Stagwell
Website:
stagwellglobal.com
Job details:
The Head of Global Media Billing is the enterprise leader responsible for establishing global standards, governance, and operational excellence across Stagwell’s media billing organization.
This role serves as the organization’s senior subject matter expert for media billing operations and Mediaocean, partnering closely with Agency Finance, Shared Services, Business Applications, Client Finance, and Media Operations to optimize billing performance, standardize processes, improve working capital, and drive automation across North America, EMEA, APAC, LATAM, and MENA.
The successful candidate will bring extensive experience from a large global advertising holding company and possess a proven track record of leading complex, high-volume, international media billing organizations. This individual will play a critical role in supporting Stagwell’s continued global growth by improving billing quality, accelerating revenue realization, reducing operational risk, and implementing scalable global processes supported by technology and automation.
Deep expertise with Mediaocean is required. Experience with Deltek Maconomy ERP is strongly preferred.
Global Media Billing Leadership
- Serve as the enterprise leader and subject matter expert for global media billing operations.
- Establish standardized billing policies, operating procedures, governance, and best practices across all regions.
- Partner with Agency Finance, Client Finance, Business Applications, and Media Operations to improve billing quality, operational efficiency, and financial controls.
- Drive consistency in billing processes while balancing local regulatory requirements and client-specific needs.
- Lead global billing transformation initiatives supporting business growth and operational scalability.
Operating Model & Governance
- Design, implement, and govern the global operating model for media billing across Shared Services and agency finance teams.
- Establish and enforce the global SLA and RACI framework between Shared Services Billing, Brand Finance, Client Finance, and Client Service teams, defining ownership, response times, escalation paths, and post-close reporting expectations.
- Lead a structured global billing and WIP governance cadence, maintaining action registers and driving timely resolution of operational issues.
- Hold regional finance and billing leaders accountable for operational performance, process compliance, and issue resolution within a matrixed organization, without direct reporting authority.
- Develop governance metrics and reporting to ensure consistent execution across all global regions.
Mediaocean Leadership
- Serve as the organization’s senior Mediaocean subject matter expert.
- Partner with Business Applications on system enhancements, integrations, testing, and deployment of new functionality.
- Provide strategic guidance on Mediaocean best practices and future-state operating models.
- Support implementation of new technologies, automation, and AI-enabled solutions that improve billing operations.
- Assist with resolution of complex billing exceptions and system-related issues.
Billing Operations
- Serve as the global process owner for media billing operations across all regions.
- Oversee high-volume client billing across multiple legal entities, currencies, and international markets.
- Own end-to-end WIP governance and hygiene, including:
- Reduction of aged WIP
- Elimination of manual billing accounts and unsupported workarounds
- Global commentary standards defining status, responsible owner, required action, and expected resolution dates
- Preventive controls that stop WIP backlogs from recurring
- Monitor and improve operational performance through KPIs including:
- Billing timeliness
- Invoice accuracy
- Billing backlog
- WIP aging
- Unbilled media
- Revenue leakage
- Rebill rates
- Identify process bottlenecks and lead continuous improvement initiatives that reduce manual effort and improve billing quality.
Global Process Improvement & Automation
- Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, and automate global billing processes.
- Partner with Automation, Data Engineering, and Business Applications teams to implement workflow automation, robotics, AI, and reporting solutions.
- Develop scalable operating models that support acquisitions, agency integrations, and future business growth.
- Champion operational excellence through data-driven decision making and continuous improvement.
Stakeholder Management
- Build trusted partnerships with Agency Finance, Business Applications, Regional Controllers, Client Finance, Media Operations, Accounts Receivable, and Executive Leadership.
- Serve as the senior escalation point for complex billing issues and executive-level inquiries.
- Lead resolution of disputed invoices directly with client procurement and finance organizations.
- Support client billing audits and media-auditor transparency requests, ensuring timely, accurate, and well-documented responses.
- Partner closely with Accounts Receivable leadership to improve the end-to-end unbilled-to-cash lifecycle, reduce DSO, and improve cash realization.
- Present operational performance, risks, trends, and recommendations to senior Finance and Executive Leadership.
Team Leadership
- Coach and mentor regional billing managers and billing specialists across the global organization.
- Develop global training materials, operating procedures, and knowledge-sharing programs.
- Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
- Support succession planning and development of future billing leaders.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related discipline.
- 12+ years of progressive experience in media billing, media finance, or client finance within a large global advertising holding company.
- 7+ years leading multi-country or global media billing organizations.
- Demonstrated experience managing a global billing organization of 75–200+ professionals across multiple countries and regions through a combination of direct and indirect leadership in a highly matrixed environment.
- Proven success influencing and driving accountability across regional finance, client finance, and shared services teams without direct reporting authority.
- Extensive hands-on expertise with Mediaocean (Prisma, OX, or related platforms) is required.
- Experience with Deltek Maconomy ERP is strongly preferred.
- Proven experience operating within a Global Shared Services (GSS) or Global Business Services (GBS) model supporting multiple brands with shared accountability across Finance, Operations, and Client Service.
- Deep understanding of:
- Agency media billing
- Client finance operations
- Revenue recognition
- Work-in-progress (WIP) management
- Billing controls and governance
- Intercompany billing
- Multi-currency and multi-entity environments
- Demonstrated success leading global process standardization, operational transformation, and enterprise-scale automation initiatives.
- Highly data-driven, with experience developing executive KPI dashboards, operational scorecards, and billing performance reporting while partnering closely with Data Engineering, Business Intelligence, and Automation teams.
- Demonstrated ability to leverage technology and analytics to identify improvement opportunities, eliminate manual processes, and implement scalable automation solutions.
- Strong executive presence with exceptional communication, analytical, problem-solving, stakeholder management, and change leadership skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- CPA, CMA, or equivalent professional certification.
- Experience supporting large global Shared Services or Global Business Services organizations.
- Experience leading billing organizations supporting multiple agency brands and legal entities.
- Experience supporting mergers, acquisitions, agency integrations, or global ERP implementations.
- Experience with Power BI or other enterprise reporting and analytics platforms.
- Experience implementing AI, robotic process automation (RPA), or intelligent workflow solutions.
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