Director, Agencies & Media - Global

Make your mark for patients

We are seeking a strategic, relationship-driven procurement leader to serve as our Director, Agencies & Media - Global. This leader will bring deep agency and media commercial expertise, sophisticated executive presence, and a proven track record of building high-performing global teams. This hybrid position is based in Atlanta, GA.

About the Role

In this role, you will own global strategy, sourcing, and relationship management across the Agencies & Media category - spanning creative, media planning/buying, production, PR, and digital/social agency partnerships. You will bring the current U.S. and EU Agencies & Media teams together under one global operating model, standardizing commercial terms and agency governance across regions.

You will serve as the primary procurement partner to Marketing, and Business Category leadership on all agency- and media-related matters, and as executive sponsor for our most strategic agency and media holding company relationships. You will own an estimated $600M in annual agency and working/non-working media spend and be accountable both for a defined annual value-creation target and for improving media investment effectiveness (ROI) in partnership with Marketing - value creation, not cost reduction alone.

Who You'll Work With

You will report to the Global Head of Marketing/Selling & Impact Procurement and will partner closely with the Director, Supplier & Agency Performance Management, and the Director, Market Insights & Patient Services Procurement, as well as business stakeholders across Marketing, Finance, Patient Insights, Patient Services, and our top-tier agency & media partners. You will lead and develop the U.S. and EU Agencies & Media Leads to:

• Align regional execution to a single global strategy
• Standardize commercial terms and agency governance
• Build and sustain senior-level agency relationships
• Drive alignment across markets and functions
• Increase media transparency and recover non-working media value across the ecosystem

What You'll Do

• Global Category Strategy for Domain: Lead enterprise category strategy for agency and media procurement, including creative, media buying/planning, production, and digital/social agencies
• Commercial Models & Benchmarks: Standardize commercial models, rate cards, rebates, and fee structures across U.S. and EU to close gaps in terms and drive cost efficiency, spanning FTE-based, fee-based, media-commission, and performance/outcome-based models
• Media Transparency & Value Recovery: Establish media transparency, audit, and value-recovery as a core discipline - adopt ANA-style transparency principles; govern principal-based / inventory media and agency trading practices; commission independent media audits; and recover rebates, AVBs, and non-transparent value. Actively manage risks such as made-for-advertising (MFA) inventory and brand-safety in digital/programmatic
• Media Investment Optimization: Partner with Marketing to improve return on media investment (ROMI) - use media-mix and effectiveness insights to inform allocation, upfront negotiations, and agency incentives, tying commercial models to measurable outcomes
• RFx Processes: Lead or oversee major agency reviews/pitches, RFPs, and renewal negotiations for global and regional agency rosters
• Strategic Vendor Partnerships: Serve as executive sponsor for top-tier agency relationships, including agency-of-record and media holding company partnerships
• Global Compliance: Ensure compliance with regulatory, legal, and policy requirements across agency contracts, including promotional review and data privacy, plus anti-bribery/ABAC and transparency reporting where agency/media activity touches HCPs or patients
• Emerging Capabilities: Identify new capabilities in external suppliers / internal UCB capabilities to drive GTM efficiencies, including agency/creative/media in-housing strategy, retail-media and creator/influencer ecosystems, and governance of generative-AI use in creative and media
• Third-Party Risk Management: Own a structured third-party risk framework for agencies, media owners, and production vendors - risk tiering, data-security/brand-safety due diligence, and ongoing monitoring, with Compliance and Legal
• Sustainability & Supplier Diversity: Embed ESG criteria (sustainable production, low-carbon media/print/events, Scope 3) and diverse-supplier access (diverse-owned agencies, production houses, and media) into sourcing decisions

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred, in business, marketing, or a related discipline
• 12+ years of experience in marketing/agency procurement, media, or agency-side account leadership, including 10+ years leading teams
• Experience managing global or multi-region agency/media portfolios at significant spend scale
• Demonstrated knowledge of agency commercial models: FTE-based, fee-based, media commission, and performance-based structures
• Experience negotiating with major holding companies (e.g., WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Dentsu, Havas) and independent agencies
• Ability to influence senior-level stakeholders through clear, concise, executive-ready communication
• Direct experience with media transparency, media auditing, and value-recovery (rebates/AVBs), and familiarity with principal-based media buying and programmatic supply-chain risks
• Track record of delivering quantified annual value against a defined agency/media spend portfolio, and of improving media effectiveness (ROMI) in partnership with marketing

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in pharma or life sciences, including familiarity with promotional review/regulatory processes
• Track record of standardizing commercial terms and governance across global regions
• Strong digital, analytics, and data fluency
• Known for developing and retaining high-performing regional teams
• Experience with media/creative in-housing, retail media, and governance of AI in creative and media production
• Familiarity with ESG/responsible-sourcing and supplier-diversity practices in marketing supply chains

This positions reasonably anticipated base salary range is $184,000 - $241,500. The actual salary offered will take into account related knowledge, skills, experience and location among other factors and may fall outside the expected range.

Are you ready to 'go beyond' to create value and make your mark for patients? If this sounds like you, then we would love to hear from you!

About us

UCB is a global biopharmaceutical company, focusing on neurology and immunology. We are over 9.000 people in all four corners of the globe, inspired by patients and driven by science.

Why work with us?

At UCB, we don't just complete tasks, we create value. We aren't afraid to push forward, collaborate, and innovate to make our mark for patients. We have a caring, supportive culture where everyone feels included, respected, and has equal opportunities to do their best work. We 'go beyond' to create value for our patients, and always with a human focus, whether that's on our patients, our employees, or our planet. Working for us, you will discover a place where you can grow, and have the freedom to carve your own career path to achieve your full potential.

At UCB, we've embraced a hybrid-first approach to work, bringing teams together in local hubs to foster collaborative curiosity. Unless explicitly stated in the description or precluded by the nature of the position, roles are hybrid with 40% of your time spent in the office.

UCB is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions will be made without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. UCB invites you to voluntarily self-identify during the application process. Provision of self-identification information is entirely voluntary and a decision to provide or not provide such information will not have any effect on your application for employment, your employment with UCB, or otherwise subject you to any adverse treatment. Any information you provide will be considered confidential and will be kept separate from your application and/or personnel file and will only be used in accordance with applicable laws, orders, and regulations.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us on US-Reasonable_Accommodation@ucb.com for application to US based roles. Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments; we will not be able to support you through this channel.