We are looking for a APAC Commercial Director who will play a critical role in supporting the continued growth of Ogilvy, leading the commercial management of a portfolio of regional clients. The role will be key part of the Ogilvy APAC Commercial Leadership and report to the Chief Financial Officer, Asia Pacific.
This role primarily manages strategic commercial outcomes for a portfolio of clients, is involved in pitching in a lead or support/advisory capacity and is a trusted advisor to client leaders on commercial matters. She/he will work closely with fellow commercial teams in other regions and at WPP, with Finance and Global finance, with the client team and with clients marketing procurement teams.
This individual must have a keen understanding of the business, the ability to lead commercial discussions with external stakeholders and interpret and explain financial policies/concepts to client teams.
Ideally, you will already have worked in the advertising/marketing or consultancy sectors.
What you'll do
- Act as a commercial partner to Ogilvy client leads across the designated client portfolio within the region.
- Be the key partner to client procurement of those same clients.
- Directly manage the commercial relationship with a very large number of stakeholders within the client’s procurement teams. Build relationships with clients and their financial partners.
- Implement commercial and financial targets at the client level and work together with client leaders to achieve those targets.
- Review and analyse existing pricing models and work to implement new pricing models where appropriate.
- Lead pricing negotiations.
- Support Business Development teams with commercial responses.
- Diplomatically and skilfully lead client contract negotiations for Ogilvy in partnership with legal counsel and Ogilvy client service teams.
- Ensure all markets and client teams are aware of our contractual commercial obligations.
- Support the Chief Commercial Officer in establishment of commercial operations, by leading a diverse range of initiatives, ranging from transformation, efficiencies, to systems and trainings, all related to commercial excellence and either led by global or by regional
What you'll need
The Commercial Director will be a growth minded and collaborative leader with extensive commercial experience including, but not limited to pricing, contract negotiations, evaluating financial information and making actionable recommendations to senior leadership. You’ll also be:
- A trusted advisor to many: fosters a high quality and trust-based relationship with client leaders and the wider senior team, fosters collaboration and teamwork from the network, is pragmatic, focused on solutions, is fair, gains alignment via dialogue rather than imposing solutions.
- Can do letters as well as numbers and makes financial and commercial concepts easy to approach and understand.
- A negotiation specialist who can lead large negotiations but also act as an advisor to teams and markets in devising strategies or tactics and always ensure KPIs are met.
- A procurement relationship expert who becomes the face of the account to procurement teams and develops good working relationships with them.
- A people person who enjoys being part of a global community, sharing knowledge and is on a continuous learning journey.
- Excellent analytical, abstract reasoning and organization skills
- Possess strong oral and written communication skills with a flexible interpersonal style to clearly present ideas both verbally and in writing.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and proven experience as a people leader.
- Proven supervisory skills, but with the ability to also be detail oriented.
- Ability to work under pressure in an environment with constantly changing priorities.
- Ability to work independently and/or part of a team to complete multiple projects on time.
- “Roll up your sleeves" team attitude
Skills/experience
Business Partnering; Business Growth; Finance; Operations; Costing; Pricing; Scoping; Commercial Acumen; Tenders & Negotiation; Procurement Engagement; Contract Management; Network management
