Associate Director – Sport PR

Associate Director - Sports PR - Creative ideas driven account

London | Hybrid – 3 days per week in the office

I’m working with an exciting independent sports and entertainment agency that is looking to hire an Associate Director – PR to work on an account that is creatively ideas driven.

PR experience is essential for this role. You need to come from a strong earned media / communications background and know how to develop and deliver brilliant PR campaigns.

However, this isn’t a traditional PR role.

We’re looking for someone who understands the wider marketing mix and has experience working on genuinely integrated campaigns spanning sponsorship, events and experiential, social, content, creators and wider brand marketing.

The opportunity

You’ll take a senior leadership role on one of the agency’s key global accounts – a brand with very high expectations when it comes to creativity.

This is an ideas-driven account. The client wants culturally relevant work that feels fresh, exciting and gets people talking. They will challenge you to think creatively and push the work further – so you need to be someone who thrives on that.

The type of work you’ve done previously really matters.

We’re looking for someone who has worked on cool, culturally relevant consumer campaigns and understands what makes an idea cut through. If your background is predominantly corporate communications, this won’t be the right fit.

You’ll work closely with the founders and senior leadership team, with plenty of opportunity to influence the work, the client relationship and the future direction of the account.

What you'll be doing

• Leading integrated PR and communications campaigns from strategy and creative development through to delivery.
• Acting as a senior and trusted advisor to the client.
• Developing and championing ambitious creative ideas.
• Ensuring PR works effectively as part of the wider marketing mix across sponsorship, social, content, experiential and creators.
• Leading senior client relationships and confidently challenging thinking where appropriate.
• Working across internal teams and specialist partners to deliver genuinely integrated campaigns.
• Leading and developing a high-performing team.
• Helping drive the growth and development of one of the agency’s most important accounts.
• Playing an active role in the continued growth and creative development of the agency.

What we're looking for

First and foremost, you must have a strong PR / earned media background.

Alongside that, you'll ideally have:

• Experience working across integrated consumer campaigns, rather than PR in isolation.
• A strong understanding of the wider marketing mix, particularly sponsorship, experiential/events, social, content and creators.
• Experience working on culturally relevant, creative campaigns for exciting consumer brands.
• Strong creative instincts – you know what a great idea looks like and how to push it further.
• The confidence to sell ideas and challenge senior clients.
• Excellent client leadership skills.
• Experience managing and developing teams.
• A genuine interest in sport, entertainment and culture.
• Agency experience within PR, sport, entertainment, lifestyle or an integrated environment.

Why this role?

The career progression is excellent.

This is an ambitious, growing independent agency where good people have the opportunity to step up quickly and have genuine influence.

You’ll be working closely with the founders, leading a major account and delivering the kind of creative work that gets noticed internally.

For the right person, there’s a real opportunity to make your mark and create a name for yourself within the agency as the business continues to grow.

If you're a senior PR professional who loves big ideas, understands the wider marketing landscape and wants to work on campaigns with genuine cultural relevance, I'd love to hear from you.