Client Delivery- Managing Director

Hogarth is the Global Content Production Company. Part of WPP, Hogarth partners with one in every two of the world's top 100 brands including Coca-Cola, Ford, Rolex, Nestlé, Mondelez and Dyson. With a breadth of experience across an extensive range of sectors, Hogarth offers the unrivaled ability to deliver relevant, engaging, and measurable content across all channels and media - both established and emerging. The number of channels at our fingertips; the need for speed; and the drive for mass personalisation, all mean that brands need different solutions. Our global team of over 7,500 craft and technology experts brings together creative, production and innovation to help clients navigate this exciting and ever-changing world of today's content experience.

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities.
Working at WPP means being part of a global network of more than 100,000 talented people dedicated to doing extraordinary work for our clients. We operate in over 100 countries, with corporate headquarters in New York, London and Singapore.
WPP is a world leader in marketing services, with deep AI, data and technology capabilities, global presence and unrivalled creative talent. Our clients include many of the biggest companies and advertisers in the world, including approximately 300 of the Fortune Global 500. Our people are the key to our success. We're committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow.
A Hybrid working model
We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we've adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.
About Hogarth
Hogarth is expanding its global production capability through the development of a Client Delivery Centre of Excellence (CoE) in South Africa. The CoE strengthens Hogarth's position as WPP's global production engine, providing best-in-class, client-facing delivery across some of the world's best‑known and most prestigious brands. Our South Africa Client Delivery team partners closely with our clients and UK and regional counterparts to deliver high‑quality, scalable production and world‑class client servicing. These Client Delivery roles operate as part of a unified global delivery organisation, upholding Hogarth's gold‑standard operational excellence, commercial discipline and commitment to exceptional client experience.

Hogarth is making a strategic investment in establishing a regional Client Delivery Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Johannesburg — a world-class hub designed to elevate Client Delivery capability, efficiency and scale across our global business.

This CoE reflects a long-term commitment to building deep talent, operational excellence and industry-leading Client Delivery expertise in a market rich in creativity and growth potential.

We are now seeking a visionary senior leader to set up, define and drive this Centre of Excellence, recruiting and leading a high-performing team to ensure exceptional Client Delivery across global clients and production disciplines.

As the ultimate point of escalation and owner of commercial performance across the CoE — including profitability, utilisation and resource efficiency — this leader will play a pivotal role in recruiting, training and onboarding a world-class Client Delivery team and fostering an inclusive, high-performance, right-first-time culture.

What you'll lead:

• Build and scale the Client Delivery Centre of Excellence
• Client Delivery strategy, standards and performance
• Commercial performance: profitability, utilisation, margin
• Senior Client relationships and cross-functional partnerships
• A high-performing, motivated Client Delivery team

The Role:

Reporting to the UK Managing Director, the Client Delivery – Managing Director is a senior leader accountable for establishing and delivering the vision and strategic direction for Hogarth's regional Client Delivery Centre of Excellence (CoE).

You will build the CoE from the ground up —recruiting, training and establishing the team whilst implementing best practices, and creating the operational frameworks that uphold Hogarth's highest standards of Client Delivery excellence.

You will oversee all Client Delivery functions within the CoE, ensuring world-class quality of service, on-time and on-budget completion of deliverables, and consistent and exceptional Client experience across all Client accounts. You are the ultimate point of escalation for Client Delivery across the CoE and will be responsible for operational discipline, performance, and commercial outcomes.

You will with senior leadership based predominantly in the UK and other regional hubs, including Production, Finance, Client Growth, Commercial and Technology, to deliver with excellence. As a cultural architect, you will inspire high performance and ensure a cohesive, inclusive and empowering environment across the Client Delivery team.

The Client Delivery – Managing Director owns profitability, utilisation, resource efficiency, commercial growth and optimisation across the entire Client Delivery CoE portfolio.

Key Areas of Responsibility:

Strategy and Financials

• Build Hogarth's Client Delivery Centre of Excellence, ensuring the CoE drives efficiency, excellence and commercial performance.
• Lead the Client Delivery organisation to meet utilisation, margin and staff cost ratio targets.
• Formulate and activate strategic Client Delivery solutions based on insights, performance indicators and forecasted, projected pipeline of work.
• Ensure full utilisation across Client Delivery roles, aligning resource structures to Client revenue and managing team resources effectively.
• Develop and manage a fixed + flex resource model to protect margin and support workload peaks.
• Proactively identify and pursue organic growth opportunities across the Client Delivery portfolio.
• Ensure the right team structures, roles and capabilities are deployed against Client scopes and business needs.
• Own commercial performance across the Client Delivery portfolio, ensuring projects are profitable and billed accurately and on time.
• Govern freelance and external resource costs to maximise efficiency and protect margin.

Collaboration:

• Build strong, trusting relationships with senior Client stakeholders and internal partners across Client Growth, Production, Technology, Commercial and Finance.
• Navigate complex cross-functional priorities and influence decision-making at a senior level.
• Lead the onboarding of new Clients, implementing optimal Client Delivery structures and ways of working.
• Represent Client Delivery at the highest levels of the organisation, championing its role and impact.

