Overview

An Account/Associate Director is a senior member in the company. Key responsibilities include helping to shape and deliver strategic advice and counsel to clients; providing management, mentorship, and guidance to junior colleagues; and playing a key role in new business development and contributing to the growth and strategic direction of the company.

Responsibilities (External):

• Confidently and enthusiastically liaise directly with clients and prospective clients at executive level (Vice President/CEO/Managing Director) on a regular basis so as to maintain Sandpiper-North Head’s visibility.
• Service current clients so as to actively grow the breadth, and therefore the amount, of service being deployed, and with that to grow income and profit.
• Actively seek, follow up and close new business opportunities.
• Invest effort to keep media knowledge and contacts fresh and strong, including staying abreast of evolving trends – for example, digital and social media.
• Maintain awareness and interest in developing Sandpiper-North Head’s presence in the market by general networking and promoting the brand, and pro-actively suggesting ways in which Sandpiper-North Head can raise its overall profile, reputation and visibility.

Responsibilities (Internal: process, procedures):

• Take responsibility for administration relevant to client service, such as invoicing (including clients’ invoice enquiries), budgeting, cost estimates, contract renewal negotiations etc.
• Assist, when requested, with any administrative or staffing issues as nominated by the CEO.
• Actively participate in the development of new ideas, services, processes and approaches to business so as to strengthen the company’s reputation, competitiveness and profitability.
• Ensure that all editorial is passed through appropriate QA procedures internally before being passed outside to any third party (i.e. clients, media, etc.).
• Track account activity so as to be able to provide the CEO with timely and accurate outlooks and forecasts on account revenues.
• Actively maintain (on a daily basis), timesheet entries for activities during each working day by entering accurate information into the timesheet system.

Responsibilities (Internal: team members):

• Supervise junior team members and their accounts, as required, to ensure all work is maintained to high standards and subordinates are stretched, challenged and grown.
• Set objectives, monitor performance, and provide feedback.
• Provide advice, guidance, mentoring and encouragement and thereby directly contribute to their career development.

Responsibilities (Self-development):

• Actively develop and maintain industry knowledge beyond that of assigned accounts by reading business and general publications and blogs, monitoring broadcast media, attending conferences/seminars, networking etc.

Requirements:

This position requires a high level of skill and experience in creating and managing strategic communications and/or public relations programs for and on behalf of clients.

Key recruitment criteria for the role:

• Deep / strong financial communications and/or financial services experience (professional services a bonus)
• Strong understanding of the media landscape and media relations skills
• Strong writer and presentation skills, including good level of English (most of our current clients are international)
• Collaborative, team player, not political

This role has full responsibility for his/her assigned accounts. Thus, account ownership spans the strategic side (strategy development, ideas generation, program creation, service implementation) as well as all aspects on the business side (tracking, monitoring, reporting, budget management, etc.).

To be effective, the ideal candidate must demonstrate a high degree of knowledge about specific business sectors as they apply to the role (especially in financial services), clients’ business, marketing communications in general, Sandpiper-North Head ’s range and structure of services and the media.

Pre-requisite characteristics include self-confidence, and strong interpersonal and business skills.  Being a team player is essential though the role is expected to work with minimal guidance and support. Considerable initiative is expected with an ability to follow through on activities. Good writing skills are crucial. Presentation skills are an important aspect of the role. The need for self-organization and good time management are also very important due to the highly reactive environment.

Strong English skills – both written and oral – are essential as English is used in all routine communications.

Please kindly send your cover letter and English CV to sophie.li@sandpipercomms.com and julia.zheng@sandpipercomms.com. More information about Sandpiper-North Head can be found at https://sandpipercomms.com.