Growth Associate Director

M+C Saatchi Group are looking for a strategic, highly motivated business development & marketing lead to help shape how the UK Group shows up, connects and grows. This role sits at the heart of our UK Business Development and Marketing team, reporting into the UK Group CMO. You will lead the charge across proactive prospecting, marketing initiatives and pitch leadership, helping us secure and shape the next generation of client partnerships. This is a rare opportunity to operate at the intersection of brand storytelling, business growth and cultural momentum - bringing energy and structure to high-stakes moments and long-term planning alike. It’s also a pivotal role in delivering against our newly launched Cultural Power proposition, ensuring our outputs, presence and storytelling reflect our ambition to shape culture and create meaningful connections. Based in our London office with a hybrid working model, you’ll work closely with senior leadership across our group companies, creative and strategic teams, and key external partners across the M&C Saatchi Group.

ABOUT THE ROLE: This is a leadership role focused on the proactive development and conversion of new opportunities for the agency - both through world-class pitching and powerful marketing presence. You will lead pitch strategy, content, team coordination and delivery. You will also drive broader marketing activity, ensuring our group is present in the right moments, with the right message and a clear, consistent voice. Success in this role is measured in clarity of strategy, quality of execution, and impact on growth. You will be both a strategic thinker and an executor - owning the big picture, while delivering the details.

What you will do:

• Lead pitch processes from end to end, including strategy, team resourcing, content development and final delivery.
• Partner with the CMO and business leads to shape our annual marketing and new business strategy.
• Manage and evolve prospecting strategies - identifying new opportunities, building contact plans and owning relationship development across key audiences.
• Maintain and develop collateral systems - creds, case studies, boilerplates and templates.
• Oversee agency submissions for tenders, RFIs, awards and directories.
• Build strong relationships across the UK group, aligning cross-functional teams in pursuit of business development opportunities.
• Support content development across all channels - including social, industry events, thought leadership and PR in partnership with comms leads.
• Oversee accurate reporting across business development tracking and CRM (HubSpot) systems.

ABOUT YOU: You are a connector, a strategist and a natural driver of progress. You understand what makes a compelling story - and how to align people, timelines and ideas to deliver at a high standard. You are calm under pressure and thrive in a collaborative, creative environment. You know how to influence, organise and inspire - and you are ready to lead.

What you will bring with you (experience and qualifications):

• Extensive experience in a business development, client lead or strategic marketing role in a creative/communications agency.
• Proven experience leading major pitch efforts - from prospecting through to final delivery.
• Strong strategic mindset and storytelling capability, with excellent writing and editing skills.
• Strong experience in social strategy, experiences and media knowledge.
• Leadership across all aspects of the tender processes, award entries, and creds development.
• Confidence in CRM systems, pipeline management and internal reporting processes.
• A track record of influencing senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams.

What you are good at (behaviours):

• Thinking ahead and seeing the full picture - from insight to activation.
• Driving collaboration and setting standards under pressure.
• Bringing energy and clarity to every task - big or small.
• Working with diplomacy, professionalism and urgency.
• Translating strategic insight into action and output.
• Staying culturally connected and commercially astute.

WHAT YOU WILL GET: For the right candidate, we will offer a competitive salary and benefits package which includes 27 days annual holiday, private healthcare, employer contributory pension, life assurance and income protection. We also offer a host of benefits that support wellbeing including subsidised gym membership, whilst our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion sees us offer learning opportunities around D&I, targeted mentoring programmes and the opportunity to participate in a number of active Employee Led Networks and associated events. Finally, this role will be supported with all the necessary personal development required to set someone up for success.

ABOUT M+C SAATCHI GROUP: M+C Saatchi Group has pledged its commitment to create a company that values difference, with an inclusive culture. As part of this, M+C Saatchi Group continues to be an Equal Opportunity Employer which does not and shall not discriminate, celebrates diversity and bases all hiring and promotion decisions solely on merit, without regard for any personal characteristics. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, please make us aware as part of your application. All employee information is kept confidential according to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).