HAVAS MEDIA FRANCE - CDI - GLOBAL PLANNING DIRECTOR
Havas is one of the world’s largest global communications groups, operating in over 100 countries. The Group is made up of two major divisions: Havas Creative Group and Havas Media Group.
We have a multi-disciplinary offering, united under one leadership, all in one building: advertising, media, data, technology, digital, social, mobile, CRM, UX, sports and entertainment, public relations, corporate communications, healthcare, design, research, employer branding and recruitment. Havas is the only truly integrated marketing and communications company in the UK.
Our mission is to unite brands and people through meaningful connections, driving business success. We are the fastest growing of the global networks and have a challenger brand mentality. We share one common purpose: to bring media and creative closer together for the benefit of our clients.
Havas Media Global is a dedicated team supporting global clients across strategy, insight, media, creative and digital. The culture of our group is best described as dynamic, entrepreneurial, and collaborative.
We are solely immersed in global assignments and have the experience and understanding to fulfil the needs and challenges of global clients. We believe in modelling team structures after those of our clients and are set up to meet the unique requirements of each, from centralised one‑hub market management to more coordinated or decentralised needs, adding value by leveraging central and local media expertise and the totality of our clients’ media investments.
Job Summary
The Global Planning Director will be responsible for driving planning excellence and consistency across all client markets by translating global strategy, digital and measurement frameworks into clear, actionable planning standards for local teams. This role will own the review, validation and constructive challenge of local media plans to ensure the highest levels of quality, consistency and alignment with global principles, while acting as a critical bridge between global expertise in strategy, digital, data and day‑to‑day local execution.
The Global Planning Director will ensure accurate and consistent planning and campaign structures, including naming conventions and measurement readiness, to enable reliable global reporting, and will establish a continuous improvement loop that uses performance insights and best practices to elevate planning quality and market maturity worldwide.
Mission & Responsibilities
Global Planning Framework & Strategy Alignment
- Partner with Global Strategy, Digital, and Data leads to co‑develop unified frameworks, proactively challenging assumptions to ensure business relevance and impact
- Translate global strategy into planning principles, guidelines, and governance models
- Drive consistency in full‑funnel planning, audience strategy and channel roles and investment logic
Market Enablement & Execution Excellence
- Design and implement market execution roadmaps and operationalisation of planning frameworks
- Enable markets through toolkits (planning templates, reporting frameworks), training and onboarding sessions
- Ensure alignment between global strategy intent and local execution realities
Planning Quality Control & Governance
- Own the review and challenge of local media plans prior to execution
- Ensure planning decisions drive efficient investment allocation, strong cross‑channel synergies, and measurable business outcomes
- Lead governance routines, including weekly check‑ins, quarterly reviews, and performance assessments
- Act as the escalation and problem‑solving point for planning‑related market challenges
Measurement, Reporting & Performance Integration
- Partner with Global Data & Analytics Lead to define and roll out standardised measurement frameworks
- Ensure planning is aligned with measurement frameworks and performance tracking
- Support development of global reporting structures and dashboards to track media budget sufficiency, cross‑channel effectiveness, ROI and brand impact
- Establish and contribute to a performance governance cadence (QBRs, MBRs, deep dives)
Global-to-Local Implementation & Feedback Loop
- Act as the bridge between global expertise (Strategy, Digital, Data) and local markets, ensuring frameworks are effectively implemented
- Build and manage a structured feedback loop across markets
- Identify gaps between strategy and execution based on performance and market feedback
- Continuously refine planning frameworks, channel strategies and operational processes
Market Maturity Development
- Lead initiatives to elevate media planning maturity across markets, including budget sufficiency modelling, channel mix optimisation and full‑funnel effectiveness
- Develop and scale best practices and case studies
- Leverage insights to drive improvements in investment allocation, cross‑channel effectiveness and business impact
- Introduce test‑and‑learn approaches and innovation frameworks
- Support high‑priority markets in enhancing their media strategies
Soft Skills & Competencies
- Extensive media planning experience within a media agency environment
- Fluent in English with strong written and verbal communication skills
- Strong strategic thinking with a clear planning point of view
- Ability to influence, challenge and align senior stakeholders
- Clear and confident communicator, written and verbal
- Highly collaborative and comfortable working cross‑functionally
- Data‑literate and commercially minded decision‑maker
- Structured, detail‑focused and governance‑driven
- Confident operating across complex, multi‑market environments
- Coaching mindset with focus on capability building
- Proactive problem‑solver with a continuous improvement approach