Performance Media Director

Who are we?

A world where complexity is the only constant demands a new breed of company. Brave Bison is a different beast: a media, marketing and technology company purpose built for the digital era.

Our universe is made up of award-winning business arms Brave Bison, Engage, SocialChain and MTM. And we’re underpinned by leading marketing training practice, MiniMBA, as well as our very own social-first media network who deliver monthly views in the billions for some of the biggest channels in sport and entertainment across YouTube, Snap, Meta and TikTok.

We’re a global collective who live and breathe digital, working with some of the boldest brands in the world to capitalise on the complexity that defines the modern marketing landscape.

Our mission

New platforms, new behaviours, new audiences, new trends, new technologies, new regulations—our clients’ worlds get more complex daily. Their agency partnerships shouldn’t. It’s our job to cut through the chaos, make the complex simple and navigate a clear path to growth for them.

That’s why we make it our mission to capitalise on complexity for our clients—across consultancy, capability and execution—by crafting dynamic digital solutions that outpace tomorrow’s challenges.

Our values

We’re a proudly diverse business comprised of deep specialists across media, marketing, training and technology. Although our skills, backgrounds and beliefs may differ, we are united by four core shared values:

Bold Curiosity.

We run at change and challenge convention because we love to push the boundaries of what the world thinks is possible. We champion discovery, go deep into our clients’ worlds and are always hungry to learn more about them, our specialisms and each other.

Connected Clarity.

We are focused in our collaboration — joining the right dots between our clients, our partners and our herd of experts to deliver agile solutions at speed and scale. We set a shared ambition from the outset, are transparent at every stage and always strive to make the complex simple.

Positive Encouragement.

We want to make working with us the best part of someone’s day. We lift one other up, find the fun in the day to day and are committed to ensuring everyone belongs.

Constant Impact.

We believe in outcomes over outputs. We’re goal orientated, results driven and data-led. We show up with passion every day. And we’re always honing our craft.

About Brave Bison Performance

With over 20 years experience growing our clients’ businesses through digital media, we help brands leverage the right data, right partners and right tech to capitalise on complexity and supercharge their online growth.

By going deep into our clients’ world, investing their budget where it will work the hardest and ensuring that we only win when they win, we stand for braver digital in a world of opportunity.

Role Overview

Brave Bison Performance & Commerce is looking for a Performance Director to lead the strategy, planning, and activation for some of our flagship accounts..

This is a high‑visibility, high‑impact role for someone who lives and breathes performance media, understands how modern consumers actually behave, and can translate that into cross‑channel strategies that punch above weight. You'll bring depth in Paid Search, Paid Social, and Programmatic Display, paired with a test‑and‑learn mindset and a passion for building future‑fit performance ecosystems.

You'll sit at the heart of one of the fastest‑growing agency groups in the UK, partnering directly with senior client stakeholders and leading a team of talented specialists across channels and markets. You'll also play an active role in shaping Brave Bison's paid media proposition - contributing to new business, thought leadership and the agency's wider growth.

If you love solving complex performance problems and pushing brands forward through digital excellence, this role is for you.

Key Responsibilities

1. Lead Performance Strategy

Own the vision and execution of performance media strategy across Paid Search, Paid Social, Display, and emerging channels.

Partner closely with senior stakeholders to shape seasonal plans, commercial responses, product‑launch frameworks, and full‑funnel thinking.

Translate brand moments, athlete partnerships, and product priorities into data‑driven, audience‑first media plans that drive measurable outcomes.

2. Cross‑Channel Planning & Innovation

Build performance frameworks that link new audiences through traffic focused campaigns with lower‑funnel conversion and retention.

Create integrated planning approaches that combine media, creative, retail, and commerce signals.

Stay ahead of platform innovation and bring Brave Bison‑level energy to identifying new opportunities, formats, partnerships, and betas.

Champion AI adoption across the department - identifying where automation, predictive tooling, and AI‑enabled optimisation can meaningfully improve performance and efficiency.

3. Paid Search, Social & Display Excellence

Provide senior technical leadership across Google Ads, SA360, Microsoft, Meta, TikTok, YouTube, DV360, and other key platforms.

Ensure world‑class campaign architecture, optimisation routines, automation strategies, and measurement frameworks.

Partner with analytics and creative teams to continually improve performance through audience segmentation, dynamic creative, and predictive modelling.

4. Senior Client Leadership

Act as the primary performance partner - seen as a genuine extension of clients senior marketing leadership.

Lead strategic presentations, quarterly business reviews, performance deep dives, and annual planning cycles.

Deliver clear, story‑driven insights that cut through complexity and focus on commercial impact - with a particular emphasis on ROI storytelling that connects media activity to business outcomes.

Proactively unlock new opportunities to strengthen performance engines.

Balance assertiveness and diplomacy to constructively challenge client thinking where needed, driving better outcomes through structured problem‑solving and well‑evidenced recommendations.

5. Team Leadership & Development

Lead, inspire, and challenge a multidisciplinary team of search, social, and programmatic experts.

Foster a culture built on curiosity, innovation, experimentation, and operational excellence.

Support learning pathways, certifications, platform training, and ongoing career development.

Drive a growth mindset across the team - modelling resilience, encouraging proactive development, and holding yourself and others accountable for continuous improvement.

6. Measurement, Insight & Performance Growth

Elevate measurement frameworks that integrate platform data, attribution, incrementality testing, and business outcomes.

Work closely with analytics to build dashboards, reporting suites, and predictive tools.

Champion test‑and‑learn programmes across markets, continually raising the performance bar.

Own portfolio‑level forecasting and oversee QA frameworks to ensure budgets, pacing, and quality standards are consistently airtight across all markets.

7. Business Development & Thought Leadership

Contribute to Brave Bison's paid media new business strategy - supporting pitches, crafting compelling narratives, and coordinating cross‑functional input to help win work.

Represent the agency externally through thought leadership, industry events, and marketing activity that reinforces Brave Bison's performance credentials.

Skills & Experience Required

Essential

7–10+ years' experience in performance media with deep specialism in Paid Search, Paid Social, and Programmatic Display.

Proven track record leading large or global accounts.

Highly confident working with senior marketing stakeholders.

Strong analytical capability and ability to convert data into commercially relevant insights.

Exceptional communication and storytelling sk