Head of Social

JOIN OUR JOURNEY

Medialab is the UK’s leading independent media agency, and one of the fastest growing in the industry. We’re a media agency that’s made differently: purpose-led, data-driven, founder-run and proudly independent.

Our entrepreneurial spirit means success is recognised and rewarded. There are no limits to what you can achieve here, which our employees agree with, evidenced by being a Campaign Best Place to Work for six consecutive years and one of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025. As well as this, we’re Campaign and Media Week's reigning Independent Media Agency of the Year.

We are IPA Effectiveness accredited, an IPA People-First agency, and All In Champions, with industry-leading work recognised by double-gold at the 2024 IPA Effectiveness Awards for our work with Laithwaites and a 2025 Effie for our work with Alzheimer’s Society.

Our independence means we can focus 100% on doing the right thing to secure success for our clients and our brilliant people. We work with a wide variety of clients including Hovis, IG, Sharps Bedrooms, SunLife, Standard Life, Ancestry, Laithwaites Wine, Save the Children, Guide Dogs, Alzheimer’s Society, RNLI and Clearscore.

OUR VALUES

• Commit to Doing the Right Thing (Act with integrity and accountability)

• Help People Flourish (Invest in people)

• Dig Deeper to Understand Better (Data driven curiosity)

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU

Working at Medialab comes with lots of perks including all the usual things you would expect, such as a competitive salary package, pension, season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, weekly social events and big summer / end of year parties.

On top of that, we offer extra benefits, which make life at Medialab even more rewarding:

• Time to Unwind – We offer generous holiday entitlement that increases with long service, plus Christmas closure and a birthday day off. Alongside this, we offer flexible benefits including a holiday buy scheme, flexi-hours, a work abroad scheme, cultural bank holiday swaps, and Friday Summer hours.

• Hybrid Working – Balance between home and office. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements from the commencement of employment.

• Career Growth – A meritocratic approach to progression with quarterly reviews, CPD Platinum accredited training, mentoring and leadership support.

• Health & Wellbeing – Private medical insurance, health cash plan, gym discounts, wellbeing apps Mental Health First Aiders and free professional counselling.

• Supporting Families – Enhanced parental leave pay, flexible working and life assurance.

• Giving Back – Paid charity days and sustainability initiatives.

• Perks & Rewards – Retail discounts, long-service trips and an unforgettable team culture.

YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE

We are looking for a Head of Social to lead our Paid Social team and define the strategic direction of our social product, establishing industry-leading executional playbooks and operational frameworks that guarantee excellence across every campaign.

Partnering closely with senior leadership across Planning, Digital Strategy, and AV, you will champion Paid Social both internally and externally, driving innovative media partner relationships securing high-impact new business wins, and directly overseeing channel revenue and margins. As a proven people leader, you will develop a high-performing, inclusive team culture through structured career development, and robust resource planning.

HOW YOU WILL MAKE AN IMPACT

Social Planning and Leadership

• You will be responsible for developing and maintaining up-to-date Social executional planning playbooks, and ensure the team follows them consistently to deliver excellent and effective work

• Work closely with the Head of Planning, CPO and Digital Strategy Director’s to identify and develop best practice in Social planning, as well as innovating to create new aspects to the Social Product.

• Responsible for developing the standardised tools and repeatable processes to increase the scale, speed, and reliability of our Social oversight.

• Proactively identify and address strategic gaps in processes and offerings by collaborating with the CPO, CMDs, and Ops.

• Champion a culture of award-winning excellence by identifying high-potential work at the brief stage.

• You will be accountable for digital client FTEs management, upsell opportunities and sustainable delivery.

• Senior contact point and relationship owner for relevant Media Partner. Extracting value and resources from them, as well as delivery against any JBP objectives.

• Responsible for the delivery of Social revenue and margin delivery across all clients and new business.

Client Relationships & Leadership

• Actively engage with the Client Planning leadership teams to ensure Social is a core component of client communication strategies where applicable and collaborate with the Head of Planning to refine the Collaboration Brief.

• Be responsible for the quality of Social work delivered to clients, intervening where necessary with clients and internal team to take action where quality is not up to standard.

• Champion Social by being its primary spokesperson, effectively communicating their value and capabilities to internal teams and external partners.

• Forge strategic partnerships with senior client leaders, positioning yourself as their go-to expert for leveraging the full potential of your channel.

• Lead and refine our paid social pitch strategy, turning every new business opportunity into a chance to innovate and set a new standard of excellence.

• Serve as the go-to paid social expert in every pitch, driving our strategy to win new business through innovative, high-impact solutions.

People Management

• Invest in and nurture the talent within the Social team, whilst strategically partnering with AV leadership to identify and cultivate cross-functional expertise for Medialab’s future growth.

• Develop a comprehensive Paid Social training framework that upskills cross-functional teams and guarantees consistent planning standards from high-level strategy to detailed execution.

• Line-manage senior team members setting clear development goals, reviewing progress, and supporting growth.

• Oversees resource and succession planning, using tools like Teamwork, Harvest and performance tracking to optimise capacity, develop future leaders, and ensure team structure supports delivery.

• Acts as a senior escalation point, resolving operational and delivery issues constructively and swiftly, and ensuring process rigour, quality and consistency across campaign and client delivery.

WHAT YOU BRING TO THE TEAM

• Exceptional stakeholder management skills with a history of building c-suite client relationships and driving value through media partner Joint Business Plans.

• Extensive experience driving delivery strategies across major digital channels, specifically Social.

• Deep operational knowledge of core platforms (Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest) and the ability to build scalable planning playbooks, standard operating procedures, and quality-assurance frameworks.

• Proven track record managing channel P&L, revenue margins, FTE allocation, and client pitch development, alongside hands-on experience with resource management tools (e.g., Harvest, Teamwork).

• Strong background in line managing senior talent, building structured training frameworks, capacity planning, and applying constructive feedback methodologies.

• Ability to integrate paid social into broader digital strategy alongside AV, Digital Strategy, and Planning teams .

At Medialab we are committed to fostering a culture that celebrates creative thinking, different perspectives and the many different cultures that exist. We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and identities. All qualified applicants will receive fair consideration, regardless of age, disability, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, belief, marital status, social mobility or any other protected characteristic.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to make our recruitment process more accessible for you, please reach out to our Head of Talent Acquisition and Inclusion at [email protected] . Requesting a reasonable adjustment will not affect your application.