Social Director at VML in London, England, United Kingdom

Who We Are VML, part of WPP, is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and human first, award-winning work for blue chip client partners including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy's. The agency is recognized by the Forrester Wave™ Reports, as a Leader among Marketing Creative and Content Service Providers, Commerce Services, Global Digital Experience Services, Global Marketing Services and, most recently, Marketing Measurement & Optimization. In addition, VML’s specialist health network, VML Health, is one of the world’s largest and most awarded health agencies. VML’s global network is powered by 26,000 talented people across 55+ markets, with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney. About WPP WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com. Social Director Company: VML Hybrid working: Working from home / Sea Containers office, London, SE1 At VML, we are a beacon of innovation and growth in an ever-evolving world. Our heritage is built upon a century of combined expertise, where creativity meets technology, and diverse perspectives ignite inspiration. With the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, we have forged a new path as a growth partner that is part creative agency, part consultancy, and part technology powerhouse. Our global family now encompasses over 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 64 markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences. Our expertise spans the entire customer journey building connected brands that drive growth for our clients. We do this by leveraging our 3 core practices; Brand experience, Customer experience and Commerce. Within these practices we offer expertise across communications, commerce, consultancy, CRM, data, production, and technology. We deliver end-to-end solutions that result in revolutionary work. The Role: Social Director We are seeking an accomplished Senior Social Media Director to set the vision and lead our social capability for a major global brand. You'll be a senior leader within the VML social team, responsible for the strategic direction, team leadership, and client counsel that ensures we deliver truly exceptional social work at scale. This is a role for someone who can see the big picture; connecting business objectives, social innovation, and team development into a cohesive vision. You'll be a trusted senior advisor to clients, a champion for social across the wider agency, and someone who fosters an environment where great people do great work. If you're passionate about elevating what social can deliver for brands, have a sharp point of view on the industry, and thrive on building high-performing teams, we'd love to hear from you. Key Responsibilities Strategic Vision & Leadership: Set the overarching social vision across your client portfolio, ensuring all work ladders up to client business objectives and represents the best of what social can offer. Guide hypotheses and decision-making even in situations where information is incomplete. Client Counsel: Serve as a senior trusted advisor to client stakeholders, continuously counselling on opportunities, risks, and effectiveness in social. Build and maintain high-trust relationships at senior client level. Team Leadership & Development: Lead, mentor, and develop a team of social specialists across disciplines. Provide consistent coaching that builds a high-performance team culture. Effectively match talent and skill sets to the needs of client business. Business Growth: Identify opportunities for growth on current business and develop plans to win. Lead assigned areas of pitch preparation and play a client-facing role in new business presentations. Understand agency financial and operations structures to make sound staffing and resourcing decisions. Capability Building: Identify opportunities to improve and evolve VML's social offerings. Contribute to the creation of new capabilities and ensure the team stays at the forefront of social innovation. Cross-Agency Collaboration: Foster strong relationships with senior leaders across VML including strategy & planning, creative, data, and client engagement, to ensure social is fully integrated into the broader agency offering. Agency Stewardship: Represent VML's expertise and core values to clients, vendors, partner agencies, and industry groups/publications. Champion the social practice internally and externally. The ideal candidate will: Be an established social media leader with significant experience directing social strategy and delivery for major brands. Have a proven ability to set vision and inspire teams to deliver against it. Be a natural relationship builder who can adapt their communication style to influence a wide variety of senior stakeholders. Foster an environment that rewards innovation, welcomes risk-taking, and values diverse perspectives. Be adept at navigating complexity, managing multiple clients, teams, and priorities simultaneously. Have a nuanced perspective on social marketing built from wide-ranging experience and continuous learning, with strong understanding of brand storytelling, consumer behaviour, and platform innovation. Be passionate about growing people, capabilities, and business in equal measure. Be a proactive and results-oriented leader with a strong work ethic and commitment to excellence. Qualifications & Experience Extensive experience in a senior social leadership role within an advertising/marketing agency or major brand. Proven track record of leading social strategy and delivery for large, complex client accounts. Demonstrated experience building, managing, and developing high-performing teams. Strong commercial acumen with experience contributing to business growth and pitch activity. Expert-level understanding of social platforms, emerging technologies, and the evolving social landscape. Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills at senior/board level. Experience working with cross-functional teams across multiple disciplines. A degree of some sort will help us understand your background and point of view. Sound like you? Then we'd love to talk to you about this super exciting opportunity! What's in it for you? Aside from a generous annual leave allowance and pension allowances, you will have access to a whole host of other benefits and activities such as Life Assurance Permanent Health Insurance BUPA Flexible hybrid-working schedule Enhanced family friendly policies Well-being Programme Employee Assistance Support Cycle to Work Scheme Eye Care and Glasses Vouchers Season Ticket Loans WPP Discounts You will also have a clear long-term career development plan and access to our learning and development activities and online learning platforms. Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion VML is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, colour, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, military/veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability. We believe in creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion and strives to recruit a diverse slate of candidates to help us achieve that goal. If you are unable or limited in your ability to access our career site as a result of a disability, we will be happy to assist you. Please contact our People Team at melissa.morton@vml.com to request an alternate accommodation. Please note that only requests for an employment application accommodation will be returned. We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process. WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. VML is a WPP agency (NYSE: WPP). For more information, please visit www.vml.com, and follow along on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. When you click "Submit Application", this will send any information you add below to VML. Before you do this, we think it's a good idea to read through our Recruitment Privacy Policy. California residents should read our California Recruitment Privacy Notice. 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