**Company description** Zenith is a full-service media agency with capabilities and expertise across all channels and disciplines. Zenith is part of Publicis Media, the #1 media buying network in the Americas and #2 globally. As “The ROI Agency,” Zenith’s expertise lies in driving real, tangible business outcomes, not just media metrics, that will have a measurable effect on our clients’ business. Every investment we make has an ROI mindset—not just for our clients, but for our agency at large. We’re focused on driving the maximum value for our people, our capabilities and our media investments for some of the world’s leading brands. **Overview** The Associate Director of Investment Excellence is responsible for day-to-day media buy activation, budget, and billing management, and buy hygiene oversight on the Inspire Media Engine (IME) Investment team. The Supervisor must understand the importance of ensuring media buys run and deliver as planned and that timely and accurate billing and budget management of those buys occurs. The Associate Director must be a nimble, problem-solver with a passion for the work and must be able to manage relationships at all levels and continuously work to identify opportunities for moving the client and agency business forward. **Responsibilities** + **General** + Play a leading role in all aspects of campaign activation including but not limited to campaign implementation, activation, QA and reconciliation. + Drive activation excellence as it relates to Linear TV, OTT, digital, custom content programs, and emerging media channels. + Manage up to VP regularly to keep them informed on important projects and internal team updates. + Elevate issues and opportunities to leadership as needed. + Ensure all responsibilities are executed to the highest level of quality – on time and with efficiency. + Build, foster, and manage all relationships maintaining contact and building rapport with various departments to ensure excellence relative to operations, trafficking, and reporting. + Serve as a resource with intimate knowledge of activation, verification and trafficking platforms – Media Ocean/MBox/OX, Prisma, DCM/CM, and MOAT and/or DoubleVerify + Craft knowledgeable and relevant POVs that can aid in establishing best practices in activation, QA and media operations. + Oversees teams’ work to ensure accuracy in the execution of media buys, trafficking, client billing, and invoice clearance. + **Financial Stewardship** + Partner with Operations and Client Finance to ensure client billing is accurate each month. + Manage vendor billing which includes but is not limited to insertion orders, monthly billing reports, discrepancy resolution and reconciliation. + Work closely with Operations and appropriate IME team members to work on month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close procedures such as: accruals, reconciliations, and adjustments. + Active management of planned and actualized budget tracking, QA against authorizations and planned budgets, budget forecasting and reporting. + **Daily Project Management & Maintenance** + Day-to-day project management, deliverable tracking and work prioritization. + Troubleshoot ad delivery to ensure media delivers on expected buying guidelines. + Supports Team with the following deliverables: + System Inputs + Plan updates for options, makegoods and ADUs + Campaign builds + Taxonomy compliance + Billing deadlines + RFI/reconciliation + Platform Tax and Agency Fees + Options Workbooks + Client Draft Billing + Managing traffic requests/SLAs and escalating any concerns to leadership + Template and process development + Accurate and timely audit deliverable delivery + Oversee the delivery of buying and/or digital trafficking specs and guidelines to key external and internal partners. + Collaborate with Operations Team to develop and improve processes to ensure data integrity and implement across the agency. + Share ideas and solutions for pain points/problems in processes; work alongside internal and external teams to develop best practices, enhancements, and tools to improve them. + **Mentorship** + Develop and grow junior team members by ensuring goals and expectations are being set and met on an ongoing basis. + Delegate and provide guidance to junior team members on appropriate projects and tasks to help with the growth and development. + Keep manager informed on project, task and performance progress. + Train and support Negotiators in regard to billing, trafficking and QA **Qualifications** + Bachelor’s degree in marketing, advertising, communications, consumer insights or equivalent + Agency experience highly preferred + 5+ years of related experience + Ability to work independently and collaboratively with diverse groups + Exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving abilities with the ability to think unconventionally in proposing solutions + A proven ability to multi-task and manage multiple projects effectively and work well under pressure to deliver high-quality work within tight deadlines + Strong attention to detail + Proven experience in effectively coaching and developing others + MS Office: Excel and PowerPoint proficiency is a must + Knowledge of MBOX and Prisma + Excellent communication, organization and interpersonal skills **Additional information** Our Publicis Groupe motto “Viva La Différence” means we’re better together, and we believe that our differences make us stronger. It means we honor and celebrate all identities, across all facets of intersectionality, and it underpins all that we do as an organization. We are focused on fostering belonging and creating equitable & inclusive experiences for all talent. Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off. If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact USMSTACompliance@publicis.com. All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines. Compensation Range: $95,950 - $150,995 annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 4/1/2025. Veterans Encouraged to Apply **Keywords:** + MediaOcean, MBox/OX, Prisma, DCM, CM360, Excel, Ad Verification, Media Investment Operations