Senior Account Director

Who we are

Langland, a Publicis Health company, is the only health communications agency that thinks further across Clinical Trial Experience, Medical Strategy & Education, Public Relations & Policy, and Advertising, to create unique value with visionary clients.

What we believe

Health brings us together. In the diseases we suffer, the medicines we create, and the causes we champion, health shows us our collective humanity. When we break the barriers that divide us, when we think further, we can create healthier futures, together.

A passion for craft

Having expert thinking is only part of our story. To ensure excellence in everything we make, we have centred our disciplines around three essential crafts: science, strategy and creativity.

Want to join a fast-paced, exciting department working on some of the biggest names in healthcare? At Langland Advertising, every single project we work on aims to better people’s lives – and the client services team play an integral role in their success.

As a Senior Account Director, you’ll be over-seeing several accounts across our UK and global business; which means some of the best-known brands in healthcare will be in your hands. If you’re excited by progress in medicine, passionate about the work you do and never stop pushing for the best – you’ll fit right in. You’ll need to know your stuff when it comes to leading, developing and building client relationships, because you’ll be working with them to ensure they achieve their brand objectives.

On a day-to-day basis, you’ll be working on business development opportunities and taking charge of the revenue/forecast – whilst creating an open, respectful team dynamic. You’ll also be working closely with the Associate Director and Chief Strategy Officer to deliver strategic guidance to our clients. As many of our accounts involves projects that run across the Publicis Health network, you’ll also work alongside PRP (Public Relations & Policy), MSE (Medical Strategy & Education) and our U.S agency partners to ensure that everything we produce feels cohesive. It’s a fast moving, hands-on role offering an incredible opportunity to develop your experience across other disciplines (including medical education and communications planning). As a team, we’re hard-working, supportive and put collaboration at the heart of everything we do.

Who you are

If you’re ambitious, dedicated and ready to change how people see the world of healthcare – then we’d love to meet you. Ideally, you’ll have experience in a similar role within a creative agency. We’re looking for a solid background working with pharmaceutical clients and demonstrable skills of working on a large variety of global projects and multiple accounts. You'll also have experience managing direct reports and be able to build good relationships with senior management. We’re looking for exceptionally strong verbal and written communication skills – and someone who’ll be seen as a credible voice to both clients and internal stakeholders. There are tight deadlines, fast-moving projects and clients who only demand the best from us – but if you’re the sort of person who thrives in this kind of environment, you’re in the right place.

And if you like to Think Further, join the club. Here at Langland, we’re an open-minded bunch – always on the look out for new ideas; whether that’s in the work we produce or a way of working. So if you want to approach something in a different way, we’ll be all ears.

The role

The Senior Account Director role continues to carry out many similar tasks as an Account Director whilst taking some responsibilities of the Associate Director role. The role takes ownership for specific accounts whilst proactively identifying, challenging and seeking solutions to grow the team, the business and the agency.

The role will have significant experience across a broad range of therapy areas, meeting a range of client needs and the role holder will be comfortable they have the tools, skills, and experience to handle most conversations with client, without needing more senior support. The role holder will have experience in managing teams and be able to make their own recommendations about how best to staff the business. Whilst the role holder will be responsible for their own specific accounts, the role will give greater consideration to the agency as a whole and building business acumen.

Account management: Responsible for defining and owning the strategy for the client. Responsible for managing the client within the SOW and running client health checks, service reviews and leading Quarterly Business Reviews (QBR’s). Partners with the project management team to ensure successful delivery of projects within time, budget and scope. Influences the client with regards to their marketing strategy and leads client meetings to drive client agenda. Accountable for client deliverables. Is a driver for creative excellence. Responsible for identifying opportunities to grow accounts through cross sell / up sell.

Finance management: Works with project team and client to agree budget, scope and timeline. Responsible for revenue forecasting and delivery. Ensures the project management team deliver timely financial reports. Will have oversight of purchase orders, ITI, PO, invoice approvals and SOWs reconciliation. Ensures that the team effectively manages the finance reporting /trackers both for fee and out of pocket costs. Ensures regular and timely timesheet submission and approval for billing.

Relationship management: Owns the overarching relationship with the client. Ensures stakeholder management at all levels. Takes responsibility for issue resolution.

Process management: Leads continuous improvement initiatives as projects progress and conducts post project completion reviews to identify areas for continual improvement. Able to identify continuous improvement opportunities through evidence-based decisions.

Leadership: Is the leader of direct team (people management) and leads virtual team of those responsible for client deliverables outside of the immediate function.

Data & GDPR Management: Manages any GDPR project issues. Ensures data policies are internally ratified within SOW/ Contract.

Communication planning: Communicates internally / externally in a timely, clear and concise manner. Is comfortable having difficult conversations within internal teams. Facilitates open and transparent communication, supporting the team as needed.

How you do it

The key Publicis Health competencies will apply to the way you do perform this role:

• Planning - measures performance against goals; evaluates results;
• Customer focus - serves as a strategic partner to build, grow, and maintain profitable and long-lasting relationships
• Collaboration - builds partnerships and works collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives
• Drive for results - readily takes action on challenges. Identifies and seizes new opportunities
• Innovation - creates new and better offerings and/or ways of doing things by moving beyond the traditional ways of doing things

For people managers, we also look at these additional competencies:

• Developing talent - holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; will take on those who need help and further development
• Managing vision and purpose - makes the vision sharable by everyone; can inspire and motivate individuals; talks beyond today; talks about possibilities; is optimistic

We assess potential through the AIM framework. Further details are available in the Career Conversations tool. The following are some examples, however in practice the whole framework will apply:

• Acumen - notices when things change and anticipates problems or issues that will need to be overcome
• INFLUENCE - excellent insight into how to get things done
• Motivation - maintains confidence and drive in the face of ambiguity

Imagination

Push the boundaries of creativity and originality

Discipline

Individual rigour and respect for the laws of science

Togetherness

Kindness and admiration for our fellow citizens

As a wider agency, our Think Further positioning captures our conviction that health extends across people, science, business and society, and, as an integrated agency of four disciplines centred around three key crafts, our belief that bringing together different experiences and perspectives provides opportunities to create healthier futures, together. Across the business, our aim is for this to translate into opportunities to work collaboratively across disciplines, sharing different perspectives and experiences, to create more effective solutions and better work.

#LLHYBRID

Who you are

• You should be comfortable delivering against the responsibilities outlined in What you will do The role section above
• You will have extensive Account Management experience
• You will have the ability to create a vision / strategy for the brand
• You will have experience of delivering change management programs
• You will have excellent relationship management experience and ability to interact efficiently with various stakeholders across different geographies at all organisational levels
• You will be an effective people leader and line manager
• You will have experience of the full project life cycle
• You will possess strong commercial acumen & financial / budget management experience
• You will have the ability to identify opportunities for growth
• You will be knowledgeable about marketing principles and integrated communications
• You will have knowledge [and experience] of healthcare & pharmaceutical market
• You will have experience working within an agency environment
• You will possess great communication and stakeholder management skills
• You are able to identify continuous improvement opportunities through evidence backed decisions
• You will have the ability to build and maintain relationships across all levels of an organisation
• You will have Stakeholder/senior stakeholder management experience
• You will be a strong communicator with impeccable standard of written, spoken and presentation English
• You will possess strong influencing skills; easily consults and negotiates with internal and external stakeholders regionally and globally

• Ideally you will have experience working with geographically disparate teams across global clients
• you should understand PHCG offerings and tools