Account Director (12-month FTC)

BRAND: Starcom
Job Function: Strategy
Location: London, United Kingdom
Experience Level: Specialist
Workplace Type: Hybrid

Company description

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, P&G, Primark, Samsung, Stellantis, and Visa.

We place a huge focus on our People, and have driven flagship D&I and L&D programmes within Publicis Media; 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 five years in a row, Media Week's Agency of the Year 2025 and one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025.

Overview

What will you be doing?

The Account Director (AD) is responsible for leading the day-to-day operations of client accounts, ensuring high standards are achieved in media planning, client management, and strategic execution. ADs move beyond campaign-level thinking to take a broader view of the client's overall business and agency relationship, focusing on delivering industry-leading work and fostering high-performing teams. They play a pivotal role in ensuring high-quality outputs, embedding best practices, team leadership and leading planning discussions with clients and internal teams.

Responsibilities

• Client Leadership & Relationship Management - Act as a trusted advisor to mid-to-senior level clients, leading conversations with confidence, anticipating challenges, and providing proactive, solutions-focused guidance.
• Strategic Planning Leadership - Lead the end-to-end planning process, ensuring all work is insight-led, strategically grounded, and delivers full-funnel media recommendations aligned to business objectives.
• Insight & Audience Development - Generate actionable audience and performance insights using data sources and reporting to shape planning direction and identify growth opportunities.
• Commercial & Financial Accountability - Maintain financial accuracy across accounts, support forecasting and growth plans, ensure contract compliance, and identify revenue opportunities.
• Storytelling & Communication Excellence - Translate media strategy into compelling narratives, delivering clear, confident presentations and written outputs.
• Channel & Media Expertise - Demonstrate strong cross-channel knowledge (digital and traditional), applying media theory, measurement frameworks, and performance tracking to drive outcomes.
• Quality Control & Governance - Ensure high standards of output, catching errors, maintaining compliance, and protecting revenue.
• Team Leadership & Development - Lead and inspire the immediate team, set clear direction, foster a high-performance culture, and support the growth of junior team members.
• Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement - Review and refine ways of working, champion best practices, and drive adoption of planning frameworks and tools.

Qualifications

What are we looking for?

• Proven experience leading end-to-end, full-funnel media planning.
• Strong client leadership skills, with the ability to build trusted senior relationships.
• Strategic and insight-driven thinker, confident turning data into clear planning direction.
• Excellent storytelling and presentation skills.
• Broad cross-channel media expertise (digital and traditional), including measurement and performance frameworks.
• Commercially astute, with experience managing budgets, forecasting, and compliance.
• Strong team leadership capability, driving quality, accountability, and development.
• Proactive, solutions-focused mindset with a track record of identifying growth opportunities.

Additional information

Starcom has fantastic benefits on offer to all of our employees, full details of which are shared when you join. This includes the classics like Pension, Life Assurance, Private Medical, as well as Reflection Days, Shared Parental Leave, and spans other initiatives like:

Please check out the Publicis Career Page which showcases our Inclusive Benefits and our EAG's (Employee Action Groups).

At Starcom, we are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, and do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age, citizenship, relationship status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected characteristic

We are committed to providing a fair, accessible, and inclusive recruitment process. If you have any access needs - for example, related to disability, neurodivergence, or a health condition - please let us know. We'll work with you to ensure the process works for you. Sharing this information will never impact your application.

Guided by our values, we listen with empathy, uplift each other, take responsibility, and embrace change - building a culture where everyone feels seen, respected, and genuinely included.

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