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An Associate Director is responsible for securing, maintaining and growing business in their team. They will provide strategic counsel and guidance to clients on achieving communications and business objectives. They will lead and manage teams and oversee the development and delivery of high-quality communications marketing programs. An Associate Director will be a strong leader, working as part of the Health Brands senior leadership team to support the aims of the department/team and taking on key departmental tasks. They also lead and/or contribute to organic account growth and the winning of new client business.
Key Accountabilities
1. Client service
- Client centricity – Oversee plan delivery and ensure quality control for all deliverables from the team. Act as the main strategic contact for your clients and make sure your accounts deliver for your clients and the business as a whole. Keep abreast of new developments or opportunities to drive growth, bringing the ‘best of Edelman’ to the client, deploying integrated teams across the agency to best meet the client’s needs, regardless of P&L. Build relationships outside the Health team (e.g. GCRMs) to demonstrate to clients the added value Edelman can bring to their accounts.
- Brilliant basics – Provide leadership in the areas of account management, strategic counsel and financial management. Demonstrate an ability to quickly and efficiently respond to and resolve a sudden issue for a client, with and without senior input. Understand when to raise issues to other internal stakeholders (eg. Director, MD or GCRM). Develop and edit creative and compelling written documents that are on message and tailored to your audience, including annuals plans, proposals and issues management plans.
- Flawless execution – Motivate your teams to produce quality work that meets, and exceeds, client expectations in a measurable way (e.g. exceed previous E2 score). Anticipate challenges and offer proactive solutions. Develop compelling and creative materials that are effectively tailored to target audiences.
- Integrated marketing fundamentals – Understand the principles of integrated marketing and provide clients with expert counsel on which activities best meet needs/objectives, pushing your clients to do more communications marketing work. Develop an understanding of audience behaviors; use insights to support communications strategies, utilise all relevant communications channels; engage appropriate specialists within Edelman to ensure maximisation of all communications channels; measure the impact of different types of communication on the overall communications strategy.
- Insights – Educate yourself about all areas of your client’s business so you can make sound strategic judgements. Push your clients to connect with cross-functional teams to leverage/share insights. Complete insights training offered by the Planning Team. Use insights as the foundation for all strategic and tactical recommendations, engaging the Planning Team as appropriate.
- Collective creativity – Use your knowledge of other departments and offerings to provide clients with additional value beyond the health team. Offer your assistance above and beyond your account teams to aid the development of the business as a whole (e.g. local market pitches or other teams in London). Lead by example in supporting all team members, fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. Position yourself as a team player that is fun and motivating to work for, but also someone who demands respect, hard work and dedication.
- Digital fluency – Continue to keep up to date on new digital channels and their relative strategic importance for clients. Build digital channels into overarching communications plans and keep an eye on industry developments to ensure your teams stay at the forefront of effective healthcare digital communications.
- Consultative skills – Present plans/proposals to your clients throughout the year, driving organic growth. Convince your client of the benefit of your programming/budgeting to get plans signed off and underway. Take the lead in annual and mid-year planning for your clients, developing strategic plans that are creative and push the boundaries. Ensure effective measurement tools are in place to evaluate results, impact and demonstrate ROI.
2. Financial management
- Business acumen – Show a deep understanding of your client’s business, their objectives, and their environment. This should include your client’s business strategy, competitor strategies, industry issues, and business and cultural trends. Demonstrate expertise and a sustained presence within two or more strategically valuable industry categories, advising team members on trends/insights in the industry.
- Show a strong understanding of the Edelman business model and actively contribute to its success by working with your teams to ensure accurate resourcing, forecasting and monthly billing for your accounts. Anticipate potential challenges or scope creep, and handle difficult client conversations, coaching AMs/SAMs/ADs in this area.
- Maintain appropriate productivity levels for your accounts and ensure staffing matches billing schedules to support profitability. Work as part of Health Leadership team to support overall profitability of practice.
- Work with Edelman contracts team to negotiate contracts with clients.
- Submit accurate timesheets on time and understand service levels for your client.
3. Talent development and team management
- Lead your teams in managing their workloads and leverage/develop their skills to achieve the best output for your clients.
- Empower your teams to learn on their own, but provide enough direction and the right environment for them to succeed.
- Play an active role in the Health Leadership Team, as appropriate, raising issues and proactive suggestions for discussion.
- Actively manage your direct reports. Ensure staff stay current in relevant industry trends by encouraging continuous learning and attendance at industry events and training.
- Lead by example and continue to commit to your own self-learning, proactively seeking out areas of self-improvement to drive your own career.
- Play an active role in team recruitment by interviewing potential candidates and being involved in the decision-making process with the Health Leadership Team.
- Engage with the departmental ‘people’ lead and the HR department on all relevant matters for your own employment and that of your linees.
4. Brand and business building
- Take the lead in pitch processes
- Seek out and secure organic growth opportunities within your accounts. If there is the opportunity for new business but it can’t be directly supported by the Health Brands team, then you will be expected to find another solution, possibly with another department or elsewhere within the network.
- Maintain strong industry contacts, and look for ways to maximise these via invitations to Edelman events. Continually prospect new opportunities by joining industry organizations, speaking at industry conferences, networking, etc.
- Proactively research new business leads.
- Identify potential partners (suppliers, PAGs, think tanks etc.) to bring value to our clients and efficiencies to our business.
Experience
- Proven ability to lead and manage client teams.
- Oncology experience preferred
- Experience in Data & Regulatory communications, regulatory milestones.
- A track record of developing and executing creative and successful communications marketing programs.
- A demonstrated ability to build and manage client relationships.
- Experience of managing budgets and team servicing levels.
Skills
- Excellent communication and writing skills.
- Flexible and creative thinker with strong problem-solving skills.
- Ability to assess situations quickly and accurately and advise clients accordingly.
- Superb people management skills, ability to motivate and train team members.
- Ability to develop creative and innovative communications marketing. programmes with demonstrated results.
We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t perfectly align with every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
