Senior Social Account Director

Job Description

About the job

We’re looking for an outstanding Social Account Director or Senior Social Account Director, who really gets social, to lead on some of our biggest client accounts.

The kind of person who thrives on building relationships, is a strong team leader, critical thinker and commercially astute.

Someone who can drive and inspire our best work for our clients by bringing people and ideas together across our teams.

You’ll be responsible for the overall success of your assigned accounts, balancing client needs with agency profitability.

About Us - The Social Shepherd

We're a Social-first agency helping global brands, household names, and high-growth scale-ups accelerate their business growth.

Having won Best Large Social Agency in the UK (3 years in a row!) and experiencing continued growth, we're now looking to take on our next team member to enhance our Client Services team!

Our service offering includes Social, Creative, Influencer, Paid and Commerce.

We’re a team of over 70 across Bath, London, New York and Miami, with ambitious plans.

The Role

As an Account Director or Senior Account Director specialised in Social, you’ll take charge of the account direction of some of our biggest BAU organic social clients, alongside the wider team. You’ll also form part of new business pitch teams, constructing commercials and writing proposals.

You'll lead a small team of account managers and project managers in managing core client relationships from a social strategy and client success perspective. You'll develop our client services approach and bring our internal departments together to create full-service social strategies.

This is a director-level role – so we’ll look to you not just to lead the work, but to help lead the direction of the Client Services department. You’ll help grow the team, raise the bar for our clients, shape our process and thinking, and be someone others look to.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Client Relationship Management : Building and maintaining strong, senior-level relationships, serving as the main point of contact, responsible for brand guardianship and working in true collaboration to ensure client satisfaction.
• Strategic Leadership : Developing, presenting, and implementing long-term strategic marketing plans and campaigns that align with client business objectives.
• Commercial & Financial Oversight : Managing account profitability, including forecasting, budgeting, reporting and negotiating contracts and fees. Accountable for the delivery of growth targets for key accounts.
• Team Leadership & Mentorship: Leading, inspiring, and mentoring account teams (managers and executives) to ensure high-quality, on-time delivery. Training the team on everything from client and account management to campaign delivery.
• Client Services Development: Developing the agency’s approach to client services across paid and organic social, driving forward new business initiatives and implementing process improvement, working closely with the Senior Leadership Team.
• Business Development : Identifying and converting organic growth opportunities with existing clients, as well as participating in new business pitches.
• Creative & Strategic Direction: Collaborating with our Social, Creative and Paid teams to challenge, refine, and champion high-quality work.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• 7+ years in a client service role - agency-side and in Social.
• Excellent client engagement skills with the ability to proactively organise and influence clients and build strong and effective working relationships, and as importantly, the ability to train and lead a team to do this.
• Excellent account leadership skills with developed financial and commercial acumen, strategic thinking, creative judgement and team management.
• A proven track record of commercial growth across new and existing business.
• First-rate communication skills, with the ability to be articulate in person and in writing and strong presentation skills.
• The ability to manage and develop junior team members, nurturing their careers and helping them excel.
• Experience managing a team and a solution-led approach to problem-solving.
• Experience in managing invoices and budget sign-off for a team.
• A highly organised individual with a keen eye for detail.
• An enthusiastic and passionate person who genuinely cares about your work and wants to do your best.

THINGS TO NOTE

Work From Home: we operate a hybrid model where team members come to the office 3 days a week and WFH 2 days a week - although there is the option to work from the office more days if preferred. Our team loves working collaboratively, but also likes the option and balance of working from home.

️ Benefits Package:

• Enhanced maternity and paternity benefits
• Cash savings and health services through Bupa and Perkbox
• Additional day off for your birthday
• Cycle-to-work scheme

Flexible hours: some people are early birds, and others like to start later. We allow people to set their own times, with some people starting at 8am and getting to finish up earlier. Our core hours are 10am - 4pm. We trust our team to get their work done on their schedule.

❤️ We’re committed to equality of opportunity for all. We welcome applications from individuals regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, age, gender, or disability status. We want to support diverse and inclusive work environments and are actively looking for people who share our values.

Annual Bonus: rewarding our team is something we love to do. Everyone who's in the team is eligible for our annual bonus scheme subject to business performance & and growth.