The Role
Pitch Marketing Group, the full-service marketing and communications agency, is looking for a highly motivated Senior Account Director to join its PR team.
Our client list speaks for itself, with creative campaigns and press office work in full flow for ambitious brands, including ASICS, Beats by Dre, Les Mills, Red Bull and Paddy Power to name a few.
We’re looking for someone confident and considered with an exceptional knowledge of UK media to act as a trusted client contact, helping to build bold earned first creative campaigns, lead fast-paced sports press office accounts and work closely with high-profile talent and influencers to reach UK consumers.
As a 100% employee-owned business, we’re an agency that encourages an entrepreneurial spirit giving our people the opportunity to contribute to the growth of the agency beyond their day-to-day roles.
This role is ideally suited to a highly experienced Account Director looking to step up, or a recently promoted Senior Account Director ready to hit the ground running in the sports space
Reporting to the Agency’s Head of PR, you will be given the autonomy to evolve and broaden our PR and Social offerings, shape the agency’s influencer proposition, lead on new business pitches, and nurture a passionate and talented team of PR and social & digital practitioners.
Salary Range: £55,000-60,000 DOE
About Pitch
Pitch Marketing Group is on a mission to transform how brands engage with people. We do this by helping our clients to win in culture.
Founded in 2002, we led the way as the UK’s first creative comms agency to specialise in sport, entertainment and lifestyle. We are an award-winning marketing and communications agency with four specialist divisions: PR, Social, Partnerships and Influencer, supported by in-house strategy, creative and content teams. We work with high profile brands rights holders and media companies including: ASICS, Beats by Dre, EE, Gallagher Insurance, Red Bull, NatWest, Puma, Paddy Power, Sharp’s Brewery, TNT Sports, the Premier League and Tinder.
We have always been fiercely independent and in April 2023 became the first agency in the sports and entertainment sector to become 100% employee-owned. As a 100% employee-owned business, we have a real passion for the work we do and our winning culture is powered by three values:
* Positive Energy: We go about our work with a proactive, can-do attitude that is supportive and productive. We exhibit positive energy through radical candour, kindness, and always being solutions-oriented.
* Progressive Thinking: Because we only succeed with sharp, curious and open minds, always looking ahead to future opportunities. We are progressive in the way we think about our clients and our business
* Unbeatable Togetherness: We are at our best when we work together as one team. Taking enjoyment from working in true partnership with our colleagues and clients to achieve a common goal.
In 2025, our winning culture was recognised by being named on Campaign’s ‘Best Places to Work’ list. We have created a vibrant, inclusive and entrepreneurial culture, treating staff as partners who benefit when we achieve success. In addition to the commercial benefits of working for a 100% employee-owned business, we offer hybrid working hours (3 days in office, 2 at home with Fixed Mondays and Thursdays), a comprehensive benefits package (see Pitch Perks), internal and external training programmes and personal development plans that help our people become their best selves.
We believe that diversity of thought is a business imperative that means we can create culture-led work that resonates with our clients' diverse audiences. We strive to achieve this by creating a culture of inclusivity, providing equal opportunities and celebrating our differences. We have ambitious DEI targets and a dedicated Talent & DE&I Manager, who ensures our policies, processes, training and recruitment contribute to our targets. We work hand in hand with passionate partners including Creative Access, The School of Communications Arts (SCA) and People Like Us to attract and retain the best diverse talent. And we have a Non-Executive Director, who acts as an independent advisor, holding us all to account and supporting our DE&I strategy.
Employee Ownership at Pitch
As well as a competitive salary and annual performance bonus, the benefits of being a 100% employee-owned agency are:
Employee Ownership bonus (£3,600 is tax-free)
Decided in June each year based on the financial position of the business and based on government regulated formula of length of service and seniority. Employee ownership bonuses are subject to a £3,600 tax-free allowance, available only to those working for employee-owned businesses. This means, on average, people at Pitch keep 25% more of their bonus.
Your long-term earning potential is supercharged.
As a result of our Profit Share scheme, in the mid-term, you will earn at least 15% more than the market rate per year, compared to an agency with a standard corporate structure. In the long term, you will earn up to 35% more than the market rate.
We’re an entrepreneurial business where everyone has a voice.
Each and every person has a greater say in the way we run our business. Our Partner Empowerment Team (PET) provides the platform for everyone in the agency to have a voice via quarterly Partner Town Halls. Our growth team programme gives people at all levels the chance to lead and deliver strategic projects that positive impact the growth of the agency and our people.
Responsibilities:
Account management
* Act as the senior client lead across multiple accounts, with ultimate responsibility for delivery of events, activations and press office campaigns - ensuring they are delivered on time, on budget and in line with client KPIs
* Provide strategic PR consultancy to clients around campaign and product launches, maximising their budgets and our resources to drive industry-leading results.
* Decipher when to take on client feedback or constructively challenge briefs and feedback
* Oversee creation of campaign plans that satisfy client business objectives, encouraging clients to deliver best-in-class activations
* Lead high-level client meetings and quarterly reviews while ensuring timely and effective follow-ups and influencing senior stakeholders
* Reviewing team documents to ensure they are delivered on time and to the highest standards
* Developing scopes of work and budgets and assist in the growth of the agency revenue, ensuring projects are controlled, delivered effectively and on budget
* Lead by example in collaborating effectively with other teams within Pitch Marketing Group (Creative, Social, Partnerships) and client partner agencies (ATL, events, design, digital, production) to deliver to client objectives
* Maintain regular contact with clients, building and maintaining professional and positive relationships
* Contribute to cross-agency meetings
Creativity:
* Distil client briefs into creative briefs in conjunction with strategy team
* Develop creative PR ideas in conjunction with the agency’s creative division
* Demonstrate innovation and creativity in developing new initiatives and proactive and reactive idea generation for clients aligned to their strategic objectives
* Writing creative proposals in response to client briefs, with the ability to succinctly convey ideas in a compelling manner
* Champion creative excellence across the agency, mentoring teams to push boundaries and deliver award-winning work.
* Oversee management of Pitch’s creative studio for your client projects supporting junior team members in managing workflow, budgets and costs
Team Management & Culture:
* Contribute to the agency’s hardworking, vibrant culture, leading by example in attitude, efficiency, and results
* Provide pastoral support for direct reports and account team members
* Ensure all junior account team members have relevant KPI’s and assist in staff reviews and appraisals, contributing to their personal development
* Ensure staff ownership and responsibility for projects for all members of the team, developing a clear understanding of accountability
* Support Head of Department and Talent Manager in recruitment process, as required, inputting to job descriptions and contributing to the interview process
* Take responsibility for succession planning, talent retention and building future leaders within the PR team
Business Development:
* Identifying organic growth opportunities for your clients in conjunction with the Head of Department
* Taking client briefs, distilling and working with your team and the creative team to respond to those briefs
* Support the Head of Department and marketing, and the new business team in identifying potential new business opportunities
* Assist with new business proposals, attending pitches and presenting to a high standard.
* Lead new business pitches as the senior agency representative, shaping proposals and driving commercial growth.
Requirements:
* Experience at a leading consumer PR agency. Previous in-house experience at a UK consumer brand would also be desirable.
* Experience working on successful PR campaigns for a variety of sports and consumer brands.
* Proven management skills and ability to run highly effective teams to deliver outstanding results.
* Comfortable working in a fast-paced and creative environment.
* Entrepreneurial and commercially savvy.
* Extensive consumer media contacts.
* Strong financial and business acumen, including responsibility for managing own budgets.
* Ability to lead winning new business pitches.
* An engaging, inspirational team player with a can-do attitude and excellent work ethic