* Holidays – 25 days annual leave, with an extra day for every year with STORY up to 30 days
* Location: Birmingham/hybrid with two – three days per week in the office
At STORY, we believe in telling stories that matter. The untold, The unheard. The ones that change the world.
This is a rare and exciting opportunity to join, and help shape, the future of STORY – a multi-award winning agency and currently, the PRCA’s UK Medium Consultancy of the Year.
Your mission – build an agency team known for magic client delivery and an enviable culture. Use this to tell stories that matter.
You will be instrumental in building and nurturing positive client relationships across the agency. A strategic thinker and leader with the skills and credibility to take responsibility for client satisfaction, team development and delivery, and overall day-to-day success of the agency team.
STORY’s Client Services Director will help shape our future, with a relentless never stop at ‘good’ when it comes to wowing clients with incredible service and surprising prospects with new solutions.
About STORY
From the kitchen table of our female founder, we have grown in just ten years to be the PRCA’s UK Medium Consultancy of the Year.
Our clients are big in business – from legal, finance, housing, property, placemaking, transport and more – but we’re also fast growing our consumer roster with brands that want to challenge and be challenged.
For us, bland is boring. Stories have always changed the world and we waste the opportunity to stand out by telling the same old. In an overloaded world, how do you tell a story?
It’s about being more punk.
By being brave, questioning everything, challenging, stripping out jargon and talking like humans. From the bus to the boardroom, people want to be seen, to connect and to be cared for. People want to be part of something bigger, a community.
STORY’s PR punks are curious, grafters, mavericks and makers. They are straight-talking, seek out alternative ways and are relentlessly driven to tell stories that matter.
THE ROLE
This is a senior-level role responsible for overseeing client relationships across accounts, managing account teams, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality services to our clients. This person will have the experience and ability to run the day-to-day operations.
We are looking for this person to live our STORY values. They are fearless, relentless, honest and united with the wider team in building an agency we are all proud to be part of.
They will play a pivotal role in maintaining and growing client accounts while ensuring client satisfaction.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
NON-NEGOTIABLES
* A hunger, ambition and drive to tell stories that really matter and connect people
* Ten years plus in comms and PR – ideally with a recent background in agency and its management
* Leads from front – Willing to get stuck in at all levels – from managing account portfolios and budgets to writing press releases and selling in.
* Strong judgement – with media situations and clients, people and opportunities
Client trust, counsel and management
* Ability to develop and nurture strong relationships with our key clients, serving as their primary and trusted point of contact. Your pride yourself on gold standard proven client service – clients love and trust you to deliver 100%. You are their go-to.
* Strong track record and expertise in providing accurate and well thought out client counsel, including ability to advise and manage issues/crisis comms situations
* Can demonstrate strong judgement in media and client scenarios, devising strategies to maximise reputation
* Oversee multiple client accounts, ensuring that their needs and expectations are met or exceeded – spot and solve problems, deliver needed results, wow with creativity and credible counsel
* Act as a liaison between the client and internal teams, facilitating effective communication and understanding of client requirements.
Deliver results
* Supervise the execution of projects, campaigns, or services to ensure they align with client goals and expectations.
* Strong network of national media contacts as well as the Midlands and beyond business community. Business, legal and housing/property media contacts are a bonus.
* Ability to deliver media coverage, and other results, for clients when needed.
* Quality check: Ensure the delivery of high-quality services to clients. The STORY standard is something we are proud of.
* Ability to use and manage Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software.
* Knowledge and experience using tools like Asana, Trello, or Monday.com for managing project timelines, tasks, and collaboration with internal teams.
* To manage budgets, financial reports, and invoicing. Examples include Xero.
Team and people
* Ability to train and support junior team members virtually and in-person, helping them to develop and reach their own potential.
* News sense and the ability to find and tell a client story in ways that connect with the news cycle – and crucially train your team to do the same.
* Line management experience and the ability to develop, coach and motivate a team.
* Strong leadership, team management, and interpersonal skills are crucial for effectively leading account teams and maintaining client relationships.
* Identify opportunities for upselling or cross-selling services to existing clients and participate in business development activities to acquire new clients.
* Actively nurture and build agency’s network to boost new business opportunities.
* Ability to find, lead and pitch for new business opportunities.
WHAT WE CAN OFFER
* Competitive and industry-benchmarked salary
* 25 days annual leave – with an extra day for every year with STORY up to 30 days
* Your birthday off work as our birthday pressie to you
* One month paid sabbatical after five years’ service
* Forward thinking policies designed to support and empower you to do your best work and live your best live.
* Hybrid working – we work together for team days and at home for focus days. As this role is so team focused – it will require two – three days in the office per week.
* The beautiful #TeamStory Clubhouse office in the heart of Brum city centre – complete with wellness room, workout space, strong coffee and all the healthy greenery you could want.
* Office dog – at least once a week our four legged apprentice makes a visit.
* Top tech – Brand new Apple laptop, phone and access to our team Spotify (the good and the bad!).
* Social and wellbeing activities – a lot of them!
* Discretionary bonus scheme dependent on agency success.
LONG TERM POTENTIAL
* We are an ambitious agency – not growth for its own sake, but as a measure of our impact. We want to tell stories that connect and matter, be somewhere that’s incredible to work and to work with. STORY is proudly independent and owner managed. Opportunities beyond this role are there for the making and the taking.
WHAT MAKES STORY STAND OUT?
* We have four values – and they are not just words on a wall. They are how we work as a team. Fearless, relentless, united and honest. We work hard, we thrive on challenges and we say what we mean. The flip side, the team always has your back, and you’ll have theirs.
* PR punks – Boring is bland. With the corporate mask down, well told stories connect people with people. We’re fearless but not reckless, we’ll challenge clients, briefs and work – but only when we’ve done the homework and have the solution up our sleeve.
* Culture – Our team culture is so important to us – without it, our days would be boring as heck and we wouldn’t achieve half our potential. Our punks are always at the heart of everything we do. We have fully embraced flexibility in our day to day – mixing WFH with time together. We work together, enjoy our time together and celebrate each other’s differences. We are also fiercely proud of the community we live and work in and want to reflect that diversity in our team of storytellers.
TO APPLY
To apply, tell us a STORY. We’d love to hear why you want to be part of #TeamStory, why we need you on the team and where you think our opportunities lie. It’s two-way, so we also want to know what you want from a role with us too.
Please put the role in the subject line.
STORY prides itself on being an inclusive employer. We value and celebrate equality in opportunities and we welcome applications from people who reflect the diversity of our communities.
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