Senior Account Manager

This is an exciting opportunity to coordinate and facilitate the production and delivery of in-store Point of Sale (POS) for the M&S Food account. The Senior Account Manager works directly with the M&S Marketing in‑store team, liaising with key stakeholders and is responsible for keeping all campaigns within budget and on time. The role exists in support of the Senior Account Director and is integral to the effective running of the marketing function within M&S Food, coordinating the delivery of all administrative elements of marketing campaigns and activity.

Working closely with various M&S teams, the role will involve leading the ITG team to hit key critical‑path deadlines so that artwork, production briefs and costs are approved by key stakeholders when required, in turn allowing for a seamless campaign delivery to stores.

Day to day responsibilities:

• Line‑managing and developing Account Managers within the team, providing clear direction, support and regular feedback to ensure a high standard of delivery across all campaigns.
• Acting as the first point of escalation for the team, proactively resolving issues, removing blockers and ensuring campaigns remain on track.
• Leading by example in ways of working, setting the standard for pace, organisation, attention to detail and stakeholder management.
• Driving momentum across projects, keeping activity moving at pace and ensuring all teams are aligned to critical‑path deadlines.
• Receiving briefs from the client (M&S Marketing) and clearly communicating timelines, creative templates that will be followed and costings.
• Linking all briefs back to your direct teams and managing the relationships between M&S Marketing and ITG team to ensure campaigns run smoothly and artwork can be approved in good time.
• Supporting pre‑production meetings with your Account Managers per campaign where required (prior to briefing artwork) to ensure M&S marketing have given a clear finalised artwork brief.
• Maintaining and managing a great relationship with the ITG Artwork Production Team (based in Birmingham at ITG Head Office) and flagging urgent or large campaigns in advance, giving them realistic deadlines to manage our studio’s resource and client’s expectations of when artworks will be fulfilled.
• Leading the team to brief final artwork to ITG Production team using pre‑approved templates, with enough time for them to complete the job well, especially during busy periods.
• Avoid bottleneck artwork periods by pre‑planning and having open discussions with the wider team on when artwork is expected to be briefed.
• You will be the first point of contact & escalation for our main stakeholder on M&S Food and therefore crucial to be in the detail across the full campaign.
• You will accurately manage information from the M&S business units, formulating full production and artwork briefs, liaising with the Production Director to produce detailed print specifications and maintaining print allocations for POS material via our tech system, Media Centre.
• Ensuring printers have been engaged on each campaign on deadlines, workload and realistic timings on when they will receive Purchase Order and final artwork, working closely with our Production Director.
• Keeping all M&S cost trackers for POS up to date and communicating costs regularly with ITG account team, ITG Senior Account Director 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 planning manager.

Requirements:

• You should be a people person and demonstrate exceptional people skills and be a customer‑focused fanatic.
• Previous experience of working in an agency environment with advertising experience.
• Good knowledge of creative processes and a thorough understanding of in‑store POS.
• Strong project‑management experience and ability to traffic multiple projects in tandem, which may be at different points in the creative process.
• Ability to manage your own time and deliver quality with speed, as you will not be micromanaged.
• Managing more than one project at a time so managing your time effectively is crucial.
• Comfortable in interacting with an enthusiastic and committed team – whilst being part of ITG you will also be part of the client team.
• Previous experience in a leadership or line‑management role, with the ability to motivate, support and develop others.
• Confident in acting as a senior day‑to‑day client contact and building strong, credible relationships with key stakeholders.
• Ability to work at pace in a fast‑moving retail environment, balancing multiple priorities while maintaining accuracy and control.

Benefits:

• Time off that works for you — 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.
• Flexibility & lifestyle — 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.
• Family & life milestones — Enhanced family‑friendly leave, 3 extra days for your wedding/honeymoon, and an Employee Assistance Programme whenever you need support.
• Financial perks — Pension scheme, Corporate Medical Cash Plan, electric car salary sacrifice scheme, and tax‑efficient payroll giving to your favourite charities.
• Growth & recognition — Funding for professional qualifications, monthly Employee of the Month awards (£250 bonus), and referral bonuses of up to £1,500.
• Community & wellbeing — 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 not only committed to increasing the visibility and recognition of talent from under‑represented groups within our organisation, but the wider industry too. At the end of the day, we make sure we take time to look after ourselves, each other, and the planet, because we're always stronger together. ITG has a number of community groups available to employees and exists to offer a safe space for like‑minded colleagues, with shared interests to connect, socialise and check in with each other.