Job Description

Grey London is on a mission to create the most influential brands of the next decade, through the power of Famously Effective ideas.



Famously Effective ideas extend far beyond the confines of advertising or marketing channels. They stretch our potential influence into wider culture - by breaking norms, smashing stereotypes, saving lives, changing minds, writing history, shifting conversations, and transforming perspectives.



More than just our tagline, Famously Effective is a shared global philosophy that has guided everything Grey has done since our founding more than 100 years ago. Today, more than 150 people work in our London office, with nearly 3,000 more throughout our global network.

THE ROLE

We have an exciting opportunity for an established Planning Director to join Grey London, driving Famously Effective Work across markets.



You will be a key leader within our strategic team, providing critical insights and direction for one of our largest accounts. You will collaborate closely with the Chief Strategy Officer, Planning Directors, Senior Strategists, and other agency teams to ensure the delivery of innovative and impactful solutions for our clients.



This role requires strong leadership skills, the ability to foster meaningful relationships with clients and teams, and the drive to inspire those around you.

THE ACCOUNT

At Grey, we have an exciting client portfolio, working with brands across the health & wellness sector, tourism, automotive, FMCG, telecomms, energy, sports & active wear, alongside pro-bono projects for charity groups. This variety will keep you challenged and engaged, allowing you to broaden your experience and have an impact on culture.


Primarily, you'll be the strategic lead on a large brand within Haleon, across the Oral Health Category and within Team Vitale. The brand is highly strategic, with complex business challenges that require digital?first strategic thinking.

DAY TO DAY, YOU'LL BE TAKING ON:

Client & Strategic Leadership


Act as senior strategic partner to client stakeholders, bringing a clear point-of-view on brand and digital growth. Set the strategic agenda for the brand within the category: defining the role of brand, comms, channels and content ecosystems across markets. Build and maintain the brand's digital planning "system" (playbooks, briefing frameworks, comms architecture, tone of voice, channel roles) to ensure consistent strategic quality globally. Orchestrate multi-market, multi-channel programmes - ensuring planning outputs are clear, actionable and aligned to timing, process and platform requirements. Track client sentiment and planning effectiveness; partner with Account Leadership to continuously improve client feedback and strategic impact. Represent the agency's strategic and digital thinking externally (industry events, thought leadership, awards), showcasing planning craft and creative effectiveness. Provide senior strategic support on key pitches, creative accelerators and special projects - particularly where digital strategy, content ecosystems or customer experience are central.

Strategic Excellence


Partner with Creative, Insight & Technology and Production to develop integrated, full-funnel strategies - connecting brand building to performance outcomes. Lead insight development across brand: cultural, category, audience and platform insight; translate complexity into simple, provocative truths that unlock great work. Champion best-in-class digital craft from a planning perspective and set clear measures of success & impact. Define measurement and effectiveness frameworks that connect brand and performance (including experimentation where relevant), ensuring learning is captured and scaled across markets.

Growth & New Business


Bring a growth mindset to the brand and category: identify organic opportunities where better strategy and better digital experiences can unlock new scopes. Help shape the agency's proposition for the brand - developing strategic narratives, credentials, case studies and award entries grounded in effectiveness. Support new business across the agency: lead or co-lead strategic responses to briefs, including proposition development, positioning, comms strategy and compelling storytelling.

Ways of Working, Tools & Modern Planning


Champion modern planning tools, data sources and AI-enabled workflows to improve insight quality, speed and collaboration (with clear governance and quality standards). Embed consistent planning processes across markets: briefing formats, comms architecture templates, learning loops and knowledge management. Ensure planning work aligns with privacy, platform policy and brand safety expectations, partnering with specialists where needed.

Team Development & Culture


Lead, mentor and grow planning talent - setting standards for strategic craft, clarity, curiosity and creative bravery. Create an inclusive, high-performing culture where Strategy is collaborative, commercially aware and creatively ambitious. Stay calm under pressure; bring clarity, positivity and momentum through ambiguity and pace.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR:

Proven experience as a senior planner (Planning Director / Senior Strategy Director level) on high-profile brands, ideally across multi-market and multi-channel ecosystems. Strong brand strategy fundamentals with deep digital fluency across social/content systems, creators/influencer, CRM/marketing automation, retail media and commerce. Track record of writing inspiring, actionable briefs that lead to distinctive, platform-native creative work. Data-literate and effectiveness-minded: comfortable with measurement frameworks, experimentation principles and connecting brand & performance outcomes. Excellent storytelling and presentation skills - able to simplify complexity and sell a strategic point of view to senior stakeholders. Confident collaborator across Creative, Insight & Tech and Client teams; able to orchestrate multi-disciplinary thinking. Able to set standards and governance without killing creativity - clear, pragmatic, solutions-led. Calm, resilient leadership style; can guide teams through fast timelines and evolving scopes. Willingness to travel as needed for key client engagements and multi-market alignment.

What can you expect from us?

At Grey, you'll have the opportunity to work at an incredible studio, with some of the most creative and inspired people in the industry, all whilst getting to grow & shape your career with us. We offer a competitive salary, lots of training, plenty of benefits and wellbeing perks too.

Inclusion & Belonging

At Grey, we know that the more diverse the input, the more famous and effective the output. Different perspectives spark bigger ideas, braver creativity and better work - and that starts with how we welcome new talent. We embrace applications from people underrepresented in our industry and value the unique skills, experiences and viewpoints everyone brings. Our goal is simple: create a place where everyone can belong, and no one feels the need to hide any part of who they are.



That spirit runs through our application process too. If there's anything - from neurodivergence, to a health condition, or any other circumstance - that might shape your experience, just let our People team know. We'll work with you to make the adjustments you need to show your best, and we'll treat whatever you share with respect.