Senior Account Director

Do

you

speak

CMO

and

CEO?

Are you one of those people who sees patterns, generates ideas, knows how to lay out a vision and inspires others to head down the path with you? Are you jazzed by working with private markets companies to drive greater impact and ESG performance? And are you a dyed-in-the-wool communicator and marketer?

If so, meet Shelton Group, an ERM Group company. We are the nation’s leading marketing communications firm exclusively focused on sustainability. We work with Fortune 500 companies as well as the largest private markets investors in the world and their portfolio companies to help them realize a market advantage as a result of their commitments and actions on sustainability. We have a spot open for a Senior Account Director to help our private markets clients identify opportunities, overcome obstacles and properly position themselves as sustainability leaders and drive greater value at exit. The Senior Account Director will help GP’s and portfolio companies see opportunities that might not be obvious, making a data-driven case, and then craft the action plan to get to market. They will also lead internal resources to create the client’s sustainability story and produce assets to tell the story. And they will grow relationships, trust and revenue with those portfolio company clients as a direct result of their actions.

Role Overview:

Senior Account Directors at ERM Shelton are a hybrid – part business management consultant, part communications pro – advising clients in real time about how to leverage sustainability as a business strategy and directing creative and digital team members to craft compelling stories. The Senior Account Director will take the lead in working with GP deal teams, operating directors, and portfolio company CMO’s and sales teams to determine the problems they need to solve and the opportunities they can leverage, and partner with internal resources across ERM to create and propose solutions. This requires maintaining deep, consultative relationships with senior-level client and agency contacts; maintaining a deep understanding of the GP’s value creation programs, portfolio company market positioning, products and competitive set as well as an understanding of our latest market insights and the marketing industry; and becoming both a trusted advisor to GP’s, their portfolio companies, and to ERM and Shelton Group teams. It also requires an ability to ask insightful questions, connect disparate dots, apply research insights and marketing industry knowledge, and think on one’s feet. This role is about creating a vision and repeatable programs for GP clients and the hands-on creation of solutions for clients – and about driving revenue for the company in the process. Additionally, this role oversees client projects, ensuring deliverables are completed in an efficient manner – on time and on budget.

Accountabilities:

Create and manage marketing, sales and communications strategies for GP operating partners, generate results for portfolio companies that meet their expectations/achieve stated goals, grow revenue of the client base year-over-year.

Job Responsibilities:

Client Experience

Leads senior-level relationships with clients and key ERM & Shelton Group players. Establishes trusted advisor relationships in which clients and colleagues seek out advice and counsel and in which opportunities and ideas are identified and presented. Is a strategic partner to GP clients and portfolio companies by demonstrating a deep understanding of their market and business sectors and their specific challenges and opportunities. Provides thought leadership, insights, and perspectives that support client initiatives and align services and solutions with client needs. Is a true marketing and business consultant, able to recommend strategic ideas that connect to a client’s business strategy and position the client for market success; able to write and articulate marketing communications plans that allow a client to fully leverage their sustainability commitments and actions to build their brand and/or sell products. Maintains existing business relationship with clients by staying closely connected to internal project teams, monitoring progress of ongoing client projects, as needed, and helping to address and resolve promptly, accurately, effectively, and to the client’s satisfaction, any issues or problems that may arise. Presents ideas and recommendations effectively, in an engaging, confidence- building manner – both in prepared presentations and extemporaneously in client meetings.

Operational Excellence

Regularly analyzes the profitability and growth of assigned client accounts through KPIs and other metrics; utilizes data in decision-making to maintain or improve performance. Creates strong and effective internal partnerships with Research and Insights, Creative, M&A, Digital, Decarbonization, Sustainable Supply Chain, Product Sustainability & Circularity, and Client Management teams; collaborates across the business to ensure client needs are met and projects stay within scope, budget, timeline, quality, and other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Effective Approach

Maintains and utilizes a long-term, holistic view of the client’s business. Takes ownership of personal actions and outcomes and encourages and empowers others to do the same. Focuses own and the team’s efforts on achieving SMART objectives aligned to the Company’s Strategic Imperatives; acknowledges employees’ efforts and rewards results. Thinks strategically as well as tactically and takes a “big picture" perspective of the client. Sets high and clearly defined standards for direct reports; provides current, objective, and complete positive and constructive feedback and addresses performance concerns directly, fairly, and in a timely manner. Serves as a coach and mentor; provides coaching and feedback on specific skill development and encourages employees to pursue upward and lateral growth opportunities to enhance expertise and drive career development. Provides specific, objective feedback to direct reports through written performance reviews as part of the Performance Management program. Creates strong and effective internal partnerships and collaborates across the Company; listens and values the opinions of others.

Revenue Growth

Proactively seeks to increase revenue by translating client challenges into opportunities to sell additional products and services across the Shelton Group and ERM portfolio. Works to build repeatable programs with private equity and infrastructure investor deal teams as well as operating partners who lead on go-to-market strategy, branding, marketing, and talent attraction & retention. Develops and executes targeted “white space” opportunities for greater penetration of portfolio company marketing spend through selling adjacent services or expanding into new company product lines. Leads the development and delivery of innovative proposals. Ensures GP and portfolio company retention is maximized by facilitating the delivery of custom-tailored solutions to meet clients' objectives and expectations.

All other duties assigned by supervisor or otherwise directed by the Company.

Qualifications / Requirements

Education :

College degree (e.g. Bachelor of Arts) or equivalent degree within appropriate discipline such as Business, Graphic Arts, Marketing, communications. Graduate degree or MBA preferred.

Experience :

Minimum of 10 years of experience managing and advising clients. Proven experience successfully managing and advising clients in a Creative, Public Relations, or Consulting firm. Proven experience meeting or exceeding sales targets with new and existing clients. Proven experience leading relationships with private markets companies/clients in the financial sector and helping clients develop and deploy marketing communications within one or more industries.

Skills &

Abilities :

Strong knowledge of business models, objectives, financial metrics, etc. used in decision-making; demonstrated ability to build sound business cases to support innovative initiatives. Strong grasp of the business landscape and how public perception of a company’s actions and words can either drive or hamper growth. Strong understanding of effective digital, social and media practices, trends, techniques, and processes across various touchpoints or mediums. Strong understanding of effective Research/Insights practices, trends, techniques, and processes (e.g. secondary, quantitative, qualitative). Strong grasp of private markets investing and GP/portfolio company dynamics Strong problem-solving skills: ability to proactively identify and implement effective solutions. Demonstrated ability to build new relationships and nurturing existing relationships with internal and external clients. Demonstrated ability to lead and adapt to the requirements of various client accounts, excellent client management skills. Demonstrated ability to profitably grow business revenue with new and existing clients. Demonstrated ability to influence decisions at all levels, excellent negotiation skills. Demonstrated ability to make effective decisions in challenging situations and/or under pressure. Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor and manage individual contributors. Demonstrated ability to work well in a team environment and develop collaborative relationships with colleagues across the Company; willingness to work with colleagues at all levels. Demonstrated ability to manage heavy workloads, prioritize work appropriately, and meet assigned deadlines; excellent organizational and analytical skills (including attention to detail). Strong presentation and communication skills (written, verbal). Ability to travel to client locations as needed.

Bottom line, if you enjoy working at a fast pace and solving clients’ problems … if you love thinking strategically and seeing beyond the numbers to the clients’ real threats and opportunities … if you love to learn and are excited to work inside a fast growing firm that gives you the opportunity to work with a range of skillsets and disciplines at the leading edge of ESG & impact value creation, then we may be a perfect fit. #J-18808-Ljbffr