About the Role

The Group Account Director (GAD) / Business Director (BD) role is a crucial day to day client management role within the team. The successful candidate will have extensive experience working with multi-channel, global brands, closely with all departments to develop forward thinking, meaningful cross channel content. As the GAD / BD, you will also be a trusted partner to all stakeholders.

What You’ll Do

1. Key responsibilities:

• Develop a strong relationship with senior clients and be able to hold their own with senior stakeholders internally and externally. Partner with them to help drive their business and brand growth.
• Think beyond the day-to-day to the next 6 months and plan for longer term opportunities, and be responsible for quality of output on projects
• Bring strategic insight to discussions and ability to refocus cross-functional teams across op-cos and clients using strong persuasion and negotiation skills.
• Drive forward impactful creative, partnering with the creative teams to set the work up for selling to clients, and always pushing for better.
• Assist in the development of project briefs and is involved in the longer-term brand/marketing planning
• A strong, proactive problem-solver who is also highly effective at managing upwards.

2. Strategy

• Partners with strategists to drive the creation and exposition of great strategy, geared to deliver an end to end experience, and across all touch points
• Helps to defines client’s business/project objectives. Shape and deliver an over-arching brand strategy
• Ensures there is rigour around briefs and briefing process
• Expert in clients research methodologies and uses them to build ideas rather than stagnate them.
• Leads relations with media partners and third parties to identify right channels and activate appropriately

3. Creativity

• Leadership provides the environment for big, bold and bionic ideas to flourish
• Leads creative ambition across agency and client teams
• Leads on ideas. Is able to see potential, shape, build and interrogate them
• Knows how to challenge, influence and protect work with senior-stakeholders and through research and regulatory checks
• Creates ground for positive reception to ideas and excels in presentation of creative work
• Leads on making sure ideas are executed best for each channel

4. Client Management and External Parties

• Gain trust, authority and respect from the client at all times and strive to exceed their expectations.
• Develop an excellent understanding of the client’s business, brand and processes.
• Be aware of the bigger picture of the total account and share best practice with the team and the client.

5. Team Management

• Full responsibility for all personnel issues including identification of individuals’ training and development needs, employee welfare and any discipline matters.
• Support team members in the pursuit of delivering the highest standard of service to the client.
• Motivate and encourage the team so that together you strive to achieve client satisfaction in all you do.

6. Leadership

• Leads effective relationships with senior management, clients and stakeholders to create best possible outcome
• Owns client relationship and partners with senior stakeholders to deliver best outcome
• Leads the account to improve the quality of work & drive effective ways of working
• Navigates unknown or difficult situations to avoid conflict and create a good outcome. This includes understanding the culture, and ways of working of the various opcos to ensure everyone comes together to produce the best work, in a happy environment.
• Exceptional presentation and communication skills – acute listening, persuasion and conviction
• Leads the pastoral care of their team, is a role model to the department and respected agency wide