Digital Lead

About WPP Media

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth.

WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.

For more information, visit wppmedia.com .

Job Title: Digital Lead

Company: WPP Media South Africa

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Reports To : Client Partner

Type : Full-Time

Core Role Principle

• The Digital Lead owns the digital outcome end-to-end.
• The Digital Lead owns the digital outcome end-to-end.

Specialist teams remain responsible for specialist channel execution and technical excellence, while the Digital Lead ensures that strategy, planning, activation, optimisation, measurement and client communication operate as one connected digital workstream.

Role Purpose

The Digital Lead is responsible for leading the end-to-end digital delivery of the client portfolio, ensuring digital strategy, planning, activation, optimisation and measurement are connected and delivered to a consistently high standard.

The role acts as the central digital owner across the client team, translating client briefs and business objectives into clear digital strategies and ensuring these are successfully executed across all relevant digital channels.

The Digital Lead connects Client Leadership, Strategy, Planning, Activation, Ad Operations, Data & Analytics and external partners, providing clear ownership of the digital workstream from brief through to campaign completion.

This is both a strategic and operational leadership role. The successful candidate must be comfortable leading senior client conversations while also maintaining strong oversight of campaign execution, performance, timelines, budgets and delivery quality.

Key Responsibilities

Digital Leadership & Client Partnership

Act as the senior digital point of contact for the client and internal client leadership team.

Build strong relationships with key client stakeholders and become a trusted advisor on digital media and marketing, including commerce.

Translate business and marketing objectives into clear digital media strategies and actionable plans.

Lead digital conversations across client meetings, planning sessions, performance reviews and business reviews.

Proactively identify opportunities to improve digital effectiveness, innovation and business impact.

Ensure digital recommendations are commercially grounded and connected to the client's wider communications strategy.

Briefing & Strategic Development

Own the digital response to client briefs from initial briefing through to campaign activation.

Interrogate briefs and ensure objectives, audiences, KPIs, budgets, timelines and deliverables are clearly defined.

Work closely with Strategy and Planning teams to develop integrated digital recommendations.

Determine the appropriate role of channels across the consumer journey.

Ensure clear strategic rationale exists behind channel selection, investment allocation, audience strategy and measurement.

Translate strategy into clear direction for specialist activation teams.

Digital Media Planning

Provide leadership and quality control across digital planning including:

Paid Social

Search / Generative Search

Programmatic

Online Video / YouTube

Display

Premium Publishers

Connected TV

Retail and Commerce Media

Influencer / Creator Media

Emerging digital platforms and technologies

Ensure plans demonstrate strong audience thinking, channel roles, budget allocation, reach and frequency considerations, KPI selection and optimisation strategies.

Campaign Delivery & Execution

Maintain end-to-end oversight of digital campaigns from approval through to launch.

Ensure all campaign dependencies are managed including media approvals, budgets, POs, creative assets, tracking requirements, platform builds and launch dates.

Work closely with Campaign Management / PMO to ensure timelines and deliverables remain on track.

Brief specialist activation teams clearly and ensure campaign builds reflect the approved strategy and media plan.

Ensure appropriate QA processes are completed before campaigns go live.

Identify delivery risks early and escalate where required.

Maintain visibility of campaign status across the full client portfolio.

Activation Leadership

Provide leadership and oversight to channel specialists without replacing specialist expertise.

The Digital Lead is responsible for ensuring:

Campaigns are built according to approved strategy.

Audiences and targeting align to campaign objectives.

Platform recommendations are appropriate.

Budgets are correctly allocated.

Campaign structures enable effective optimisation.

Tracking and measurement requirements are implemented.

Specialists have clear briefs and expectations.

Cross-channel activity operates as one connected digital ecosystem.

Performance & Optimisation

Maintain oversight of live campaign performance across the portfolio.

Lead regular performance and optimisation reviews with activation teams.

Ensure campaigns are actively optimised against agreed KPIs rather than simply monitored.

Identify underperformance early and drive corrective action.

Encourage budget movement towards stronger-performing audiences, platforms, formats or channels where appropriate.

Translate platform metrics into meaningful client and business outcomes.

Measurement, Reporting & Insights

Partner with Data & Analytics teams to establish appropriate campaign measurement frameworks.

Ensure KPIs are directly connected to campaign and business objectives.

Review reporting before it reaches the client and ensure it provides clear interpretation rather than data alone.

Turn campaign performance into actionable insights and future recommendations.

Identify recurring learnings across campaigns and brands.

Build a continuous learning agenda that improves future planning and investment decisions.

Digital Governance & Operational Excellence

Establish and maintain high standards of digital campaign governance.

Ensure campaigns follow agreed briefing, approval, trafficking, QA and reporting processes.

Maintain oversight of digital budgets and campaign pacing.

Work with Finance and Operations teams to ensure PO, billing and reconciliation requirements are managed effectively.

Ensure adherence to brand safety, privacy, platform governance and client compliance requirements.

Identify opportunities to simplify workflows and improve operational efficiency.

Innovation & Future-Ready Capability

Keep the client and wider team informed of relevant developments across platforms, technology and consumer behaviour.

Identify opportunities across AI, automation, creator marketing, commerce, retail media and emerging platforms.

Work with platform and technology partners to bring relevant innovation opportunities to the client.

Translate innovation into practical use cases rather than innovation for innovation's sake.

Develop test-and-learn roadmaps and ensure learnings are captured and scaled.

Team Leadership & Capability Development

Provide digital leadership across the wider client team.

Coach planners, executives and activation specialists to strengthen digital capability.

Establish clear expectations around quality, accountability and delivery.

Create stronger collaboration between Strategy, Planning, Activation, Analytics and Operations.

Identify