About Us 

Initiative unlocks business growth for the world’s most ambitious brands. We believe in the power of media to reshape our industry and orchestrate a brand’s entire consumer experience, by balancing both what unites people and what makes them different.  

When brands unite people in culture, they build Fame, and when brands connect individuals to their unique journeys, they build customer Flow.  

Media responsibility is at the forefront of everything we do, whether it’s creating media plans that reflect the diversity of our communities, promote brand safety, and foster sustainability.  

Our agency celebrates diversity in an inclusive environment where all of our 6,000+ strong talent across 90+ markets feel seen, heard, and valued. Our vision is to create not only a better media company, but also a better media industry, and maybe even a better world.  

Department Overview

Initiative is building the most streamlined and integrated Partnerships teams in the industry. We do not operate in silos.  As such, our best and brightest Partnerships leaders from both Traditional and Digital backgrounds are charged with leading the Partnerships teams and delivering on the following:

• Knowledgeable media marketplace landscapes internally and with clients
• All Digital (Paid Social, Programmatic, content partnerships, Digital direct), in-cinema, OTT and other video media partner evaluation, selection and recommendations leveraging strategic / consumer insights, marketplace insights, and Initiative’s proprietary partner selection data and toolsets
• Strategic partnership solutions, negotiation/go‐to-market strategies, and audience—focused strategies, designed to deliver on client objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Innovation and emerging partner test opportunities to drive client KPIs
• Support MAGNA & Orion aggregate negotiations across all digital media channels
• Support and facilitate IPG Mediabrands corporate & the senior member team member agency and external media initiatives

Role Description 

AWS (Amazon Web Service) is a high-profile B2B media account at Initiative. This role working within the centralised EMEA Digital Hub dedicated to AWS servicing clients in Europe. Based in London and servicing the AWS Brand client team in Europe. This role is part of a larger AWS CAM team and will partner very closely with or channel specialist teams across paid social and programmatic.

The AWS team at Initiative work in a dynamic, fast paced environment where innovating on behalf of consumers is at the heart of everything we do.

The Sr Negotiator, Digital Partnerships EMEA (Senior Account Executive) is required to develop, recommend, execute and evaluate digital media plans from inception to completion with moderate oversight from the Associate Director. The Sr Negotiator will work closely with the Director across multiple campaigns but will have the opportunity to take responsibility and ownership of key digital campaigns such as F1.  This role will include responding to client briefs, meeting with media partners to vet opportunities, work closely with channel team digital specialists and coordinate responses and deliverables across all teams to ensure a cohesive digital strategy. This role will also play a supporting role in activation for both digital direct and programmatic inclusive of trafficking and bookings on Prisma.

To thrive on this account, you will be naturally proactive and taking initiative to keep campaigns progessing forward. You will also love working in a team environment and be confident in building relationships both internally and externally with clients and partners. This is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to hone their digital expertise and develop their client leadership skill set.

Key Responsibilities

Client

• Strengthen the EMEA client relationship: Able to take on a more client-facing role with moderate oversight from senior team. Amazon clients are open to new opportunities and INI should always look for ways to better the relationship in multi-faceted ways
• Organisation and connectivity: Attend regular client status meetings, global request meetings and maintain on-going rapport with all relevant parties to drive towards a positive goal. The role will involve delivering regular key updates and hold constructive discussions. It is important over time to develop confidence to deliver those key updates and provide solutions to client problems, with the support of the Associate Director.
• Backed by Data: Analyze and provide clients with research data, vendor planning documents and media/marketing information to support their decisions. Research and data are readily available to us through the Analytics team, the internet and previous campaign reports. This is a key feature to producing not only solid client recommendations but how in a 360-degree manner, it can fuel Amazon’s direction to us each quarter through to the following year
• Be Yourself: Bring a confident attitude and their own personality to develop a strong lasting client relationship. Clients are looking for someone who will engage with them, solve their problems before they anticipate them and bring calm to an ever-changing technological line of business

Internal

• Collaboration: Work collaboratively with activation, planning, strategy and analytics team members to develop and manage media plans for Digital (display, mobile, audio, social & video). Work closely with Strategy and CAM teams to ensure that overall strategy is woven into all media choices, particularly for digital direct activations
• Communication: Provide senior-level guidance/updates to Associates on day-to-day functions. Continue to communicate & coordinate effectively to managers and wider teams to achieve the outcomes desired in line with the task
• Be A Leader and Team Player: Mentor and assist in the training of Associates
• Trusted voice: Develop the RFPs and oversee the submission process with both existing and new innovative media partners. Lead the opportunities to work with lots of forward-thinking media partners such as New York Times, LinkedIn, Google, Meta, Acast, Spotify, Bloomberg & The Economist to name a few. Including several localised high impact publishers within Europe and LATAM. Deliver on client KPI’s using data and analytics, via multi-faceted, strategic partnerships, while delivering maximum strategic value and efficiency
• Personal & client growth: Participate in the development of KPIs with client lead. This is relevant to both the role’s personal objectives & the wider team, which are key to personal growth areas within the team and agency. However, this is also relevant to identify any evolving client KPIs, that may or may not be within the briefs but would continue to allow AWS to evolve. Business to Business clients continue to be a huge market for the agency, and it does not get much bigger than Amazon Web Services.
• Deliverables: One of the key deliverables is to oversee all SLA workback schedules and creative hand-offs to ensure campaign launches on time and without issue. This is a key task given several moving parts from campaign briefing to campaign end.
• Quality work: Develop strategic media plans & recommendations and ultimately present plan recommendations to internal stakeholders and clients. This includes not only quality control measures being put in place to deliver accuracy but also assessing whether the proposal meets the client needs and in other cases challenges the status quo.
• End to End Management: Oversee campaign implementation, optimization, and performance of campaign activities including authorizations, IO’s, budgets, creative, reporting, billing and reconciliation financial processes
• Stay on brief: Manage all partner specific budget allocation, optimization, media partnership programs and added value details
• Sociability: Play a pivotal role in team coordination, attend team initiatives, be sociable and bring your own positive personality/confidence. Within media there are always social opportunities to attend both within the team and as part of the wider agency, that we would love for this role to be involved within
• Learn or enhance fundamental campaign media skills: With support, become a leader for the trafficking & taxonomy of creative assets, leading into activation media stages

