Job Description

ABOUT THE ROLE:

This role will sit as part of the UK Client Services division, and form part of the cross-border account team overseeing rights management, strategy, campaigns and activations for an international financial services provider, focused on their Olympics sponsorship.

The Account Director will be the day-to-day lead on the account and partner with a European team to help shape strategic and activation plans with clients. They will be responsible for holding and building senior client and partner relationships through exceptional client service to deliver complex, multi-channel workstreams and activity.

We are looking for a strong leader who can work independently to drive the brand and business forward and will ideally have a proven track record of working with large multinational brands and rights holders to deliver effective sponsorship activities. Experience working across Olympic rights is extremely beneficial.

With your passion for details and love for the process, you will excel in a fast-paced environment. As an effective communicator and persuasive writer, you will produce compelling presentations while managing multiple projects simultaneously. Your strong leadership skills, credibility, and track record of innovative thinking will make you an invaluable asset in this role.

 

You will be responsible for:

Account & Agency Leadership

• Serve as the day-to-day leader on the account, creating and fostering relationships with clients as the trusted advisor while driving programs/projects forward
• Lead one of the brands larger sponsorship properties – collaborating with other specialist departments to create integrated solutions that drive business results. This will include negotiating and managing senior colleagues at both the client and rightsholder
• Confidently establish relationships with, and advise senior stakeholders across clients, rightsholders and within the agency
• Display an entrepreneurial spirit to growth, regularly suggesting potential opportunities and ways to act upon them
• Set the bar for excellence, ensuring your team is constantly evolving and growing in terms of perception, skillset and ability
• Drive collaboration across the agency and shared services, proactively identifying opportunities to improve existing or implement new processes where required

Client Management

• Consistently drive client activity, suggest strategic and tactical solutions to their sponsorship objectives
• Act as point of escalation for day-to-day client stakeholders, developing solutions to client challenges and presenting your approach in a clear, engaging and persuasive manner – always balancing clients’ interests while protecting the agency and team
• Forward planning to ensure any pinch points are effectively managed and the best resource is available and allocated based on skill sets and project requirements
• Lead and negotiate scopes of work, estimate fees and financial reporting
• Manage vendor and supplier negotiations

Team Management

• Lead, manage and nurture your team to provide the very highest levels of client services
• Develop a highly effective, collaborative team who continually surpass client expectations
• Act as a coach/mentor/motivator, adapting to individual personalities and developing the team so each member grows and works effectively including managing goal setting and performance reviews
• Confidently deal with people challenges or issues as they arise

REQUIREMENTS

• Relevant experience within an agency environment running sponsorships, delivering integrated campaigns, managing and developing teams
• Experience of owning and growing positive and effective relationships with senior client stakeholders, resulting in account growth and evolution; ability to cultivate strong relationships with staff, other internal stakeholders, vendors and partners
• Exceptional attention to detail, alongside organisational, time and project management skills
• Exemplary verbal and written communication skills; ability to articulate clearly and offer a strong, collaborative and constructive presence and personality in client and internal meetings – communicating with conviction, enthusiasm and confidence
• Ability to balance multiple sophisticated tasks simultaneously
• Capability and comfort in overseeing and driving large budgets, showing excellence of financial management.
• Capacity to quickly become knowledgeable on our clients’ industry, brand and product offerings
• Proven ability to think analytically & strategically
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Software (specifically PowerPoint, Excel and Word)

• ok and a confidence to present internally and externally.

It’s not essential but will be advantageous if:

• You are fluent in any other languages.