Group Account Director

ROLE: Group Account Director (Snr) 

LOCATION: South Africa (WFH)

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE ROLE: 

OLIVER+ is looking to recruit a Group Account Director to work as part of the Global Account Management team to enable account growth and expansion.  

What we want to see is a proven track record of scoping and building out multi-discipline teams to support various accounts across the greater group. The role will include being the face of OLIVER+ in the upfront conversations with the leadership in Oliver and The BrandTech Group, as the potential and new accounts start to come onboard. Proposals and solutions for the individual business/account needs will be a core part of the role, ensuring that the correct solution (considering the type of work, disciplines, time zones etc.) is put in place to best service the end client’s needs. We are looking for great leadership and a proactive approach to problem solving and growth. You should have meticulous attention to detail, understand the importance of the agency/client relationship, managing multiple accounts for the agency all at once and you will have proven yourself as a safe pair of hands on the day-to-day management of the account needs.  

This is a great opportunity for a levelheaded, strategic thinker, who has gravitas with both internal talent and client, who is able to navigate difficult conversations and find solutions. We value hard work, and we want to have fun doing it. The role ensures delivery against growth and account performance targets, alongside maintaining positive working relationships across all accounts in the group.  

WHAT IS REQUIRED: 

• Line management of Account Directors and Senior Account Managers/Project Managers 

• Handle revenue growth through the existing portfolio and actively looking for oppurtunties for new business across the group companies 

• Provide accurate gross profit & MI reports to senior management, including margin management 

• Build strong value-add client relationships at various levels.  

• Work in true collaboration with multiple clients and be responsible for Brand Guardianship on their projects to ensure that the client experience is as positive as possible.  

• Own the execution of projects, run rates and client satisfaction through catchups with job owners and the weekly account/project management WIP. 

• Help identify and convert business development and new business opportunities with assigned clients. 

WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE: 

• Experienced leader and a strong understanding of how to motivate and develop high performing teams. 

• Experience of building and sustaining meaningful client partnerships whilst maintaining a strong commercial focus. 

• Results driven – creation of and delivery against business plans driven by growth targets 

• Excellent communication skills to be able to robustly present ideas to clients, and continually cascade knowledge / news throughout immediate team and the wider business 

• Confident working autonomously with partner or 3rd party agencies 

• Excellent presentation skills – both written and spoken 

• Understanding of how to integrate with a client-side team whilst maintaining a top tier agency service. 

• Highly creative with the ability to generate ideas and practically contribute to studio output. 

• Experience in multiple sectors including FMCG, Automotive and Lifestyle. 

• 10+ years of relevant experience in: 

• Digital 

• Print 

• Motion Graphics 

• Web Design 

• UX-UI 

• Artwork 

• Production  

 WHAT YOU WILL YOU BE DOING: 

• Help build on an existing team of resources to service multiple accounts  

• Help create a solid way of working to adhere to while this relationship grows 

• Help adhere to all key processes to ensure a streamlined/efficient account that outlines the correct way to share resources, billing processes, playbooks etc. 

• Setup and help run weekly Ops/Bolt/Catchup calls with the various teams 

• Help build global approach to work across 3 time zones, ensuring (in effect) an always on approach to how OLIVER+ manages creative content adaptation and rollouts of campaigns.  

• Help on the business development across accounts in the portfolio 

• Help identify and implement ways to optimize and streamline the account as it tracks forward with a focus on delivery and revenue increase 

• You will be confident with clients and will challenge the client when necessary, whilst keeping a positive relationship.  

• You will actively keep an eye out for new opportunities within the current portfolio 

• Help drive recruitment process with the recruitment team for all permanent, temporary contract and freelance roles within your teams to ensure that there is no dip in the level of service the clients have become accustomed to. 

• Conduct timeous communication both written and verbal with all senior stakeholders internally and externally, with a sense of urgency and accuracy  

• Develop and maintain strong client relationships (both internally and externally) through clear communication and by building up trust between yourself and the partnerships/client contacts. 

