Director - Reputation & Communications

About us…

We are the global communications and marketing consultancy that powers the world's most innovative tech brands. We are a group of expert communicators who are fanatical about tech and are here to help businesses ignite their possibilities. Our local experience and global scale allow us to deliver bold but pragmatic comms guidance to tech companies all over the world.

When you work with us, we connect and support you in a way that allows you to achieve limitless success and career growth.  We are curious, ambitious and connected, but most of all we are one team working together to be the global alternative. 

It's all about tech

We're fanatical about technology.  Our tech understanding, experience, and network help spark audience curiosity across all aspects of communications, branding and digital marketing. At Hotwire, we aim to be the best consultancy our clients and our people will ever work with. At the heart of this ambition is our belief that you can achieve limitless success when working with Hotwire. We build this belief on three core pillars:

1.     We build our business with you
Together, we work with you to ignite possibility. We do so by creating an environment that drives careers, provides the best employee experiences and builds expertise to shape the world we live in. It's our mission to be the most inspiring consultancy you'll ever work with.

2.     We are connected in every sense
Our global network brings together different cultures from our global offices, top minds, ideas, and expertise worldwide. Our teams deliver bold but pragmatic integrated comms guidance as one consistent team.

3.     We offer a different sort of consultancy experience
Our campaigns are data-driven and created for impact. Our insight-led thinking and strategic know-how allows us to create work that makes people sit up and take action. And we have fun doing it.

About the role…

Directors are senior members of Hotwire’s management team, balancing an agency-wide leadership role with responsibility for client portfolios worth at least £100,000 a month.  You will provide strong, inspirational leadership, helping to create a collective vision and purpose, and aligning the team’s efforts to this vision. Directors steady the ship in challenging times, celebrate success and win the hearts and minds of the team to achieve our goals. You are a decision maker and problem solver, trusted by all to act for the greater good of Hotwire in line with our values. Directors are strategic advisors to clients and trail blazers and thought leaders in the communications industry.

Reporting to the MD, Hotwire UK, you will help drive the strategy and direction of your office, as well as influencing the direction of the global business. You will work with your associate directors to develop strategic business plans for their portfolios and support them in delivering on these plans. You will make resourcing decisions and be actively involved in recruitment, making sure we’re bringing the right people into the business to achieve our goals.

What’s important?

As a director, the focus of your attention shifts from your own team to a wider, big-picture view of Hotwire and its success. It is important to build trust with the team, communicating effectively and acting as a role model for the junior team. You should act as an enabler, knowing when to step forward to support your team and clients, and when to take a step back to allow your team to shine. While growing revenue and managing accounts for profitability remain critical to your role, your remit is wider. As a director, your goal is to support the overall success of Hotwire and its clients – which might mean supporting the transfer of a treasured employee to another office or sharing client revenue with another team. You will have a strong point of view and vision for Hotwire and our industry, but when decisions have been made you will put your weight behind them and act as part of a unified leadership team across Hotwire. You will prize feedback and be committed to learning and developing. You will foster a learning culture, supporting your team’s development as well as prioritising your own, to ensure Hotwire stays at the forefront of comms.

This role sits on our UK Senior Leadership Team (SLT), working with a wider group of SPVs and Directors who lead our account teams, impacting culture, implementing processes, and participating in high-level strategic discussions.   

Accountabilities

Client Leadership

• Work with the MD, Hotwire UK, Rep & Comms SVPs and Directors to drive, cultivate and shape a strong challenger UK brand reputation and presence
• Work closely with the MD, SVP, Directors and client teams to drive a commercial strategy and ensure a high level of pitch conversion on larger, strategic accounts
• Drive organic growth; ensure account leads have strategic account plans in place to identify, deliver and grow new revenue streams with existing clients
• Focus on client retention; measure, evaluate and ensure the highest levels of client satisfaction
• Lead client teams to deliver a consistent client experience across all accounts
• Ensure the client teams on the UK's top 10 accounts are consistently delivering and exceeding expectations
• Lead client teams to deliver award-winning work
• Be the voice of the UK client; provide feedback on innovation and solutions

