Account Manager (12-Month Fixed Term Contract)

This is an exciting opportunity to coordinate and facilitate the production and delivery of in-store Point of Sale (POS) for the M&S account. The Account Manager works directly with the M&S marketing team and is responsible for keeping all campaigns within budget and on time. The role exists in support of the Account Director for each business unit area and focuses on verification, accuracy and completeness of all artwork running through our bespoke approval system Media Centre. This role requires commitment, resilience and a keen focus on project management.

Your day to day responsibilities include:

• Receiving briefs from the Account Director or directly from the client (M&S Marketing) and clearly communicating timelines, creative templates that will be followed and costings.
• Linking all briefs back to the M&S planning managers and managing the relationships between M&S Marketing and Planning teams to ensure campaigns run smoothly and artwork can be approved in good time.
• Leading pre-production meetings for your business unit per campaign (prior to briefing artwork) to ensure M&S marketing have given a clear finalized artwork brief.
• Maintaining a great relationship with ITG Artwork Production Team (this team are based in Birmingham at ITG Head Office) and flagging urgent or large campaigns in advance, giving them realistic deadlines.
• Briefing final artwork to ITG Production team using pre-approved templates, with enough time for them to complete the job well, especially during busy periods.
• Avoiding bottleneck artwork periods by pre-planning and having open discussions with the wider team on when artwork is expected to be briefed.
• Accurately managing information from the M&S business units, formulating full production and artwork briefs, producing detailed print specifications and maintaining print allocations for POS material via our tech systems, RULE & Media Centre.
• Ensuring that printers have been engaged each campaign on deadlines, workload and realistic timings on when they will receive Purchase Order and final artwork.
• Ensuring all M&S cost trackers for POS are kept up to date, and costs are communicated regularly with ITG Account Director, M&S Planning Managers and M&S marketing.
• Ensuring Purchase Orders are raised in good time in advance of the file to print date and all issues are flagged in advance with the M&S team.
• Maintaining critical path dates on Monday.com production board, using the main programme board, liaising with M&S Planning managers & Creative SAM who are managing the creative project from brief to implementation.
• Sending out reminder emails for key dates (send to M&S Marketing POS team, ITG Marketing execs).
• Ensuring WIP report showing all live jobs from media centre is sent each morning and job status report is shared each Friday with client, including any status updates which need to be shared.

Requirements:

• Previous experience in an Account Management, Project Management, Marketing Operations or Production role.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple campaigns, deadlines and priorities simultaneously.
• Experience working within a fast-paced marketing, retail, agency or production environment.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build relationships across clients, internal teams and external suppliers.
• Highly organised with exceptional attention to detail and accuracy.
• Experience managing budgets, cost trackers, purchase orders and campaign expenditure.
• Knowledge of print production, artwork workflows, POS marketing materials or retail marketing campaigns would be advantageous.
• Comfortable working with workflow management, approval and project management systems.
• Strong commercial awareness and ability to work within agreed budgets and deadlines.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.

Benefits:

• 25 days' holiday + bank holidays, a paid Wellbeing Day, flexible bank holidays to honour cultural or religious observances, and the option to buy or carry over up to 5 extra days.
• Smart Working with up to 40% from home, and after 12 months, the option to work from abroad for up to 90 days a year.
• Enhanced family friendly leave, 3 extra days for your wedding/honeymoon, and an Employee Assistance Programme whenever you need support.
• Pension scheme, Corporate Medical Cash Plan, electric car salary sacrifice scheme, and tax-efficient payroll giving to your favourite charities.
• Funding for professional qualifications, monthly Employee of the Month awards (£250 bonus), and referral bonuses of up to £1,500.
• Regular Wellbeing Workshops, 30+ Wellbeing Champions, a paid Volunteer Day, and an online perks platform with discounts on top brands, days out, and gym memberships.

We Value Diversity:

We champion and welcome diversity in our workforce and ensure all job applicants receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender or gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or nationality. We are committed to increasing the visibility and recognition of talent from under-represented groups within our organisation, but the wider industry too.