PR Director & Head of Southern Region

PR Director and Head of Southern Region

Reports to: Managing Director, Grayling UK

Location: Birmingham, Bristol and Southampton, United Kingdom

Direct reports: Head of Birmingham, Head of Bristol, Head of Birmingham, Director

Purpose of role

This is a senior business leadership role, working closely to support Grayling UK’s Managing Director. The Head of Southern Region is responsible for the performance and growth of Grayling’s three Southern Region offices (Birmingham, Bristol, and Southampton); providing experienced counsel to each of Grayling’s three Heads of Office and their teams in these locations; taking primary leadership responsibility for new business development and major business opportunities; and strategically advising flagship national and region clients to deliver effective results.

You could be based anywhere in the south, so long as you're able to make regular visits to our Birmingham, Bristol and Southampton offices. 

Accountabilities

• Counsel and support the Head of Office(s) in leading their teams.
• Connected to other teams and team leaders across the business to deliver integrated communications solutions for clients
• Work in partnership with Grayling’s Finance function to effectively manage income and expenditure across all three Southern Region offices, as well as provide financial and business management guidance to the Head of Office(s)
• Primary responsibility for new business and lead generation across the Southern Region, including taking a lead role in developing flagship business opportunities and fee generation
• Overall oversight and responsibility for human resources across the Southern Region
• Develops and delivers a commercially astute business strategy for the Southern Region, as well as each of the individual offices in the wider region
• Leads, develops and delivers commercially astute, insightful PR and digital strategies and solutions which delight our clients by leading the team(s) and leveraging their capabilities, empowering and supporting them in the delivery of their roles
• Develops and maintains strong client relationships which result in long term benefit
• Builds, manages and develops the team using progressive people management techniques, involving and consulting them to secure their buy-in and paying attention to their career development, ensuring the optimum combination of skills to get results for clients
• Develops own knowledge of Grayling and uses it to identify opportunities to work with and learn from the global network to benefit the client portfolio
• Monitors global trends in business and analyses potential impact on Grayling, its clients and practice areas to identify potential areas of long and short term business growth
• Assists in building Grayling’s competitive proposition, assessing the broader competitive landscape for opportunities and creating solutions
• Responsibility for the creation of the business plan for their area, analyses and evaluates opportunities and difficulties and makes commercially astute decisions, taking the required action for the overall benefit of the business
• Develops and maintains an active network of professional contacts for commercial benefit of the company
• Continually develops own professional competencies and knowledge to ensure skills and experience remain ahead of the curve, sharing this knowledge with others to enhance their development

About you

• Excellent strategic understanding of both traditional and digital public relations, as well as the wider current affairs agenda
• Understanding and experience of leading integrated national and regional media campaigns
• Authoritative and informed, with substantial experience of advising clients and stakeholders at CEO level
• Highly effective sales skills and a proven track record of utilising their own personal network to generate business opportunities
• Ability to convert new business opportunities to revenue
• Highly commercially astute and decisive
• Curious – a desire to learn, improve, apply new knowledge and develop self
• Excellent grasp of clients’ marketplaces, audiences and routes to market
• Incisive, creative and strategic problem solver
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Confident and experienced senior networker
• Organised with ability to juggle multiple and changing priorities
• Supportive, inspiring and motivational leader, with a record of generating strong business performance and growth
• Personal drive and passion for the industry
• Self-aware and able to adapt personal style and approach to clients and team
• Calm and authoritative in response to issues or crisis

About Us

Grayling is the UK’s best-connected communications agency. With nine offices across the UK and multiple offices around the world, we create advantage for our clients through insight-led campaigns that deliver tangible results. 

Our teams’ skills are broad, ranging from consumer communications, corporate reputation and political engagement to design, digital and social media. And our culture is friendly, diverse and inclusive – we’re proud to be one of PRWeek’s ‘Best Places to Work’. 

We work hard and we play hard, with team socials and benefits including 4pm Friday finishes, regular training workshops, a company pension scheme and discounted gym membership. And we’re growing fast, winning pitches and looking for the best talent to join us.   

Our promises to you

• A highly competitive salary & benefits package.
• An exciting and dynamic working environment (in a newly refurbished, creative work space)
• An incredibly positive and supportive work culture driven purely by our values (curious, committed & connected).
• Regular team socials and early finish Fridays.
• An abundance of personal development opportunities, with courses ranging from writing, resilience, creativity and more!
• Flexible working arrangements. 
• 25 days’ holiday, increasing by one day every year up to 30 days.
• New business and employee referral bonuses.
• Cycle to work scheme
• PRCA membership 
• Health & wellbeing programmes 

At Grayling, we recognise that to deliver the best work for our clients, we need a diverse range of perspectives and experiences. As an equal opportunities employer, we are committed to ensuring best practice approaches to a diverse and inclusive recruitment process and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.