Senior Specialist: Digital Media Strategy and Planning

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Role Purpose/Business Unit:

• To lead paid digital media strategy and planning that supports Vodacom’s ambition to connect people for a better future by delivering customer-led, commercially focused and digitally enabled marketing outcomes.
• As Vodacom continues to grow beyond traditional connectivity into digital services, financial services, fibre, content, enterprise solutions and broader customer ecosystems, this role is responsible for developing paid digital media strategies that drive measurable business impact across brand, acquisition, engagement, conversion and customer value.
• The role will provide strategic direction for paid digital media planning across Vodacom’s key business areas, working closely with Brand, Consumer Insights, Product, Digital Channels, Vodacom Financial Services, Fibre, Vodacom Business and above-the-line media teams to ensure campaigns are connected, insight-led and commercially accountable.
• A key focus of the role is to translate business objectives into clear media strategies, channel plans, audience approaches, budget recommendations and performance forecasts that support both brand growth and commercial outcomes. This includes driving customer engagement across relevant digital platforms, accelerating adoption of digital sales and self-service channels, improving the customer journey, and supporting revenue growth through effective digital media investment.
• The role plays an important part in strengthening Vodacom’s digital marketing capability by ensuring that media plans are data-led, integrated with broader campaign activity, aligned to customer behaviour, and continuously optimised to improve performance, efficiency and return on investment.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Own paid digital media strategy and planning, while working closely with above-the-line planners to ensure the role traditional and digital performance media are clearly connected across the funnel. These must translate into business and brand objectives with sharp channel strategies, audience plans, budget allocations, media phasing, KPI frameworks and optimisation roadmaps.
• Build commercially grounded forecasts that connect media investment to business outcomes, including reach, traffic, leads, orders, sales, revenue contribution, cost per acquisition and return on investment.
• Lead complex planning and performance problem-solving independently, using platform data, research, benchmarks, customer insights and media-mix learnings to identify risks, opportunities and corrective actions.
• Prepare and present clear strategic recommendations, performance narratives and investment rationale to senior stakeholders, agencies, business units and cross-functional partners.
• Partner with creative, media, brand, segment, product, analytics and agency teams to ensure campaigns are planned, launched, measured and optimised with strong governance and accountability whilst driving innovation and test-and-learn opportunities across digital systems, data, audiences, creative formats, measurement, automation and AI-supported planning workflows.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• 3-year Business related Degree or National Diploma
• Minimum of 5 to 8 years relevant experience essential
• Must be comfortable working independently, making decisions, escalating risks appropriately and solving complex media or performance challenges.
• Must be confident working with numbers, budget scenarios, campaign forecasts, performance reports and commercial outcomes.
• Must be able to conduct research, analyse category and competitor activity, identify audience opportunities and turn findings into practical media strategies.
• Must be able to present confidently to senior stakeholders and defend recommendations with clear logic, data and business rationale.
• Must have a strong understanding of campaign governance, implementation dependencies, measurement requirements and cross-channel optimisation.

We make an impact by offering:

• Enticing incentive programs and competitive benefit packages
• Retirement funds, risk benefits, and medical aid benefits
• Cell phone and data benefits, advantages fibre connection discounts, and exclusive staff discounts offered in collaboration with partner companies

Closing date for Applications: 13 July 2026

The base location for this role is Midrand, Vodacom Campus.

The company's approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.
Vodacom is committed to an organisational culture that recognises, appreciates, and values diversity & inclusion.