Public Relations Account Director

The Role: 12 month maternity cover As Account Director, you will report directly to the Client Director and play a pivotal role in leading and growing a portfolio of luxury, lifestyle and premium brand accounts. You will be responsible for the strategic direction, day-to-day leadership and commercial health of your accounts, ensuring all activity is delivered to an exceptional standard, aligns with client objectives, and demonstrates clear business value. You will act as a senior client partner, providing confident counsel, identifying growth opportunities, and leading integrated communications campaigns spanning PR, partnerships, events, influencer activity, brand storytelling and earned media. A core part of this role is also to impart knowledge across the wider team, helping to raise standards, develop capability and strengthen the agency's overall offering. You will be expected to champion a positive mindset and culture, lead by example, and bring a solutions-focused approach to both client challenges and internal ways of working. This role requires a commercially minded, highly connected and proactive operator who can nurture senior client relationships, inspire internal teams, deliver best-in-class campaigns, and contribute meaningfully to agency growth. This version builds on your original draft while updating it for a more market-relevant luxury PR Account Director remit. Key Responsibilities: Client Leadership & Strategic Counsel ·      Act as the senior day-to-day lead across multiple client accounts, building trusted relationships with key stakeholders and senior client contacts. ·      Demonstrate a strong understanding of each client's business, brand positioning, competitive landscape, audience, and wider commercial goals. ·      Provide strategic, clear and confident counsel to clients, including managing expectations, constructively challenging where needed, and offering solutions-led advice. ·      Lead the planning and delivery of integrated PR and communications campaigns that drive awareness, relevance, reputation and commercial impact. ·      Ensure all client work is delivered on time, on brief, on budget and to an exceptional standard. ·      Oversee campaign critical paths, team workflow and account priorities, identifying risks early and resolving issues proactively. ·      Lead client meetings, status calls, QBRs and annual planning sessions with authority and professionalism. ·      Drive a high standard of reporting and evaluation, ensuring results are clearly articulated against KPIs, objectives and broader business outcomes. Campaign Development & Delivery ·      Lead the creation of strategic campaign ideas, launches, cultural moments, media strategies and partnership concepts that are relevant, creative and aligned to luxury market expectations. ·      Collaborate with internal and external partners to deliver integrated campaigns across PR, influencer, social, partnerships, talent and events where relevant. ·      Ensure campaign ideas are insight-led, well sold-in internally and externally, and clearly linked to client goals. ·      Maintain rigorous quality control across all account materials including press releases, pitches, presentations, reports, budgets, timelines and strategic documents. ·      Ensure all outputs reflect the agency's standards in quality, polish, tone and market relevance. Client Retention & Organic Growth ·      Take ownership of client retention across your account portfolio by ensuring service levels remain consistently high and relationships are developed beyond immediate day-to-day contacts. ·      Build multi-level relationships within client organisations to strengthen account stability and long-term growth potential. ·      Identify opportunities to expand scopes of work across retained and project accounts, including additional services, campaigns, markets or special projects. ·      Work closely with the Client Director to convert organic growth opportunities into revenue. ·      Support the development of annual client roadmaps and forward-looking recommendations that reinforce the agency's strategic value. ·      Monitor client satisfaction regularly and address issues early to protect account health and retention. Commercial Management ·      Own the commercial performance of your accounts, with a clear understanding of fees, scopes, resourcing, profitability and third-party costs. ·      Draft and manage scopes of work, proposals, budgets and estimates with clarity and commercial rigour. ·      Ensure account teams understand agreed deliverables and flag any scope creep or over-servicing risks in a timely manner. ·      Manage budgets accurately and ensure all third-party costs are tracked, reconciled and communicated appropriately. ·      Work with senior leadership to manage resourcing efficiently and maintain healthy account profitability. Sales & New Business Contribution ·      Contribute to agency growth by identifying, nurturing and supporting new business opportunities. ·      Lead or support proposal writing, pitch development, strategic recommendations and presentations for prospective clients. ·      Use your market network and industry knowledge to generate introductions, open conversations and build the agency's profile within relevant sectors. ·      Spot opportunities to cross-sell agency services into existing accounts. ·      Maintain awareness of industry movement, brand launches, competitive agencies and new opportunities within the luxury, premium and lifestyle sectors. Industry Knowledge & Market Awareness ·      Stay highly informed on the luxury, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, hospitality and cultural landscape, with a strong understanding of media, influencers, tastemakers and brand trends. ·      Demonstrate cultural awareness and commercial curiosity, bringing relevant ideas, insights and opportunities to clients and internal teams. ·      Encourage team members to stay informed on media shifts, consumer behaviour, competitor activity and standout campaigns. ·      Maintain strong and relevant media, influencer and industry relationships that support client success and agency credibility. Team Leadership & Development ·      Lead account teams with clarity, positivity and high standards, ensuring junior team members feel supported, stretched and well managed. ·      Oversee the performance and development of Account Managers, Senior Account Executives and Executives across your accounts. ·      Impart knowledge to the wider team, sharing insight on clients, industry trends, media, campaign thinking and best practice to help elevate overall team capability. ·      Promote a positive mindset and culture across the agency, contributing to an environment that is collaborative, motivated, resilient and solutions-focused. ·      Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, precision and proactive thinking. ·      Invest in team development through regular feedback, mentoring and “show, don't tell” leadership. ·      Lead with a solutions-focused mindset, helping teams navigate challenges calmly, constructively and commercially. ·      Ensure junior team members understand client context, expectations, deadlines and commercial realities. ·      Support recruitment, onboarding and retention of strong talent in partnership with senior leadership. Sales, Growth & Retention Objectives The Account Director will be expected to contribute to both client excellence and agency growth through the following objectives: Client retention: maintain strong client satisfaction and retention across all core accounts through excellent service, strategic value and senior relationship management. Organic growth: identify and help convert opportunities for additional monthly retainers, campaign projects, partnerships, events, influencer activations or market expansion within existing accounts. Revenue contribution: support agency revenue growth through upselling, proposal development, pitch participation and new business introductions. Account profitability: manage account scopes and resourcing effectively to protect margins and reduce unnecessary over-servicing. Relationship depth: build senior and multi-level client relationships that increase long-term account stability and trust. Campaign performance: ensure campaigns are evaluated not only on coverage volume, but also on relevance, quality, impact, brand positioning and contribution to wider client objectives. Team performance: develop high-performing account teams that deliver excellent work efficiently and consistently. Ideal Experience & Profile ·      Proven experience in a Senior Account Manager or Account Director role within a PR or integrated communications agency. ·      Strong background working with luxury, premium or lifestyle brands across sectors such as fashion, beauty, hospitality, travel, design, wellness or culture. ·      Excellent client handling skills, with confidence managing senior stakeholders and leading strategic conversations. ·      Strong commercial acumen with experience managing budgets, scopes, proposals and account profitability. ·      Demonstrable success in growing existing accounts and contributing to new business. ·      Excellent writing, presentation and communication skills. ·      Highly organised, solutions-focused and calm under pressure. ·      Strong media and industry awareness, with a good understanding of what drives relevance and desirability in the luxury space. ·      A collaborative and motivating leadership style with experience developing junior talent.