Publicis is an omni-channel communications agency with over 600 employees across our Canadian operations. The office is the largest in our industry in Canada and boasts talent across various disciplines of marketing and advertising expertise. Publicis carries a balanced split of Canadian, U.S. and Global clients for which we are Agency of Record. Publicis supports a range of D&I actions through our Driving Change team as well as giving back to the community through a long-standing participation in the Out of the Cold Program. With a strong, active and familial culture, Pub United is the agency’s social club, hosting events as wide reaching as Curling, Trivia Nights and more.
Overview
The Program Director, CRM is a senior client-facing leader responsible for driving CRM strategy, program execution, and overall account health within the agency. This role oversees multi-channel CRM programs for key clients, ensuring the work delivers measurable business impact while meeting creative, data, and technology standards. The Program Director serves as the primary strategic partner to clients on CRM and lifecycle marketing, while leading internal cross-functional teams to deliver best-in-class work.
Responsibilities
Client & Program Leadership
- Act as senior CRM lead for clients, supporting relationships at senior stakeholder levels.
- Translate client business goals into CRM strategies and programs that drive measurable outcomes (acquisition, engagement, retention, loyalty, LTV).
- Oversee day-to-day and long-term program delivery, ensuring work aligns with client objectives, budgets, and timelines.
- Serve as a trusted advisor, providing thought leadership on CRM, personalization, and customer engagement trends.
Strategy & Program Development
- Develop and oversee CRM roadmaps, segmentation frameworks, and channel strategies across email, SMS, app, web, direct mail, and loyalty programs.
- Partner with strategy, development, and analytics teams to provide feedback on CRM roadmaps, segmentation frameworks, and channel strategies across email, SMS, app, web, direct mail, and loyalty programs.
- Ensure creative, messaging, and experience design align with customer journey best practices.
- Identify opportunities for innovation in CRM, including automation, predictive modeling, and AI-driven personalization.
Team & Internal Leadership
- Lead and mentor CRM project management team members, strategists, and analysts within the account team.
- Act as point of escalations for project management related questions for all CRM clients.
- Oversee and support project management team across all CRM clients.
- Ensure processes, tools, and governance are in place to manage complex multi-market or multi-brand CRM programs.
Delivery & Optimization
- Oversee campaign execution and program management, ensuring flawless delivery and compliance with client requirements.
- Define and track KPIs for CRM programs, reporting performance results to both clients and internal leadership.
- Partner with the Account and Strategy team, optimization initiatives, and continuous improvement programs.
- Proactively identify risks and opportunities, escalating as needed to keep client programs on track.
Qualifications
- PMP certification required
- 10+ years’ experience in CRM, lifecycle marketing, or customer engagement, preferably within an agency environment.
- Strong background leading large-scale, multi-channel CRM programs for enterprise clients.
- Proven ability to build and maintain senior client relationships.
- Deep expertise in CRM platforms and marketing automation (Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Adobe Campaign, Braze, HubSpot, Dynamics, etc.).
- Strong understanding of data-driven marketing, segmentation, and analytics.
- Experience managing cross-functional agency teams and external partners.
- Exceptional communication, presentation, and leadership skills.
- Strong financial acumen — ability to scope, budget, and manage multi-million-dollar programs.
Success Metrics
- Growth and retention of client CRM accounts.
- Delivery of measurable business results (retention, engagement, conversion, loyalty, LTV).
- High levels of client satisfaction and partnership.
- Effective collaboration across agency teams and disciplines.
- Profitability and operational efficiency of CRM programs.
Additional information
Publicis Canada is committed to building a diverse workforce representative of our community. We encourage and are pleased to consider all qualified candidates, without regard to race, colour, citizenship, religion, sex, marital / family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, aboriginal status, age, disability or persons who may require an accommodation, to apply. If you require a specific accommodation please contact Human Resources.
