Location Hybrid: incorporating regular client travel required (within UK) and working in Bromley 3-4 days a week
Hours Full-time and part-time available
As an Account Director, you will lead a portfolio of client accounts across Blue Lozenge’s full range of services, with a particular focus on the health and care sectors. You will be a trusted strategic adviser to senior clients, shaping insight-led communication and engagement strategies that connect their organisational challenges to measurable outcomes for patients, the public and staff.
You will lead and develop a talented team, grow the commercial value of your portfolio and play an active part in shaping Blue Lozenge as an agency. You will report to the Chief Executive and work in line with our values and the Blue Lozenge Infinity Model.
Alongside this generalist Account Director role, y ou will also bring senior leadership in PR and media relations, one of our Core 8 healthcare communication specialisms, including building strong relationships with the media, managing issues and protecting our clients’ reputations. You will also tell positive stories about patient outcomes and innovation.
Working alongside other Account Directors who share this specialism, you will help set the standard for media work across the agency, counsel senior clients on reputation and issues management, and develop the people and resources behind our PR offer. This specialism adds to your core Account Director responsibilities rather than replacing them, and you will continue to work across the full range of Blue Lozenge services as needed.
Key responsibilities
Strategic client leadership
- Lead a portfolio of client accounts, acting as the senior point of contact and trusted adviser to clients at executive and board level.
- Shape insight-led communication and engagement strategies that connect each client’s organisational challenges to measurable outcomes.
- Challenge client thinking constructively, offering a fresh perspective and adding long-term value beyond individual projects.
- Present strategy and recommendations with confidence to senior audiences, including boards and executive teams.
- Lead account reviews and planning sessions with clients, using their feedback to improve our service.
Insight and evaluation
- Commission and interpret research, audience insight and data to define problems and set clear direction.
- Design measurement frameworks for your accounts, in line with the Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) framework, focusing on outcomes rather than outputs.
- Use evaluation findings to adapt strategy, improve future activity and share learning across the agency.
- Stay up to date with developments across the health and care sector and the wider media landscape, and keep clients and colleagues informed.
Portfolio and commercial leadership
- Maintain clear oversight of resource, risk and commercial performance across your portfolio, allocating resource to protect quality and margin.
- Identify and resolve client, delivery and supplier risks early, escalating to the Chief Executive where appropriate.
- Agree outcome-focused key performance indicators (KPIs) with clients that reflect what matters most to them.
- Grow the value of existing accounts through proactive advisory work and new ideas.
- Lead proposals and new business pitches, from shaping the approach to presenting to the client.
- Build strong relationships with our associates, creatives and suppliers to deliver integrated work to time, budget and quality.
People leadership
- Line manage Account Managers and Account Executives, setting and reviewing objectives and supporting their professional development and wellbeing.
- Build a psychologically safe, high-performing team where people feel able to contribute, learn and grow.
- Coach colleagues to develop their skills and confidence, giving honest feedback in real time.
- Address performance issues promptly, with care and honesty.
- Model Blue Lozenge’s values and contribute to a positive agency culture, including through a corporate objective linked to developing Blue Lozenge.
PR and media relations
In addition to your core Account Director responsibilities, you will share leadership of our PR and media relations specialism with the other Account Directors in the practice:
- Lead the development of proactive media relations strategies for your clients that showcase their impact and patient outcomes, and help assure the quality of media work across the agency.
- Act as senior counsel to clients on reputation risk, issues and crisis communications, leading the response during high-stakes media moments.
- Help shape our approach to reactive media enquiries and escalation protocols, and support Account Managers to handle complex or high-risk cases.
- Lead the response to digital misinformation affecting your clients’ reputation, working with the digital communications team on response and monitoring.
- Build and maintain senior relationships with journalists, editors and media contacts, with a strong network in health, care and public sector media.
- Prepare senior client spokespeople for media interviews and high-profile moments, including through media training.
- Work with fellow PR Account Directors to develop the tools, templates and training behind our PR offer, and build PR capability across the team.
- Share knowledge, media contacts and learning with fellow Account Directors so that every client receives a consistent, high-quality PR service.
- Help raise Blue Lozenge’s own profile, contributing to award entries, thought leadership and sector press coverage.
- Identify opportunities to grow our PR offer with new and existing clients.
Skills and experience
- Senior experience in a public relations, media relations or communications role, including in an agency setting, ideally within the health, care or public sector.
- A track record of leading communication strategy for senior clients, with clear evidence of measurable outcomes.
- Experience advising senior leaders through issues, crisis or reputation management.
- An established network of media contacts, including health, care or public sector journalists.
- Experience managing a portfolio of accounts, including budgets, resource and margin.
- A track record of leading successful pitches and growing account value.
- Experience line managing and developing a team, with evidence of helping people grow.
- Confidence using research, data and evaluation frameworks to inform strategy and measure impact.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including presenting to boards and executive teams.
- A commitment to Blue Lozenge’s values: we put people first, we improve lives, we are compassionate, we bring joy, we collaborate and we are data-driven.
- Experience working with NHS organisations, integrated care systems or other public sector bodies.
- Professional membership or qualification, for example through the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) or the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA).
- Familiarity with media monitoring and evaluation tools, for example Meltwater or Cision, and platforms such as Canva or Miro.
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