Commercial

• Negotiations: Secure best in class marketplace pricing. This will involve the person negotiating with large well-known media vendors to get the best value for AWS digital and the agency. In addition working with our Orion & MAGNA agency investment partners. Negotiations can be anything from free media formats or KPI performance added onto the transaction, to measurement report inclusion, to larger partnerships surrounding creatives or activations such as podcasts.
• Media Partner connections: Foster strong relationships with media partners. They are key to not only client success but they can allow teams to lean on them for trusted guidance, innovations and long-term relationships with AWS Digital.

Prioritization:

• 25% Client (I think it should be 35% client)
• 55% Internal (55% internal)
• 20% Commercial (5-10% commercial – more the reality, unless this refers to partner negotiations, where it would be much higher then)

Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s):

- Client

• Able to take on a client facing role (Present POVs, e-mail recommendations) with oversight from senior team across exciting campaigns such as Formula 1, Generative AI led initiatives & Transformational messaging for Brand campaigns
• Successful oversight of client's buy stewardship with Negotiators and Associates
• Responsiveness and superior client service - Internal
• Effectively manages time and responsibilities for self and associates to ensure deadlines are adhered to and workflow is managed properly
• Develops sophisticated Media plans & ad hoc request responses that leverage data and analytics where appropriate for multifaceted media partnerships
• Collaboration with other disciplines/SBUs (Orion, Analytics, Comms Design) for a holistic buying approach
• Take ownership of your campaigns and tasks to deliver best in class work

Desired Skills & Experience

• Preferred experience in both digital and traditional offline media. 2+ years working within the Internet space preferred However, Digital is the focus here.
• Experience with campaign management/ad serving technology: Double Verify, Ad operations, Happy Fox, Prisma – Preferred but not essential
• Preferred working knowledge of third party Internet marketing research: Interact, GWI, TGI or G4A – preferred but not essential
• Experience managing multiple, competing priorities, duties and/or projects. Proven ability to accommodate evolving responsibilities and dynamic changes
• Great time-management and organizational skills
• Familiarity with basic accounting/math principles; basic statistical analysis experience is a plus
• Proven ability to develop and maintain strong professional relationships with clients, colleagues, and vendors
• Required PC proficiency and solid working knowledge of Microsoft Office (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
• Strong written, verbal communication and negotiation skills. Good presentation skills a plus
• Experience analyzing data and market research

Employee Transparency 

At IPG Mediabrands, we celebrate differences and believe this makes us stronger. IPG Mediabrands are equal-opportunity employers committed to championing an inclusive culture that provides a sense of belonging for all our employees. We do not discriminate against any applicant based on age, disability, race, colour, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, belief, marital status or any other characteristic protected by law. 

Please reach out to our Talent Inclusion Specialist Jess at [email protected] if you would like to have a confidential conversation regarding any adjustments that would ensure our recruitment process is accessible for you. Please note requesting a reasonable adjustment will not affect your application. 

The Perks 

We aim to provide all our people with a supportive and fun work environment where you can develop your full potential and benefit from the broad range of opportunities within the agency. When you join us, we want to make sure you feel valued – and that you are rewarded for your fantastic work. So, we also offer a range of benefits:

• Flexi–leave, with 25 days annual leave to be taken as minimum. In addition to your holiday entitlement, the office usually closes between Christmas & New Year 
• Free breakfast and free lunch
• Early finish Fridays
• Core Hours (Mon-Thurs, flexible start/finish times)
• Retail discounts
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice car scheme 
• Wellbeing programme, including Headspace & flu jabs 
• Interest free season ticket loan
• Paid time off for Volunteering
• Group Income Protection
• Life Assurance
• Private Medical Insurance or Health Cash Plan (dependent on level)
• Group Personal Pension Plan with matched contributions from 3-6%
• Generous Parental Leave & Pay
• Independent mortgage advice
• Financial education
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Free eye tests
• Flexible benefits including Dental, Travel insurance, Cycle to Work, Gym Discounts and many more!