Senior Account Director

Job content

SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Our client is one of the longest established B2B agencies in the UK, and they’re growing fast by offering their clients intelligent and innovative ways to get the right messages to the right people.

Please double check you have the right level of experience and qualifications by reading the full overview of this opportunity below.

Their clients make up over half of the world’s leading B2B Telco and Technology brands, many of whom have been with them for over 20 years.

The role in brief The Senior Account Director is a senior member of the agency team and works with the agency Principle to manage the key relationships within a client account, or set of accounts.

They are responsible for selling work that meets clients’ needs, and championing that work while sustaining and growing profitable revenue.

Working with Senior Partners and Client Partners, Senior Account Directors will regularly be involved with pitches for new business, approaching these with both a creative and commercial mindset.

The candidate...

You’ll be entrepreneurial and comfortable in dynamic, energetic environments.

You’ll be looking for your next challenge where you can be part of growing something exciting.

You will have worked as an Account Director in a B2B marketing or communications agency and are now ready to make the step up.

Above all you’ll be a great communicator.

You will be able to understand complex propositions and develop communication strategies.

You’ll also be good with detail, project management and proactive in your client management.

You will have the ability to work in a consultative style, not just responding to client requests, but helping them to plan and shape their strategy.

You’ll have the right attitude – the desire to build and grow something with us and be rewarded along the way.

Our business is moving in an exciting direction, this is an important hire for us, we want this to be an important move for you too.

We want someone with minimum 8-10 years’ experience in a marketing/comms/consultancy role.

Ideally, you’ll have experience communicating at a senior level and with sales teams.

You’ll have excellent project management skills, a flair for communication and a good writing style too.

Key responsibilities

• Sustain and grow the revenue from each of your client accounts by managing the relationships and selling to them as a trusted advisor
• Establish and develop a full understanding of our clients’ markets, company and key personnel (including their personal and business objectives)
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with clients
• Identify new contacts and areas of the client business to grow your reach and opportunity
• Constantly assess any opportunities and threats to clients and act on these
• Present ideas and plans including agency credentials
• Take client briefs and translate them into agency briefs that the delivery team can effectively and successfully work with
• Be the voice of the client within the agency
• Evaluate the work we produce for the client to ensure it is the best it can be and that it will satisfy and delight the clients
• Watertight financial management and reporting on your client portfolio
• Manage and mentor junior members of the team
• Work on new business opportunities and pitches where required
• Stay knowledgeable and passionate about the services and work the agency can sell and deliver to its clients, stay on top of and share relevant industry trends and best practice.
  

Those who succeed are...

• Able to lead and inspire their team, the wider agency, clients, and other external partners
• Commercially and creatively astute.
  

Effective negotiators

• Credible with the gravitas to engage at a senior level
• Unafraid to take charge when necessary, be decisive and then build support for those decisions
• Responsible and accountable for their own and others’ work, delegating effectively to balance a varied and demanding workload, and appreciates that the team working well can achieve much more than any individual
• Prepared to share credit and shoulder difficulties
• Focused on the personal and professional development of their team to optimise their combined performance, understanding when to give praise, motivational feedback and constructive criticism, but also, when to ‘be the boss’
• Good at evaluating creative work; able to give and receive feedback to support its development
• Knowledgeable and passionate about their client’s business, and where and how marketing contributes to its success.
  

Where they come from, and where they go...

Senior Account Directors have usually gained considerable B2B agency experience, typically as an Account Director.

A few may transition from a senior marketing position at a client organisation but fully understand the demands of a dynamic and fast paced agency environment.

Senior Account Directors may progress into agency management roles such as Client Services Director, Business Director and Managing Director.

This will depend on the commercial and creative success of their accounts, their effectiveness in winning new business, and their ability to lead and develop teams.

Working with You will work closely with the agency delivery team, who will be responsible for successfully delivering the work that you have sold to your client accounts You will engage and work collaboratively with other teams within the agency as needed, including planners/strategists; creative; digital, content and production to develop proposals and ideas that you can sell You will work closely with finance for reporting and reconciliation purposes You will engage and update Senior Partners for their guidance, direction and specific involvement in your client accounts where needed.

Key KPIs Sustaining and growing revenue within your client accounts (measured in sales revenue) Hitting and beating sales targets (measured quarterly) Helping to win new business (measured by success rate at winning and pitching) Creating opportunities for great work that will deliver on client expectations and hit their KPIs (reviewed with the Senior Partners and assessed through client feedback) Keeping clients happy and positive

• * Skills requirement… PowerPoint, Word, Integrated Planning, Time Management, Presentation Skills, Project Management