Digital Account Director

Narrate.; Johannesburg; Hybrid; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

High-profile clients

Parkhurst office

Non-hierarchical environment

Job summary

Narrate is a strategic communications consultancy reshaping how Africa's brands are understood. Based in Parkhurst, Johannesburg, we blend senior judgement with proprietary intelligence to deliver counsel with the rigour of a global network.

We seek a hands-on Digital Account Director to drive day-to-day client management, digital delivery, and reporting across campaigns. You will shape strategy into execution, lead cross‑functional teams, manage budgets, and own profitability on your briefs.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8–10 years in a digital or integrated agency environment.
• A BCom in Digital Marketing or related degree is a plus.
• Strong working knowledge of the digital and social media landscape, trends, and emerging technology.
• Comfort with performance data.
• Familiarity with social listening tools Brand24, Meltwater or similar.
• Clear written and verbal communication; ability to brief designers and clients precisely.
• Curiosity for research and insights, with capability to use AI tools to sharpen it.

Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day client relationship: status meetings, briefs, and handovers to the team.
• Manage budgets and timelines across accounts; reset early if needed.
• Lead in client meetings and workshops; voice in the room.
• Run and optimise digital media campaigns; plan and implement organic and paid social content.
• Handle daily social requests, publishing, monitoring, including crisis comms via tools.
• Brief new campaigns and manage deadlines; stay plugged into digital landscape.

Skills

Digital marketing

Client management

Campaign delivery

Project coordination

Performance reporting

Analytics

AI insights

Education

BCom in Digital Marketing

Tools

Brand24

Meltwater

Google Analytics

Job description

Who We Are

Narrate is an independent strategic communications consultancy shaping how Africa's leading brands are understood and remembered. Born from a 2025 management buyout after 25 years within the international Instinctif Partners network, we sit between global reputation advisers and strategy consultancies, pairing senior judgement with proprietary intelligence to deliver the counsel of one with the rigour of the other. Our team in South Africa, backed by partners across the African continent, advises businesses through the moments that define reputation, crafting the narratives that fuel it.

The Role

• A hands-on Digital Account Director who keeps digital and integrated campaigns moving on brief, on budget, on deadline.
• The link between client management, digital delivery, and reporting, where strategy becomes execution.
• Works closely with corporate communications and creative teams to keep campaigns joined up across every channel.

What You'll Own

Client & Account Management

• Own the day-to-day client relationship: status meetings, briefs, and the handover to the team.
• Hold expectations, budgets, and timelines steady across your accounts, and reset them early when something shifts.
• Carry weight in client meetings and workshops; be a voice in the room, not a notetaker.

Campaigns & Digital Delivery

• Run and optimise digital media campaigns day-to-day.
• Plan and implement organic and paid social content.
• Handle clients' daily social requests, publishing, and monitoring, including crisis comms via social listening tools like Brand24 and Meltwater.
• Brief in new campaign rollouts and hold the deadlines.
• Plugged into the digital and social media landscape, from industry news to emerging tech.

Reporting & Insight

• Compile and analyse daily, weekly, and monthly performance reports.
• Spot what's underperforming and where the opportunity sits, then recommend the change that beats the KPI.
• Fluent across Google Analytics and the wider digital marketing stack.

Quality & Project Management

• Quality-control design assets against brief, budget, and client expectations.
• Project-manage ad hoc campaigns end to end, resourcing included.
• Contribute to research projects.

Commercial

• Keep service levels honest against fee income and flag the gap early.
• Build new business proposals and pitch alongside the senior team.
• Own profitability on your briefs, timesheets included.

What You Bring

• Minimum 8 to 10 years' experience within a digital or integrated agency environment, across client service, digital campaign delivery, project coordination, and performance reporting.
• A BCom in Digital Marketing, or a related degree, is a plus.
• Strong working knowledge of the digital and social media landscape, platforms, trends, and emerging technology.
• Comfort with performance data.
• Familiarity with social listening/monitoring tools (Brand24, Meltwater, or similar).
• Sharp, clear written and oral communication, able to brief a designer and a client with equal precision.
• A genuine curiosity for research and insight, and confidence using AI tools to sharpen it. Must be able to synthesise, analyse, and interpret data, bringing the judgement the tools can't.
• An understanding of the full digital mix, not just social media.
• Exposure to budgets and account profitability, with an eye for where efficiencies or growth opportunities lie.
• Credible with senior client stakeholders, in the room and between meetings.
• Client servicing instincts: day-to-day contact, objection handling, retention, and account growth.
• Excellent project and traffic management skills; briefs, timelines, resourcing, and scope control, all delivered to budget.
• A working understanding of website and digital build processes.
• Comfortable collaborating cross-functionally with creative, strategy, development, and media teams.
• Hands-on financial admin experience; estimates, billing, reconciliations, and account-level profitability.

What Sets You Apart

• A team player who builds trust, spirit, and momentum with the people around them.
• Creative instincts; original thinking on client problems, a distinct point of view in briefs and brainstorms, and a habit of questioning the obvious answer.
• Meticulous attention to detail; work leaves your hands finished.
• A natural project manager; realistic sequencing, honest progress tracking, early flagging of risk.
• High integrity and consistency between what you say and what you do.

What We Offer

• A fun, fast-paced, agile, entrepreneurial, non-hierarchical environment.
• Hybrid working, flexibility, trust.
• High-profile clients and work that actually matters.
• A vibrant office space in Parkhurst.