Planning Manager (Branded Content and Media)

About us

Hello, we’re Reach. Every day, our trusted news, stories and content connect with millions of people where they live - whether that’s on their social feed or at their neighbourhood newsstand; through their local community or their take on the hot topic of the day.

We're home to more than 120 brands - from household names like the Mirror, Express, Daily Star and Daily Record, to local titles like MyLondon, BelfastLive, and the Manchester Evening News, and brands making a splash in the US like the Irish Star.

It's our ability to understand people and the things that matter to them that makes us Britain and Ireland's largest commercial news publisher. We reach around 70% of the UK's online population, 10% of the US online population, and over 100 million social followers around the world, connecting with them on who they are, where they live and what they love.

Your story, with Reach

As a modern media organisation, we're much more than just news. And it takes a wide range of people and skills to serve diverse audiences, customers and communities like we do.

We know everyone has their own story to tell, so we’ve built an environment where every background is respected and every day is a day to explore.

We’ll help you build a career that works with your life, while giving you the space to create and grow.

About this role

In this role, you’ll lead creative planning for branded content campaigns, turning first‑party data and primary research into sharp audience insights that spark big ideas and guide execution. You’ll energise and structure creative brainstorms, take teams through your thinking, and ensure a clear strategic thread runs through every pitch. Working closely with creatives, sales, designers, editorial and insight partners, you’ll shape communication strategies and frameworks so every activation has a clear purpose aligned to our audience, the brief and our portfolio. You’ll champion our Why Reach? and Where People Live stories, pulling together compelling credentials, and you’ll also support planning across high‑value display briefs.

You’ll manage multiple projects and pitches to tight deadlines, presenting your strategy and recommendations confidently to internal stakeholders and clients. Partnering with our Research and Effectiveness team, you’ll turn live campaign results into actionable learnings for future planning. You’ll manage and develop a Junior Planner, understanding their strengths, identifying growth opportunities and allocating resource and workloads effectively. Alongside Client Strategy and Sales, you’ll build strong relationships with media agencies and planners to deepen understanding of their clients’ business challenges and how Reach can help. You’ll stay across the latest developments in social, creative and media, bringing fresh, applicable thinking into our strategic work.

What you need to succeed

We are looking for a seasoned strategist who feels equally at home in the worlds of creative inspiration and media planning. You are someone who has honed your craft within a media owner, creative agency, or media agency, giving you a deep understanding of the digital landscape and the broader multi-platform media world. Your greatest strength lies in your ability to take complex research—using tools like TGI, Touchpoints, or internal data platforms—and distill it into a single, powerful human truth. You know exactly what to edit out to make the most impact, resulting in strategic approaches that are as concise as they are inspiring.

Beyond your analytical skills, you are a natural storyteller with a keen eye for design, capable of building narrative decks and impactful slides that command a room. As a confident presenter, you enjoy the challenge of pitching big ideas, but you are also a collaborative team player who knows how to provide constructive feedback to creatives to ensure every execution stays true to the client's brief. You thrive in fast-paced environments, possessing the commercial acumen to spot new opportunities and the agility to pivot your thinking quickly when deadlines are tight or feedback shifts the landscape.

Finally, you are a curious observer of modern culture who understands that great work is rooted in real-world effectiveness. You have a proven track record of measuring campaign impact and using those results to influence future successes. Because this role involves leadership, you should have experience managing or mentoring junior team members, taking pride in helping others develop their professional voice. Above all, you are a sharp, commercial thinker who is ready to prove why our audience is the perfect fit for the world’s biggest brands.

What can we offer you?

We're offering a competitive salary and a range of fantastic benefits to help support you both personally and professionally. These include:

• Help saving for your retirement - join our pension scheme and we’ll match contributions up to 6%
• 25 days’ holiday per year when you join. After three, five and ten years’ service with Reach, you’ll accrue one additional day of annual leave. We also have a Holiday Purchase Scheme

If you’re excited about this role but don’t tick every single box, please don’t let that stop you from applying.

We know that everyone has their own story to tell, and we value potential, passion and the perspectives that different backgrounds bring to our work.

Diverse perspectives strengthen our teams and help us better serve our audiences, which is why we’re dedicated to fostering an inclusive workplace where everyone feels welcome and supported. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences.

We are committed to a recruitment process that is fair and welcoming to all, without discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender identity, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic.