Description

UK Head of Ecommerce

Overview:

The UK Head of Ecommerce needs to be a highly experienced, strategically focused leader with experience designing ecommerce solutions for clients, advising on strategy, technology, customer and adaptation. They should be able to consult with a broad range of senior stakeholders across Essence MediaCom , GroupM and WPP to promote their vision and approach and will be expected to participate in pitches and work directly with key clients.

This ecommerce leader will shape the Essence MediaCom ecommerce offering, including their consultative team, local ecommerce teams, performance media teams in both Essence MediaCom and GroupM and specialist agencies both within and without WPP.

This leader will build and lead a consultative team to drive the ecommerce transformation agenda for our clients. The UK Head of Ecommerce will foster and facilitate the intra-agency relationships within and outside the WPP group and will lead the external partnerships in the eCommerce space. They will provide thought leadership both internally and externally and will be tasked with building and leading a strategic consultancy practice (with central resources and a network of local teams) whilst guiding and working closely with the media teams focused on ecommerce. They will effectively leverage experience, knowledge and skills to inspire innovative thinking and set challenging team goals and objectives in service of the client’s objectives.

Responsibilities of the Role:

• Build and lead a team who will be our clients’ go-to eCommerce consultants. You will be expected to take on client responsibilities as well, developing proposals for end-to-end ecommerce solutions and leading activations to help the brands deliver strong performance and growth.
• Act as the bridge to drive collaboration and deliver on holistic performance principles, being the crux of external partnerships in the ecommerce space and being a strong voice with search engine partners, search platforms, bid and campaign management tools who may be managed by other parts of the agency or group.
• You will champion the importance of a data-driven strategy. Identify gaps in performance, propose and test creative solutions, and measure performance to continuously add value to the space.
• Apply insights and recommendations from proven best practice, while always considering fit and purpose for local consumers and marketplaces.
• Help us think beyond just the obvious platforms. Present innovations and developments in the ecommerce space to key client stakeholders and outline potential new ways of working to enhance the ecommerce performance across their business.
• Build effective working relationships with the Client teams, Media teams, Analytics teams, Ecommerce specialist teams and other relevant teams in MediaCom, GroupM and WPP.
• Be a conduit across other digital consulting pillars where and when noticeable opportunities arise facilit at ing client digital transformation agendas beyond (and complementarily to) ecommerce.

People Focus:

Provide clear direction for the Integrated Commerce team and agree objectives and expectations with them, showing interest in what motivates each individual. Supporting direct reports to identify development areas and help them find development opportunities.

Inspire and motivate a UK community of ecommerce practitioners to drive global excellence and industry credibility.

What You Will Need:

• Leadership experience in eCommerce roles, not as only a ‘platform expert’ but as a strategic advisor.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end eCommerce strategy from UX to CRO to performance to omini -channel integration and be avidly aware of emerging trends and technologies.
• Bring an in-depth understanding of performance marketing. In-depth practical and theoretical knowledge of Digital media and analytical techniques would be a strong advantage
• Prior experience in an agency setting is not required, and we welcome candidates from the brand, publisher, and AdTech world.
• Client-facing experience with the ability to both present to an audience in an articulate and engaging manner and develop one-on-one relationships with stakeholders.
• Ability to interact with people at all levels of an organization, fostering strong cross-functional teamwork.
• Willing to challenge clients and colleagues based on proven case knowledge and experience

Experience and Qualifications:

• Significant and relevant experience in the industry.
• Experience in managing digital acceleration and consulting services.
• Leading and managing a global team of specialists and consultants.
• Strong communication skills and presenting in public.

Skills and Behaviours:

• Operates, manages and develops a team of industry leading ecommerce consultants.
• Builds sound relationships with client leadership and client teams .
• Strong commercial aptitude
• Consulting Integrated Commerce thought leadership, practice and methodologies.
• Has a good level of maturity and has strong management experience of working within direct (line-management) and indirect (matrix) teams.
• Manage the demands of internal and external stakeholders - plans and prioritises workload to ensure work gets delivered and challenges are solved.
• Must possess strong written, presentation, analytical, quantitative, verbal, organizational and interpersonal skills.