Digital Manager - Planning & Strategy
FulcrumWe have partnered with a well-regarded independent creative media agency with a genuine point of difference in how they approach planning. Unlike most agencies where planning sits within strategy or gets absorbed into client partners, this agency has built a dedicated planning function. It is a deliberate choice that means planning is properly resourced, properly respected, and sits at the centre of how the agency delivers for clients.
The role
This is a planning role where your job is to make sure strategy actually comes to life.
You will lead digital planning across client accounts: interrogating briefs, working closely with the strategy team, and turning objectives into channel recommendations that hold together across the full funnel. Social, search, and programmatic are your home ground. Digital is where the majority of your time will sit, but this agency plans across every channel.
You will develop your cross-channel thinking to include offline channels such as TV, out of home, and audio. If that side of planning is new to you, you will be taught. What matters is that you are open to it.
You will also be client-facing, owning your own patch of clients from brief through to reporting over time.
What you'll do
Lead digital planning across client accounts across social, search, and programmatic, translating client briefs and business objectives into channel recommendations that hold together across the full funnel
Contribute to cross-channel planning including offline channels such as TV, out of home, and audio, working alongside the broader team to ensure the overall plan is cohesive.
Work closely with the strategy team to ensure client strategy comes to life across all channels, keeping the thinking connected from brief through to execution
Lead the internal handover from planning into implementation, briefing the trading teams and ensuring the campaign is set up to deliver against the right goals
Keep an eye on campaign performance at an overarching level. You can navigate the platforms to see what is going on, rather than waiting for a report to land in your inbox
Contribute to post-campaign analysis and feed learnings back into future planning
Present planning recommendations directly to clients, building your own client relationships over time
Support and contribute to new business pitches, where winning is a key measure of success
Use audience and competitive research tools to inform targeting decisions and understand the category landscape
What you'll bring
4+ years of media planning experience within a media agency, with strong hands-on experience across digital platforms: programmatic, search, and paid social
The ability to go into a platform and understand what is happening at a campaign level, even if day-to-day execution is not your job
Experience translating a client's business problem into a media plan, not just a channel schedule
A genuine interest in strategy and the broader client problem. You do not need to have led strategy yourself, but you need to be curious about it and excited to learn
Either cross-channel planning experience across offline channels such as TV, out of home, and audio, or a genuine and demonstrable willingness to develop it. This is not optional; the agency plans holistically and expects their planner to do the same
Comfort working in a smaller, independent agency environment where you do not have a large machine behind you, or prior indie agency experience
Who this role is for
The team is looking for someone who is intrinsically motivated, curious, and genuinely excited about learning and growing. Hands-on digital platform experience is a given. What sets the right person apart is the drive to keep developing without needing to be pushed. If you need to be told what to work on next, this is probably not the right fit.
The agency is independently owned and deliberately lean. That means more agility and more ability to actually change things, but it also means you need to find that motivation within yourself. If you are coming from a large holding group and the idea of an indie appeals, that is worth sitting with honestly. It is a different pace, a different kind of ownership, and a different kind of day.
This will suit someone who wants to get out of the minutiae and develop a bigger view. Someone who can do the work and also step back and ask what it actually means for the client's business.
This role is not for you if:
You specialise in digital and have no interest in developing cross-channel thinking
You prefer a clearly scoped role where someone else defines your priorities
You are most comfortable in a large agency structure with deep specialist teams around you
You get more satisfaction from the detail of execution than from the thinking behind it
Why you will love working here
A dedicated planning function, not an afterthought bolted onto strategy or client partners, but a team with its own remit and genuine standing in the agency
Genuine investment in your development from day one: a structured 180-day onboarding program, regular manager check-ins, and a senior mentor from the leadership team
Weekly founder-led mentoring sessions that cover far more than media skills. Topics range from presentation skills to mental health and personal development
A close-knit team in a founder-led independent and multiple-time winner of best places to work recognition.
A strong social culture with an active culture club, regular events, and a team that genuinely enjoys spending time together
A business moving towards a more senior model, which means the people around you are experienced and the conversations are substantive
Ready to apply?
If this sounds like the right next step, send us your CV and a brief note on your planning background. We will be in touch promptly to walk you through the role in more detail.