Account Director

Company Description

We believe in the power of populist creativity to help brands grow, and have done so for some of the world’s most iconic brands including McDonald’s & Kellogg’s.

We also believe in the power of a strong culture that puts people and creativity at the heart of everything we do. Our guiding principles are simple: be open, be generous, be curious. We pride ourselves on a genuinely friendly and informal style where everyone’s invited.

The happiest people and most exciting places are also the most creative in our industry, and Leo Burnett has both of these, alongside a real passion for great ideas. Together, this makes it an outstanding agency for people to ply their craft.

Leo Burnett London has won a lot of awards – we regularly sit at the top of the tables for creative awards both in the UK and globally. We are a truly integrated creative agency and strongly believe that a great idea can live anywhere.

Job Description

We’re looking for an Account Director to join our team at Leo Burnett.

Specifically, we’ll need your help with:

• Leading the delivery of big TTL campaigns.
• Owning the day-to-day client relationship and managing two direct reports.
• Expanding and pushing our work through all channels and formats.
• Overseeing production costs and managing client fee across your projects.
• Oversee all large scale production i.e. TV and integrated campaigns with the support of your SAM and AE.

What Skills We’re After:

Creative

• Drive the creative ambition of your campaigns. You should obsess about the creative: Is it the best it can be? Is it on brief? Is it going to deliver the business results for the client that they want/need?
• Help shape the articulation of ideas using client and brand knowledge in order to sell the best work possible.
• Have proven ability to lead agency work across the full range of comms. That may mean challenging things internally and pushing back on the client, but always with the end goal in sight.
• Confidently presents to senior stakeholders to successfully sell and defend the work.
• Leads by example and shares their passion for good work.

Culture

• Be a leadership force in the agency.
• You should always be up to speed on the latest news and developments in the industry.
• Take an active role in nurturing and developing talent within the agency. You should act as a mentor to more junior members of the department.
• Develop relationships internally with key point people in all departments and within your team. Have an infectious can-do attitude, which makes people want to come to you as they know you approach all tasks with a positive attitude.
• Ensure all your communications/interactions are clear, concise and action orientated
• Be curious and constantly seeking to learn.

Commercial

• Be confident in preparing fee proposals for review with your BD and to discuss with your clients.
• Demonstrate a strong sense of commercial responsibility - understanding the importance of POs and billing
• Learn to treat client and agency money as if your own
• Monitor how the processes on your account are functioning and continually review ways of working.
• Ensure resource is used efficiently and plan ahead.
• Look for out of scope opportunities and work with your Business Director to develop proposals for these.

Client

• Establish a strong working relationship with all of your clients, from the juniors, right up to the Senior Brand/Marketing Managers. You should also be well known to the senior clients above this level.
• Be a real partnership with the CDs on their business. You should chat to them and not just about the day-to-day of your campaigns.
• Invest time in the team and their well-being. You are a leader on the account, so it is important you stay calm under pressure, setting a strong example and ensuring that morale stays high and juniors are well supported.

Qualifications

• They must have excellent people skills and be able to work closely with their team, the creative department, other agencies and clients. A can-do attitude is a must!
• They need a passion for creative work and an ambition to always deliver the best creative product.
• They must be articulate and persuasive.
• They must be flexible and have the drive to get ‘stuck in’ with every project – doing what’s needed to make things happen or looking for ways of improving
• They should set the highest of standards, be well-organised and take pride in their attention to detail.
• They need to be a constant source of inspiration to the team through relentlessly looking for a different approach in everything they do.

Additional Information

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are a core part of our DNA at Leo Burnett. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture that encourages, celebrates, and supports our wonderfully diverse employee group irrelevant of their age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability or ethnicity. Diversity and inclusion fuel our creativity and innovation, it enables us to be closer to our people and audiences. We will continue to strive to create a culture and environment where everyone feels empowered and more importantly comfortable enough to bring their full, authentic selves to work.

We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities and for candidates in our application process. If you need assistance or adjustment due to a disability, please contact us.

#LI-Hybrid