Account Director

With a history that dates back over 80 years, Starcom is a global communications planning and media leader. We are an agency still grounded in our founding principle that people are at the centre of all we do. Each day, we apply this belief to harness the transformative power of data and technology to inspire and move people and business forward. With more than 7,000 employees in over 100 offices around the world, we are the flagship Publicis Media agency that uses our ‘Power of One’ business model, with teams that span multiple disciplines across clients such as Aldi.

Our goal is to help every individual reach their fullest potential and we encourage everyone to make “Brave Plays” in how they approach their work and their own career development. As a result, we have an exceptionally energised and committed talent base, all of us proud of our welcoming and supportive culture, as evidenced by our recognition as one of Campaign’s Best Places to Work for three years in a row (2021, 2022 and 2023) and most excitingly, Media Week's Agency of the Year 2023!

The Client: Samsung is a global leader in technology, innovation, and consumer electronics—recognized worldwide for its cutting-edge smartphones, televisions, home appliances, and more. Supporting this brand means working at the forefront of digital transformation, cultural relevance, and high-impact storytelling. The Samsung UK Media team are based in London and rely on us (Starcom) to be a genuine extension of their team and a true partner in helping them to deliver transformative growth.

What will you be doing? As Account Director you will be one of 3 planning and account management leads and primary point of contact for the Samsung media team. You will have responsibility for shaping and driving forward the client and agency’s strategic visions, ensuring that the day to day is running smoothly, but also taking that step up to support your Business Director with additional growth. You will work closely with our internal activation teams to ensure that everything we deliver is driven by insight, is relevant and encompasses innovation, recognizing the individuality of the different brands/fragrances within the portfolio. This role calls for a dynamic and passionate planning mind along with an unsurpassed attention to detail and media knowledge. You need to be a media expert, demonstrating this by being able to answer most client questions in the room.

Move People: You will have the chance to be a major contributor to shaping the culture of the teams that you work with directly and within the wider agency. Under this goal, you’ll be an inspiring leader for the team you work with, both in Planning and the wider team. Foster a culture of curiosity, learning and development. Set clear progression plans for your team. Work collaboratively with all teams. Build strong, trusted relationships with key clients, ensuring you’re their first port of call for anything and everything.

Move Business Responsibilities: Our goal is to create brilliant experiences that drive faster growth for our clients, and you will work with various teams within the broader Publicis Media organisation (Content, Sports, Data and Commerce Practices) to do so. Under this banner, you’ll be responsible for:

• Leading high quality day-to-day output of the team and best in class Planning Thinking.
• Being a subject matter expert in your field and delivering operational excellence across the team.
• Supporting the BD to deliver outstanding work every time.
• Continuously innovating.

Qualifications: What are we looking for? Skills: In order to be successful in this role, you’ll have significant experience in a blended Comms Planning and Account Management role, ideally leading a variety of planning projects. In addition to this, we’ll prioritise candidates who have the majority of the below skills and experience:

• Experience working directly with clients in an agency environment and have proven evidence of developing strong and trusted relationships.
• Tight project leadership and management skills including driving accuracy, organization and collaboration from our team.
• Experience on large scale brand.
• Unsurpassed attention to detail and media knowledge, in particular planning knowledge.
• Team management, ensuring all outputs from them are of a high-quality standard.
• Team development, instilling a culture of curiosity, learning, growth and pride.
• Ability to work within and contribute to an integrated agency team across media and data.
• Strong grasp of the communications planning process and an understanding of how to implement a holistic x-channel strategy.
• Experience in (and passion for) the Tech Category would be ideal.

Don’t be put off applying if you don’t meet all the criteria - if you meet over half, then this could be the right role for you; just don’t forget to be clear on how you meet these criteria in your application. Equally, we don’t specifically look for people with university degrees; experience and aptitude are much more important to us.

Additional Information: Starcom has fantastic benefits on offer to all of our employees. In addition to the classics, Pension, Life Assurance, Private Medical and Income Protection Plans we also offer:

• WORK YOUR WORLD opportunity to work anywhere in the world, where there is a Publicis office, for up to 6 weeks a year.
• REFLECTION DAYS - Two additional days of paid leave to step away from your usual day-to-day work and create time to focus on your well-being and self-care.
• HELP@HAND BENEFITS 24/7 helpline to support you on a personal and professional level. Access to remote GPs, mental health support and CBT. Wellbeing content and lifestyle coaching.
• FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES - We provide 26 weeks of full pay for the following family milestones: Maternity, Adoption, Surrogacy and Shared Parental Leave.
• FLEXIBLE WORKING, BANK HOLIDAY SWAP.