Business leadership

• Responsible for managing and delivering a portfolio of business totaling £1.2m annually. Billability target of 50%
• Support the Executive Leadership Team to create annual business plans
• Ensure client teams accuracy in forecasting and recording revenue and hours
• Set clear performance standards and KPIs for client leads and teams to ensure they are working towards the same goals, objectives and growth aspirations
• Lead on identifying, developing and securing new business to deliver on top-line growth
• Drive organic growth; support the EVP & other Directors to ensure client leads have strategic account plans in place to identify, deliver and grow new revenue streams with existing clients

People Leadership

• Build awareness, desire and passion for the Hotwire Vision, Values and Strategy across the client teams. Establish and test understanding of the vision and strategy and provide clear, regular and consistent comms on progress towards goals and own personal objectives
• Recruit and build client handling capability across UK client teams
• Coach direct reports, driving a culture that enables current, direct and "actionable" feedback to others
• Drive behavioural change across client teams to promote a high performance culture

Thought Leadership

• Understands the competitive landscape and defines approaches to differentiate our value proposition in the marketplace
• Behaves famously and engages in industry events, marketing and PR as a credible thought leader
• Improves marketing effectiveness by identifying opportunities through more effective audience segmentation, marketing techniques, and processes
• Has a global mindset
• Drives continuous improvement across the Reputation and Communications offer and processes
• Embraces change/doing things differently

Reporting structure

This role reports into the MD, Hotwire UK, and will have line management responsibility for team members within the R&C team.

You’ll Bring:

• Demonstrable PR & comms agency experience is essential; some experience in-house is desirable
• Strong understanding of the B2B Tech industry, landscape, and emerging trends
• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills with the ability to build & maintain client relationships and influence stakeholders at all levels
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to motivate and inspire teams
• Experience in building and leading high-performing comms teams
• Proven experience in managing a portfolio of business totalling over £1M annually
• A proven track record of successfully developing and implementing comms strategies in B2B Tech
• An existing network in the tech industry – from clients and connections to talent and media
• Entrepreneurial mindset and a desire for continuous learning
• Strong storytelling skills and confidence in presenting ideas and providing counsel to internal and external audience
• Experience managing teams and developing career paths for your direct reports
• A passion for innovation and a commitment to driving positive change in the B2B Tech industry

Why Us:

• Flexibility – We understand that life doesn’t always fit around the 9-5; and that work/life integration is crucial. We currently require people in our London office 2-3 days week, but fully support a ‘thoughtful working’ policy
• Global Reach & Opportunity – You will have the opportunity to work within global teams, connecting with clients and colleagues locally and globally.
• Great Benefits – Strong benefits package includes 25 days holiday, enhanced family leave, 10% pension contributions, private health insurance, life insurance, income protection scheme for long-term sickness, a paid 6-week sabbatical after every 4 years of continuous service, and paid time off for community involvement. Hotwire offers a variety of bonus opportunities to include business development, annual company bonuses and referral bonuses.
• Development Opportunities – A strong learning and development program with training opportunities at all levels.
• Autonomy – The freedom and support to be limitless, and the opportunity to own your career and create the future you want.
• Variety – No day is the same as the last. Both within our own walls, and with our clients, we navigate change daily and there’s always an opportunity to stretch your skills, learn something new, seek out a new challenge, and gain expertise.
• Our Amazing Team – We are connected, ambitious, and friendly. We don’t step on toes to get ahead, we build each other up, develop and teach each other and understand that each person’s individual success is a win for all.

We engage in Thoughtful Working, empowering our talent to determine the best way to work for our clients, our team and Hotwire every single day.

Join Hotwire and become part of a team that’s redefining what’s possible in communications and marketing.