PR Account Director - Manchester

The Think Tank; Manchester; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

CIPR membership

Professional development

Job summary

The Think Tank in Manchester is seeking an experienced B2B PR Account Director to lead senior client relationships and strategy across a portfolio of B2B brands. You’ll work with PR, content, digital, media and account management teams, with monthly collaboration in London and day-to-day leadership from Manchester.

You’ll shape angles, guide campaigns, and coach colleagues, while owning budgets and contributing to new business pitches.

Qualifications

• Experience leading B2B, corporate or tech PR accounts in an agency environment.
• Proven ability to own client strategy and delivery and advise senior stakeholders.
• Hands-on media relations experience: developing angles, pitching and journalist relationships.
• Excellent writing and editing skills with ability to simplify complex topics.

Responsibilities

• Lead client relationships, provide informed counsel and clear recommendations.
• Develop PR strategies and turn them into actionable plans for clients and teams.
• Stay hands-on with media relations: craft pitches, build journalist relationships, refine angles.
• Translate campaign insights into persuasive presentations and recommendations.
• Set high standards for writing, editing and editorial judgement across accounts.
• Coach colleagues to improve output and confidence across the team.
• Manage budgets and resources, spotting risks and growth opportunities.
• Play a leading role in new business pitches and shaping thinking.

Skills

Client relationship

Strategic judgement

Media relations

Strong writing/editing

Commercial judgement

Team collaboration

Leadership

Pitching

Job description

We’re looking for an experienced B2B PR Account Director to join The Think Tank in Manchester.

You’ll lead client relationships and strategy, work closely with our wider PR and integrated agency teams and stay close to the work itself: finding the story, shaping the angle, talking to journalists, improving the writing and helping the team turn good ideas into effective campaigns.

The Think Tank is an integrated B2B marketing and PR agency with a 40-person team. You’ll be part of that wider agency from day one, collaborating regularly with colleagues across PR, content, digital, media and account management, with time in our London office around once a month.

The role

You’ll be the senior day-to-day lead across a portfolio of B2B clients.

That means getting properly under the skin of their businesses and markets, understanding what they need PR to achieve and giving them confident, informed advice about how to get there.

You’ll have the freedom to shape the approach, challenge a brief when necessary and change direction when the evidence says we should.

You’ll:

• Lead client relationships, providing informed counsel and clear recommendations
• Develop PR strategies and turn them into focused plans that clients and teams can act on
• Stay hands-on with media relations, from developing stories and building journalist relationships to guiding pitches and finding a better angle when something isn’t landing
• Turn campaign insight and results into persuasive plans, presentations and recommendations
• Set a high standard for writing, editing and editorial judgement across your accounts
• Guide and coach colleagues, helping them produce better work and develop their confidence
• Manage account budgets and resources, spotting issues early and identifying opportunities to grow client relationships
• Play a leading role in relevant new business pitches and help shape the thinking behind them

You’ll be based in Manchester and work closely with colleagues across the agency throughout the week. We’d expect you to spend time with the wider team in our London office around once a month, giving you regular face-to-face time with colleagues while keeping Manchester as your day-to-day base.

What we’re looking for

You’ll already have solid agency experience in B2B, corporate or technology PR and be comfortable taking responsibility for both the relationship and the work.

We’re particularly interested in people who combine strategic judgement with a genuine enthusiasm for PR. You should still enjoy developing a story, talking to the media and getting the words right rather than seeing those things as work you leave behind as you become more senior.

You’ll bring:

• Experience leading B2B, corporate or technology PR accounts in an agency
• A track record of owning client strategy and delivery and advising senior stakeholders
• Recent, hands-on media relations experience, including developing angles, pitching journalists and building relationships
• Strong writing and editing skills and the ability to make complicated subjects clear and interesting
• The confidence to form a point of view, explain your thinking and make recommendations to clients
• Experience directing work, giving useful feedback and helping colleagues develop
• Sound commercial judgement and the ability to keep several accounts moving without losing sight of the detail
• The ability to work effectively as part of a team that collaborates across locations

Working at The Think Tank

The Think Tank is a 40-person integrated B2B marketing agency, bringing PR together with expertise across content, digital, media and account management.

That means our PR team doesn’t work in isolation. You’ll have the opportunity to contribute to broader campaigns, work with specialists from across the agency and bring PR thinking into a much wider range of client challenges.

We want people to have ownership of their accounts and a voice in how we do things. You’ll have room to bring your experience, challenge ideas, develop others and help shape the continued development of our PR offer.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits including health insurance and CIPR membership, alongside ongoing professional development.

If you’re looking for a senior B2B PR role with genuine responsibility, strong team support and the opportunity to work from Manchester, we’d like to hear from you.