Supervisor, Media Operations

WHO YOU ARE

An organized Operations Supervisor with a solid background in media accounting and a proven track record in resolving escalated issues, both workflow & financial. You possess a keen eye for detail, ensuring adherence to process. As a collaborative team player, you liaise with internal teams, ensuring accuracy in financial practices & reporting, assist in team onboarding, and compliance with client guidelines. You have a passion for unraveling puzzles and enjoy devising innovative and more streamlined approaches to tasks.

YOUR ROLE

As a Supervisor in Media Operations, reporting to a Director of Media Operations, you will play a vital role in overseeing client financials and team operations for a designated client portfolio. Your responsibilities include managing client fee and working media billing, validating Media Purchase Authorizations (MPAs), conducting historical financial analysis as needed, ensuring adherence to best buying practices, and overseeing the setup and maintenance of SBMS client profiles, encompassing commissions, payment terms, products, direct pay, and more. Additionally, you will provide oversight to Associates and/or Senior Associates and contribute to the efficiency and accuracy of financial operations within the agency while fostering effective communication with both internal and external stakeholders.

YOUR OBJECTIVES

Responsible for the day-to-day execution of client billing packages, preparing client-facing documents and financial reporting monthly, and ad hoc requests. The Supervisor should possess solid media financial acumen and the ability to manage key internal relationships in a collaborative manner, as well as a good understanding of the agency billing/collection process. Develops and maintains strong relationships through effective project management of media deliverables and proactive problem-solving in a process-driven environment.

• Manage monthly client billing cycle:
  • Ensure on-time client billing of fees, commissions, working media, expenses, and ad hoc projects in accordance with MSAs and SOWs
  • Ensure client purchase order (PO) values and workflow in accordance with agency process
  • Perform or QA all custom monthly invoicing reports, including but not limited to: client accruals, invoice registers, ad hoc reporting needs
  • Keep CIS roll-up profile updated with the latest invoice submission guidelines
  • Ensure the right team members have access to invoice upload portals (such as ARIBA, Coupa, etc.)
  • Manage up and escalate issues to Director
• Media Purchase Authorization (MPA):
  • Review client MPAs with internal stakeholders for proper MPA usage and compliance
  • Own Smartsheet workflow for MPA code distribution, keeping up to date automations and internal/external dashboards
  • Keep pristine mapping files that may need to tie our buying system details to offline categories (such as MPA Code, PO, Event Number, Client Cost Center, etc.)
  • Work with Director to advise on decisions related to billing strategies considering risk, client needs, pre-payment factors, etc.
• Maintain & Administer Monthly Client Financial Calendar
  • Understand all components of the media financial cycle and be prepared to explain their impacts to all levels of team members
  • Ensure the Client Financial Calendar includes all financial tasks related to the Buying Cycle, including actualization, billing compared to MPA, approval of draft invoices, and so forth
  • Update Agency Billing calendar for the department to assist with managing cashflow
• Advance Billing and Campaign Rollover:
  • Escalate advance billing and campaign rollover requests with details to Director
  • Negotiate with stakeholders for best practices, including campaign rollover considerations
  • Work with internal teams to educate them on best practices to avoid where possible
• Final Campaign Closure
  • Follow standard operating procedures for estimate and reconciliation invoicing
  • Understand all components related to being able to close a fee job or working media campaign
  • Gather reporting from multiple systems to provide statements of account for reconciliation with media, fees, AP, et. al.
  • Can manage simple reconciliations with little oversight
  • Can engage associates in report pulling and be able to identify errors in formulas, dates of pulls, dollar values, missing items like commission, taxes, etc.
  • Provides recommendations for process streamlining
  • Provides recommendations on credit applications based on client needs
• Financial Reporting and Campaign Structure:
  • Provide approved client financial and invoice reporting based on client tier
  • Escalate requests that are out of scope
  • Execute optimal campaign structures, in concert with Director
  • Report aged uncleared and unbilled items to various teams internally.
  • Understand and escalate issues related to client remittance, A/R, and internal washes/offsets
• Terms & Conditions:
  • Understand basic agency Ts & Cs as they relate to sequential liability, jurisdiction, taxes, billing, and vendor payment terms
  • For all other items, direct internal stakeholders to agency tools for support
• Management and Team Collaboration:
  • Depending on team assignment may manage an Associate(s) or Senior Associate(s)
  • Manage, train, and motivate the day-to-day Media Operations associates to ensure they collaborate and produce accurate work on time
  • Identify opportunities for workflow improvement to align responsibilities across the team, ensuring a smooth practice
  • Consistently liaise with Client Accounting sister-departments: Vendor Matching & Clearing & Vendor A/P to validate spend and solve issues related to vendor billing
  • Seen as an escalation point and peer leader to all Media Operations & Client Accounting junior staff

REQUIREMENTS:

• 5+ years of experience in media and/or financial operations in a media buying or creative agency
• Familiarity of buying systems and/or buying system reporting, such as: Mediaocean (OX) or Freewheel (SBMS)
• Understanding of agency accounting platforms/ERPs
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to solve escalated financial issues
• Proficiently utilize Microsoft Excel to perform data entry, analysis, and manipulation tasks, demonstrating intermediate-level skills in functions such as VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, pivot tables, and data validation
• Experience with productivity tools such as Smartsheet, preferred
• Aptitude to manage 1-2 team members and develop junior talent

Salary range of $75k - $85k, commensurate with experience. Compensation is determined on the skills, qualifications,, tenure in the industry and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position.