Senior Investment Associate

WPP Media•New York, NY

1d•$45,000 - $90,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Investment Associate handles the day-to-day negotiation, management, and execution of integrated and digital video spend for assigned clients. The role implements media negotiations and buying or activation for one or more accounts, provides market insights, trends, and pricing benchmarks, and oversees spending across major vendors while monitoring client budgets and KPI adherence. The role works closely with Planning teams to ensure final buys support approved plan objectives and strategy. The position also supports investment team processes and team development, including guiding Associates, educating media teams on investment processes, and training employees on tools and best practices. It requires collaboration with internal teams and vendors, strong analytical and negotiation capabilities, and current knowledge of the national broadcast marketplace and digital trends.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in advertising, marketing, business administration, or communications, or equivalent professional work experience.
At least 1 year of prior digital or video investment experience is desired.
Ability to work successfully both in a team and independently.
Thorough understanding of the media landscape and fast-moving digital trends.
Strong quantitative, analytical, and results-oriented skills.
Strong understanding of interactive research tools.
Solid negotiation skills and tactics.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment and communicate effectively across all levels.
Ability to multitask, work successfully with teams, and work under pressure.
Excellent time-management and follow-through skills.
Advanced proficiency in Excel and intermediate proficiency in PowerPoint and Word.

Responsibilities

Integrate with Communication/Strategic Planning teams to understand objectives, KPIs, strategies, and audiences so tactical buys deliver against goals.
Participate in vendor RFP selection and help manage RFP processes across applicable digital channels.
Help centrally manage negotiations, rate tracking, planning costs, benchmarking, and budget management for assigned accounts.
Improve pricing, efficiencies, and impact by consolidating buys across partners, the agency, and WPP Media.
Manage vendor relationships, including inventory availability, insertion orders, and buy inclusion or exclusion notifications.
Develop partner scoring models to rank partners for buy development.
Obtain internal approval for all supply sources on tactical buys.
Develop tactical buys with the larger Investment team.
Assist Associates with entering partner buys into buying platforms, sending insertion orders and contracts, and preparing campaigns for launch, including trafficking and ad-serving setup.
Ensure buys are entered correctly into Prisma, including naming conventions, budgets, placements, compliance, and updates, and ensure campaign launches and delivery or pacing are on track.
Build ongoing vendor relationships and provide updates or recommendations.
Create partner points of view and stay current on partner and marketplace innovations, advertising models, and technologies.
Follow up proactively on client-team requests while remaining aware of deadlines and investment KPIs.
Participate in department projects and committees.
Estimate, update, and adjust ratings by demographic and quarter.
Analyze upfront network proposals and create recommendation books.
Issue order letters and negotiate rates, special placements, and added value according to strategy.
Negotiate buys for cost efficiency, goal delivery, and vendor agreements.
Document negotiations, makegoods, and credits.
Ensure accuracy of Donovan input, buys, and order forms.
Analyze buy performance, including post-buys and positioning reports.
Collaborate with Analytics to identify and activate buy optimizations.
Track media expenditures to ensure agency and budget compliance and manage monthly billing.
Run commercial time-period rotation and pod-position reports.
Oversee commercial inventory allocation and maintenance, monitor audience delivery, and negotiate makegoods.
Maintain communication with Communications Planning teams to ensure timely delivery of requests.
Maintain vendor relationships to ensure quality buys and collaborate with media team members to resolve billing issues.
Attend internal and external media presentations.
Maintain current knowledge of the national broadcast marketplace and its opportunities.
Assist and guide Associates regarding responsibilities, workload, and development.
Build and maintain relationships with media, technology, analytics, internal teams, and media and technology publishers.
Foster camaraderie within the Investment team and with key stakeholders.
Educate media teams on the investment process, provide guidance to team members, and train employees on tools and best practices.