeks
Wellness Days
competitive salary
eligibility for an annual discretionary incentive award or a relevant incentive award