VP, Partnerships - NextGen Social

dentsu•Los Angeles, CA

1d•$113,000 - $182,850•Hybrid

About The Position

Position Description: The Partnerships & Platform division is responsible for all elements of strategic partnerships for the dentsu Media practice in the US. The team sits at the intersection of dentsu’s media agencies (Carat, iProspect and dentsuX), clients, investment and activation communities, and Amplifi, the commercial innovation arm for dentsu. The team is responsible for translating the business needs of dentsu’s clients, the strategic and commercial imperatives of dentsu itself, as well as emergent and established trends across the industry and society into strategic, value-driven, and beneficial partnerships. They also set the strategic agenda for partnerships at dentsu in the marketplace, how that pertains to new business and in product/solution design within dentsu. The VP will operate as a subject matter expert in our Next Gen Social offering, inclusive of paid social, organic social and creator/influencer, both internally and externally – but will be expected to operate across adjacent media channels, environmental contexts and disciplines. The core assignment of the role will be determining the partnership strategy for their specialism, negotiating and delivering partnership agreements against that strategy, and finally ensuring that these partnerships deliver against the core objectives: strategic, innovative, value-driven. Reporting into the SVP, Entertainment Partnerships Lead, this role will be tasked with contributing their core objectives towards the overall partnership strategy and vision across all channels. As a role that touches several capabilities within dentsu – from technology to media investment and activation, trading and planning/strategy – an ability to work with multiple stakeholders to create ‘win wins’ for all. This role will be expected to provide ongoing feedback to senior management on status and priority as well as to future-proof dentsu’s business by building innovative partnerships with key vendors. This role will be a hybrid position, based in either New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. We are looking for candidates who can deliver sustainable change, think strategically, and retain focus in a fast-changing environment. The ideal candidate brings rigor to a multi-disciplinary business with many stakeholders.

Requirements

10-12 years’ experience within the digital industry as a partnership or investment lead at a large agency or partner.
5+ years’ experience management of a team – with proven ability to lead a highly successful team.
Consistent exceptional project management, ability to prioritize and meet deadlines.
Excellent verbal and written communications, presentation, and analytical skills; must be comfortable working with and presenting sophisticated metrics to C-level.
Ability to retain professionalism in all situations.
Passion for problem-solving and collaboration across teams.
Ability to translate complex ideas into actionable solutions.
Strategic thinking and the ability to make critical business decisions aligned with organizational goals.
Experience in organizational transformation and leading large-scale change management programs.
Experience working with multiple senior peers and stakeholders, taking initiative and ownership.
Business acumen, client-centricity, and a commercial mindset are essential, along with a genuine passion for people.
Ability to balance, prioritize and properly assign work associated with multiple, concurrent projects and stakeholders

Responsibilities

Own and lead a portfolio of relationships with partners in the market, distributing pertinent information to management where needed across dentsu stakeholders.
Using market intelligence, client feedback and collaboration across the core stakeholders (Amplifi, Investment & Activation, Agencies), to develop and execute a partnership strategy for the year.
Partner with senior leadership to identify new partnership opportunities to strengthen relationships with key vendors, anticipating critical needs of our business.
Be a leader and subject-matter-expert in assigned specialism within the Partnership community while embracing cross-channel strategy and representing other channels in partnership discussions.
Work closely with Investment & Activation teams and Amplifi to ensure partnership approach meets the needs of our clients and value extraction goals.
Work cohesively across dentsu media and dentsu creative to help drive aligned partnerships and go to market strategies across all aspects of social.
Responsible for properly identifying and assessing commercial opportunity, ensuring opportunity is maximized and successfully delivered.
Be seen as an integrator and problem solver both internally and externally driving partners and maintaining on-time engagement across several variables.
Drive standards of excellence and consistency across the team, including reporting, ways of working, endeavor tracking and partnership compliance.
Support the development of key Partnership themes and lead in external communications of these in market (panels, PR, articles), particularly in area of specialization.
Liaise and partner with Product and Solutions organizations to facilitate partnership development and capability creation within dentsu.
Provide consistent communication and organization of key partnership information to teams and management to capture all the nuanced detail of these commercial agreements and keep on track for deal progression. Including saving key information for easy distribution across the organization.
Consult on client business to build custom partnership plans and subject-matter-expertise of partner landscape.
Participate in new business as subject-matter-expert and/or Partnership leader on value proposition for potential client.