Process and Operations:

• Implement and refine processes, workflows and standards that define best-in-class Client Delivery.
• Align the CoE to global workflows, SLAs and KPIs, ensuring full consistency with UK delivery standards.
• Set, enforce and continuously elevate delivery quality standards across all teams.
• Lead operational reviews, performance frameworks, SLAs, KPIs and governance to ensure excellence across the CoE.
• Drive continuous improvement, simplification and standardisation across Client Delivery.
• Ensure stakeholders have access to data, insights, systems and tools that enable informed decision-making.
• Ensure adoption, training and compliance across all delivery systems, tools and workflows.
• Implement remedial plans for talent underperformance and lead operational transformation where required.

Leadership:

• Create a culture of excellence, accountability, inclusion, learning and growth.
• Inspire and lead the CoE Client Delivery team to deliver their best work.
• Hire, develop and retain world-class Client Delivery talent, fostering progression.
• Model Hogarth values through exemplary leadership, professionalism and behaviour.
• Act as the ultimate point of escalation for Client Delivery issues, resolving challenges swiftly and decisively.

Talent & Capability:

• Serve as the Production Delivery Subject Matter Expert (SME), providing expertise and best-practice guidance, acting as the key representative for delivery excellence both with clients and across internal teams.
• Own onboarding frameworks and capacity ramp-up, ensuring new hires reach delivery readiness rapidly and consistently.
• Maintain full quality and performance parity with UK delivery standards, ensuring a consistent client experience.

Risk:

• Identify and mitigate risks across the Client Delivery portfolio.
• Intervene directly when business-critical issues arise.
• Ensure operational stability, continuity and resilience across all Client Delivery environments.

Requirements:

• Senior leadership experience in Client Delivery (Project Management), operations or production within a global or complex organisation.
• Proven ability to create and scale high-performing teams.
• Proven track record in building a team and leading multi-market Client Delivery functions or organisations.
• Expertise in model implementation and transformation.
• Demonstrated commercial ownership, including profitability and utilisation.
• Ability to build and lead large teams within matrix environments.
• Experience driving excellence across complex portfolios of Clients and projects.
• Outstanding communication, negotiation and executive stakeholder management.
• Understanding of Client Delivery ways of working across production disciplines.
• Experience working with hybrid, onshore/offshore resource models.
• Ability to confidently present to senior and executive Clients and internal stakeholders.

What you'll bring:

• Extensive senior leadership experience in Client Delivery / Project Management
• Production/creative background and multi-disciplinary production knowledge
• Proven success leading multi-market or large-scale delivery organisations
• Strong commercial acumen and financial ownership
• Senior stakeholder leadership and communication skills
• Experience delivering transformation and cultural change

This role is suited to an inspiring, commercially astute leader who can build, scale and elevate Client Delivery excellence at a global level.
Benefits:

• Retirement Annuity
• Discovery Medical Aid
• Discovery Risk Benefits
• Employee Assistance Programme
• 15 Days of leave in addition to public holidays
• Additional Full day for your birthday
• Parental Leave - 4 Months and 10 Days paid leave shared between both parents for a new baby

Diversity and Inclusion

Hogarth is committed to diversity and inclusion, through our ideas, our people, how we behave and conduct ourselves. Creating a truly inclusive culture at all levels of the organisation that encourages different points of view, making Hogarth not only a better company and place to work but an environment where everyone experiences connection, opportunity and a sense of belonging.

Hogarth Values

Heart and Soul: We love what we do. We bring energy and enthusiasm to all our work. We push boundaries, we are never satisfied and always want to find a better way.

Hands on: We don't wait for things to happen, we get on with it. We are pragmatic and don't have an ego. We do what it takes to get the job done to the highest standards.

Honest: We are straightforward; we speak openly and clearly. We operate with integrity and live up to our promises.

Happy family: We enjoy working together. We look out for our colleagues. We are an eclectic bunch. We want to work with people from many cultures and demand great things of each other. Even when things get tough, we don't lose perspective or our sense of humour.

Hungry: We are an inquisitive community. We want to create an environment which inspires ourselves and others to be better. It is important to continuously challenge ourselves and our ways of working. We aim to provide staff with the opportunities to develop and learn.

Find out more at

Our Hogarth Values:
Hands on
No egos here. Just a shared drive to roll up our sleeves and make great things happen. Every project--big or small, gets our full energy because we believe in doing things right. Every single time. It's how we deliver real results without cutting corners.

Honesty
We are real and authentic – with each other and in our work. Honest, direct communication builds the trust we need to collaborate, grow, and make meaningful things together. It's not always easy but it's always worth it.

Heart & Soul
We bring heart to everything we make. Passion, pride and relentless drive push us beyond "good enough" ––because we care deeply about our craft, and we're always chasing better. We love what we do, and it shows.

Happy Family
Creating a space where everyone feels valued--even when opinions differ, makes this a supportive and inclusive environment for our people. We embrace our differences, celebrate our wins together, and never lose our sense of humor.

Hungry
Curiosity keeps us hungry. We question, experiment, and always seek out what's next. We never settle, and we never stop learning.

Inclusion and Impact
WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.
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