Account Director, Biddable

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.

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit wpp.com.

WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere and in everything, we bring the best platform, people, and partners together to create limitless opportunities for growth.

Join an award‑winning team at the heart of UK government, where your work will genuinely shape lives. As part of WPP 650, you’ll be part of a supportive, collaborative environment that values curiosity, kindness and growth.

Named after the 650 UK parliamentary constituencies, WPP 650 reflects our responsibility to serve every community across the UK. The work is complex, fast‑moving and meaningful — influencing behaviour, improving public services and delivering outcomes that matter.

As Biddable Director for the Government New Media Unit (NMU), you will own the rapid, data‑led delivery of always‑on, tactical and reactive biddable media activity across search and social for central government.

Operating within an agile, test‑and‑learn delivery model, this role prioritises speed, accountability and continuous optimisation, while ensuring all government governance, compliance and assurance requirements are met.

This role sits within a new, fully integrated, end‑to‑end client marketing team and acts as a test bed for the Government’s ambitious media and marketing transformation programme. The successful candidate will help define and embed a new operating model for how government delivers responsive, high‑impact paid media.

The NMU is designed to deliver a highly agile and responsive service, operating across three defined speeds of delivery:

• Always‑on activity
  Continuous delivery, optimisation and performance management
• Tactical activity
  End‑to‑end delivery (brief, creative, booking, live) within approximately two weeks
• Reactive activity
  24‑hour turnaround, from brief to creative development and live execution, responding to policy updates, announcements or external events

The Biddable Director will play a role alongside the VP and other digital leads on the account in enabling, governing and scaling this model within WPP Media and WPP 650.

• Own and deliver rapid, data‑led biddable activity across all three operating speeds
• Lead iterative test‑and‑learn cycles, including sprints, daily optimisation and rapid hypothesis testing
• Operate effectively within short planning horizons (weekly or bi‑weekly), adapting to evolving priorities and incomplete briefs
• Capture, embed and scale learnings at pace across the NMU and wider government ecosystem

• Continually review, refine and optimise ways of working to increase speed and agility across:
• Planning
• Campaign setup
• In‑flight optimisation
• Reporting and post‑campaign evaluation
• Apply foresight, pre‑mediation and proactive setup to remove friction and enable rapid delivery
• Contribute to the development of playbooks, guardrails and best‑practice frameworks for agile government biddable delivery
• The role will be split across the clients location and WPP 650. It will predominantly be an in person and not virtual role.

• Ensure all government governance, compliance and assurance requirements for biddable media are met and documented
• Balance speed with risk management through clear guardrails, approval thresholds and escalation routes
• Exercise fast, confident decision‑making within defined autonomy, acting as a trusted senior lead for clients

• Manage multi‑million‑pound budgets (£40m+) with accountability for ROI, effectiveness and value for money
• Embed real‑time, data‑driven performance management, drawing on platform signals, social insight and trend analysis
• Advise on and implement evaluation frameworks, test roadmaps and structured learning agendas

• Re‑imagine government communications through innovative paid and owned media approaches
• Address share of voice challenges and support activity to counter misinformation where required
• Actively leverage WPP Open and WPP AI capabilities to support automation, insight generation and optimisation within the NMU operating model

• Lead and develop biddable activation talent, embedding specialist knowledge and best practice
• Work collaboratively within a fully integrated, cross‑functional team spanning strategy, creative, data and client stakeholders
• Foster a culture of fast decision‑making, learning and continuous improvement
• Contribute to capability‑building initiatives, including GCS Advance, training agendas and knowledge‑sharing forums

• Experience delivering biddable media in fast‑paced, high‑pressure environments
• Expertise across the digital media and paid social landscape
• Proven experience managing large‑scale budgets with outcome accountability
• Confidence operating in regulated or complex client environments, including government
• Stakeholder management skills and advisory skills at senior level
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity, evolving briefs and rapid change
• Collaborative mindset with a clear appetite for transformation and new ways of working