Group Account Director ( Maternity cover)

Role: Group Account Director ( Maternity cover)

Location: London, England, United Kingdom

About the role:

As Group Account Director, you'll lead the strategic, creative, and commercial performance of your client portfolio — owning the client relationship from senior stakeholder engagement through to studio delivery. You'll oversee two studio teams, integrate with client-side organisations while maintaining top-tier agency standards, and be accountable for growth, profitability, and the quality of everything that goes out the door. This is a role for a seasoned account leader who can think strategically, act decisively, and bring teams and clients along with them.

What you will be doing:

• Client Leadership & Strategic Partnership
  • Act as the senior point of contact for a portfolio of two to three clients, building trusted, high-value relationships with client partners at Head of Marketing and Marketing Director level.
  • Collaborate closely with client stakeholders to define and execute marketing strategy and activity — translating their business objectives into effective, ambitious creative solutions.
  • Champion brand guardianship across all client projects, ensuring the client experience is consistently exceptional and creative output meets the highest standards.
  • Be present at client offices two to three days per week, maintaining active, face-to-face engagement and seamless communication across all workstreams.
  • Present creative and strategic work with confidence and clarity to senior client and OLIVER stakeholders, including client SLT.
  • Anticipate client needs, proactively identify creative and strategic opportunities, and negotiate win-win outcomes on behalf of the team.
• Studio Leadership & Delivery
  • Oversee two studio teams — on and offshore — ensuring seamless integration with clients' businesses and consistent delivery against briefs, timelines, and quality standards.
  • Serve as the single escalation point for internal and client SLA breaches or process gaps — capturing issues and working with the Business Director and Managing Partner to resolve them.
  • Own the execution of projects, run rates, and client satisfaction through regular WIP management and catch-ups with job owners.
  • Work with the OLIVER Hub on ad-hoc project requests, ensuring smooth coordination across the wider network.
  • Lead, manage, and develop junior team members — fostering a culture of ambition, accountability, and continuous improvement.
  • Be willing to work at every level of the operation: one moment presenting to client SLT, the next trafficking campaigns to keep work moving.
• Commercial Accountability & Growth
  • Take full financial ownership of your accounts — including profitability, accuracy of forecasting, fee negotiation, and management of late payment.
  • Provide regular, timely financial reporting to the Business Director, with clear visibility of account performance against targets.
  • Be accountable for the delivery of growth targets across the portfolio.
  • Identify and develop new business opportunities through client relationships, introducing Brandtech Group capabilities where relevant and appropriate.

What you need to be great in this role: 

• A proven track record of leading senior client relationships in a fast-paced, multi-discipline agency or in-house environment — working independently without the support of a large account structure.
• Exceptional client engagement skills — proactive, influential, and able to build strong, trusted working relationships with senior marketing stakeholders.
• Strong commercial acumen: experience owning account P&L, managing profitability, negotiating fees, and delivering against growth targets.
• Experience leading and developing studio or agency teams, with the confidence to work across every level of the operation.
• A genuine understanding of creative excellence — you can champion the work, provide sound creative direction, and generate ideas that practically contribute to output.
• Deep knowledge of digital and performance marketing, with strong understanding of paid media channels — particularly LinkedIn and PPC.
• Experience managing TUPE-sensitive transitions and leading teams through organisational change with clarity and care.
• First-rate communication and presentation skills — clear, articulate, and naturally able to build rapport with diverse stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of OLIVER and IIG Group capabilities, and how to deploy them to clients' commercial advantage.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and related software.
• Comfortable working in a hybrid environment with regular in-office presence to support team cohesion and client engagement.
• Oversee annual studio or account-level budgets across the portfolio — tracking spend, driving cost efficiencies, and presenting financial performance to client and OLIVER stakeholders.
• Accountable for the financial health, profitability, and commercial growth of the accounts in your portfolio.
• Experience leading fee negotiations and managing commercial frameworks with senior clients.
• Strategic integration of Gen AI tools across studio projects, client workflows, and operational processes.
• Experience setting AI quality standards and governance at studio or account level, and embedding responsible AI use across teams.
• Agentic leadership for complex, multi-team business and creative challenges — you take a systematic approach to ambiguous problems and create clear paths to resolution.
• Drives AI innovation and best practice sharing across your teams and the wider OLIVER network.
• Confident guiding both clients and colleagues on the responsible, effective use of AI in marketing and creative production.
• Formal qualifications are welcome but not required. Equivalent experience — gained through work, self-directed learning, or other routes — counts equally.