Account Director

JOB ROLE: Account Director

SALARY: £55 - 65k per annum

TYPE: Permanent, Full Time

DEPARTMENT: Projects

REPORTS TO: Global Director of Client Services

LOCATION: 5 Hancock Road, London E3 3DA | Hybrid

THE COMPANY

Bearded Kitten is a global creative experience agency with a portfolio of award-winning work. Our mission is clear: to fearlessly champion fun and create the unforgettable. Don’t be deceived by our quirky name – Bearded Kitten is the real deal. From large scale brand experiences to cultural launch events, from building immersive worlds to conferences and employee engagement initiatives - we cover it all.

It’s an exciting time to be a Kitten, in the past year the company has grown rapidly and we’ve worked with some of the world’s biggest brands. With an ever growing client base across the UK and beyond - this is an opportunity to join a fast paced, innovative team.

THE ROLE

As an Account Director you will be working with the projects team to deliver multiple events throughout the year. The core purpose of this role is to oversee key accounts, lead a team and maintain a strong client relationship.

The ideal Account Director would have experience of working in the event industry as an Account Manager or similar role and demonstrate that they can lead complex projects and accounts with budgets of £1m+. This position requires the ability to lead accounts and build effective client relationships, think strategically and play a pivotal role in translating client objectives into reality whilst managing account resources.

OBJECTIVES

• Project management, leading teams to deliver multiple projects at any one time.
• Focus on client strategy to ensure projects are leveraged to maximise budgets and meet client KPIs.
• Maximise agency wide KPIs and profit margins by overseeing several project budgets.
• Relationship management with key stakeholders & clients.
• Financial management; including forecasting, budgeting, authorising expenditure and reconciliation.
• Planning, resourcing, risk management, reporting and analysis.
• Work with the Leadership Team to bring in repeat or new business from clients.

RESPONSIBILITIES

General

• Lead teams and manage multiple accounts and projects concurrently, from brief to completion.
• Share experience and insight to project proposals, ensuring that they balance creative ambition with practical delivery whilst offering value to our clients.
• Determine project workflows, timelines and objectives with full overview of production and delivery.
• Negotiate contracts with clients, and negotiate fees for contractors & suppliers, ensuring value for money, profitability and efficiency.
• Champion Bearded Kitten’s sustainability practices.
• Undertake any other duties within the scope of your knowledge and skills as required.

Team Management

• Lead on project resource management, assign appropriate resources based on skill and experiences, as well as client requirements.
• Manage teams to maximise growth and assist with professional development opportunities, scheduling regular 1 to 1s and assist with biannual staff reviews whilst identifying skills gaps in the team and offering training opportunities to improve overall performance.
• Build clear lines of communication with the team to ensure all key project milestones are met on target and delivered on schedule..
• Plan the schedule for the team, ensure all projects are appropriately resourced, raise any resource concerns, interview and hire appropriately skilled team members and freelancers.
• Foster a respectful and collaborative approach across the team from suppliers to freelancers and ensure staff welfare is proactively managed.

Client Relationship

• Responsible for the client and agency relationship, and the successful retention of projects.
• Provide transparent communication on what is achievable in the delivery of projects whilst managing client expectations.
• Understand client’s objectives, translating them into successful outputs that deliver results.
• Maintain quality control from production to execution, ensuring client satisfaction exceeds targets.
• Maintain detailed awareness of market trends that impact the client’s account.
• Present concepts in a clear and concise way, producing decks and plans to showcase results and win new business.

Finance

• Accountable for profitability of the overall project, ensuring growth of client accounts.
• Responsible for financial planning, forecasting, reporting and management across the account.
• Lead on budget reconciliations.
• Work with the Leadership Team to identify commercial growth opportunities.

New Business Development

• Oversee account pitching process.
• Lead on account pitch budgets, oversee all elements and sign-off as required.
• Attend and present pitch presentations when required.
• Actively promote Bearded Kitten through best practice.

Creative

• Oversee the creative to ensure feasibility of ideas and designs, ensuring client expectations and requirements are realised.
• Collaborate with the creative team to develop concepts and help shape ideas into reality.
• In cooperation with the Production department, ensure technical delivery is in line with production capabilities and budget.
• Clearly communicate the agency’s creative process to project teams.
• Ability to think creatively to deliver ideas and solutions and can demonstrate the ability to enhance the client’s KPIs through actions and contributions.

KEY SKILLS

• Minimum 8+ years experience in the events industry working as an Account Manager, Senior Producer or similar role.
• Experience of leading a wide range of projects in high profile locations.
• Experience of leading large teams, including recruitment, mentoring and performance management.
• Capable of managing large scale, complex budgets of £1m+.
• Excellent client management skills, with the ability to understand and respond to the client’s strategy and unlock future opportunities.
• Strong budgeting skills with experience of overseeing profit and growth.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to tailor responses according to the situation and communicate with clarity, conviction and persuasiveness.
• Ability to build effective relationships with others and champion collaborative ways of working.
• Working knowledge and understanding of H&S requirements and compliance laws and ability to manage third party suppliers.
• Able and willing to travel domestically and internationally.

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU:

• 33 days paid holiday, inclusive of Bank Holidays. 1 additional day added per year of service up to 5 days.
• Approximately five additional days off over the Christmas/New Year period.
• Hybrid working. Minimum 3 days from the office, compulsory office day on Wednesdays.
• Flexi-time policy.
• Generous overtime policy.
• Discretionary end of year bonus scheme.
• New Business Incentive Scheme from day one.
• Employee Referral Incentive Policy from day one.
• Work mobile and/or eSim and work laptop.
• Employee assistance programme with free access to mental health resources.
• Enhanced maternity & paternity leave policy after 1 year of full service. 3 months full pay including statutory for lead carer or 1 month full pay including statutory for second carer.
• Monthly team socials, plus an annual team offsite with overnight stay.
• Free use of BK equipment; workshop, tools, rehearsal space etc for personal use.
• Employee loan agreements offered for personal equipment.
• Season ticket loans offered.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Guaranteed hilarity and nonsense on a daily basis.