Account Director

The Creative Floor Ltd; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare promotional agency is seeking an Account Director to shape the strategic direction of various accounts. You will actively participate in client marketing strategies, manage a team, and ensure financial management of accounts. We require strong leadership and client management skills, along with a background in strategic marketing. This role offers an opportunity to influence healthcare communication strategies for leading brands.

Qualifications

• Experience in strategic marketing and healthcare communications.
• Proven track record in managing client relationships.
• Strong analytical skills to assess client needs and market trends.

Responsibilities

• Shape long-term strategic direction of accounts.
• Participate in client marketing strategy development.
• Lead and motivate supervised staff.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Client management

Budgeting

Team leadership

Communication

Job description

Sudler London, part of WPP Health & Wellness is a healthcare promotional communications agency developing strategic marketing and brand building programmes for a broad array of healthcare brands.

In addition to pharmaceutical promotion, the team provides strategic consultancy and communications support in the areas of medical devices and equipment, nutrition, veterinary medicine and general healthcare marketing-related challenges. Sudler London produces multi-channel programmes to reach a wide range of healthcare professionals, their patients and support networks.

We believe in a customer-centric approach to marketing. Understanding the needs and wants of your customers in order to develop effective strategies to drive behaviour change – creative without strategy is called art, creative with strategy is called advertising!

All of our big ideas start with strategy and are media-neutral. Truly big ideas can be behaviour changing and ultimately, game changing.

We take a similar approach to digital, not viewing it as a ‘thing’ – but the very foundation of our thinking and brand stewardship – crafting digital strategy outwards from customer behaviours, wants and needs, which delivers true effectiveness for our clients.

Account Direction

• Shaping the long-term strategic direction of the account and ensuring current activities and budgets provide future opportunities.
• Inputting into brainstorms and aiding development of the strategic and creative direction of accounts
• Ensure programme strategy reflects/takes account of new issues/changes in the external environment.
• Ensure staff ownership and responsibility for projects from all members of staff on the team.
• Maintain strategic overview of accounts, and proactively advise client on new issues/external environment and contribute to strategic planning meetings with client.
• Keep abreast of outside issues and events and regularly review impact on programmes and client objectives.
• Undertake client appraisal mechanism and ensure outcomes are implemented.
• Be aware of financial status of accounts at all times and responsibility for account profitability.
• Responsibility for regularly reviewing and providing accurate phasing of budgets to ensure forecast and capacity/resource reports are accurate.
• Responsibility for negotiating and establishing financial arrangements with client.

Client Liaison

• Actively participate in the development of client marketing strategy and thinking.
• Maintain social contact with client personnel and contact about the strategic direction of the account, staffing, issues etc.
• Establish and maintain a role as consultant/adviser to client in partnership with Creative Director where appropriate.
• Responsibility for ensuring accurate, timely financial management procedures are implemented by the account team.

Growing Existing Business

• Establish and maintain a good working knowledge of all Sudler London offerings
• Create and develop opportunities for growing existing business within current client pool for Sudler London and other WPP Health & Wellness companies.
• Identify and follow up new business opportunities within existing client pool.

New Business

• Responsible for identifying new business prospects.
• Responsible for driving, developing and presenting at new business pitches.

People Management

• Lead and motivate supervised staff to fulfil their potential and assume responsibility/accountability appropriate to their position.
• Take on line management responsibilities including conducting appraisal interviews and monitoring of appraisal objectives.
• Make recommendations to Managing Director regarding staff development and account resourcing respectively.
• Participate in interviewing and recruiting of new staff, where appropriate.
• Take an active role in ‘on the job’ training of staff
• Ensure team understanding of client corporate values and personality profiles of individual clients.