• Identify, manage and mitigate against project risks at all times. Offer alternative solutions where needed. 

• Support the business to develop technical excellence within OLIVER+’s clients and internally in the department. Looking closely at the Automation offerings that will become an important part of this account 

• Work collaboratively, motivate and encourage the closer and wider teams ensuring all team members remain focused on delivering the best work possible and feel supported in doing so. 

• Keeps up to date with industry news, agency case studies and innovations that the clients can learn from/make use on future campaigns. 

• Help drive the responsibility for the ultimate output quality, commercials and stakeholder relationships throughout OLIVER+’s engagement with multiple stakeholders. 

• Successful client contact and accountability for client projects and key clients within OLIVER+ 

• Work on multiple accounts supporting from initial scoping discussions, all the way through to implementation and team onboarding. 

• Manage operations of teams that fall under your remit to ensure all deliverables are carried out accurately, effectively, efficiently and on budget — for both the business and the client.   

• Continually look to augment the ways of working and relationships to grow the footprint of resources/services per account 

• Provides leadership to your teams as well as helping develop strategy and vision for the Account Operations 

• Proactively identifying and implementing improvements to processes. Identify areas for operational efficiencies and streamlining workflows 

• Assist in scoping and compiling proposals for new accounts that need to be onboarded, acting as client lead/liaison, representing OLIVER+ in presenting proposals, project scopes, cost estimates and timing plans. 

• Demonstrate a proven track record of understanding digital marketing and the requirements therein to help scope project/account needs accurately, ensuring that what we deliver to the accounts is always held to a high industry standard 

• Final escalation point for the client for any issues with your teams, you will need to be a problem solver that deals with problems with a solution-based attitude (before escalating to the GAD/SPD) 

• You will be confident with clients and will challenge the client when necessary, whilst keeping a positive relationship. You negotiate to create win-win compromises with your client on behalf of you team members where needed 

• You will ensure each global team always delivers to the expected levels of client service as an oversight role 

• Lead your teams, leaning on the existing resources to feedback information from their teams and markets that helps you further drive an efficient and scalable process to high end delivery 

• You will have oversight of your teams WIPs and knowledge of projects going through the studio’s, without being pulled into the day to day management of projects. The ability to direct teams to deliver, without getting caught up in the detail. This is an oversight role 

• Follow refined processes for The BrandTech Group and push teams to work to the processes set out, but have the ability to challenge process to ensure teams are working as efficiently and effectively as possible 

• Strive to follow and implement the best practice production and creative process within OLIVER+ and with internal and external clients, as well as external suppliers 

• Pull time utilization reports to track and monitor the over and under usage of resources on the accounts you support 

• Conduct timeous communication both written and verbal with all stakeholders internally and externally, with a sense of urgency and accuracy  

• Develop and maintain strong client relationships (both internally and externally) through clear communication and by building up trust between yourself and the Oliver agency client contacts. 

• Identify, manage and mitigate against project risks at all times. Offer alternative solutions where needed. 

• Support the business to develop technical excellence within OLIVER+’s clients and internally in the department. 

• Ensure administration tasks are maintained according to best practices and of the highest standards 

• Ensure time sheets are completed accurately and weekly 

• Looks to constructively challenge the client and will proactively work with project teams to present any added-value solutions. 

• Negotiate to create win-win compromises with your client on behalf of your team members, where needed. 

• Keeps up to date with industry news, agency case studies and innovations that the clients can learn from/make use on future campaigns. 

TEAM DEVELOPMENT AND INSPIRATION 

• Actively participate in the sharing of knowledge and the facilitation of learning within the Studio. 

• Encourage a great team environment whilst keeping client centricity at the core of the team culture and values. 

• Influence and inspire your internal team to deliver projects to a high standard including QC. 

• Manage and supervise direct and indirect reports, harnessing their development and performance in a manner that ensures maximum efficiency. 

• Manage, oversee and coordinate the sharing of knowledge and the facilitation of learning within the studio. Improving business practices, processes, aid and promote the development of creative ideas and introduce new internal developments/services.