About Ogilvy
Ogilvy, part of WPP, has been creating impact for brands through iconic, culture-changing, value-driving ideas since the company was founded by David Ogilvy 75 years ago. It builds on that rich legacy through Borderless Creativity – innovating at the intersections of its advertising, public relations, relationship design, consulting, and health capabilities with experts collaborating seamlessly across over 120 offices in nearly 90 countries. Ogilvy currently ranks as the #1 global agency network for creative excellence and effectiveness by WARC, signifying its ability to deliver creative solutions that drive unreasonable impact for clients and communities. Ogilvy is a WPP company (NYSE: WPP). For more information, visit Ogilvy.com, and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and Facebook.
About WPP
WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com.
Department: Social & Advertising)
Location: London
Contact type: 12-Month FTC
Full Time/Part time: Full Time
Reporting into: Client Partner
The Role:
A Business Director is a senior leader within the Account Management team, responsible for the strategic, commercial, and creative success of multiple large-scale or complex accounts. You are the client’s trusted senior partner — someone who can navigate board-level conversations, anticipate market shifts, and lead teams to deliver bold, impactful work that drives measurable business growth.
You’ll oversee the health of your accounts from every angle — financial performance, client satisfaction, creative excellence, and team development — ensuring we are indispensable to our clients and delivering the best work of our lives. You will champion cross-discipline collaboration, bringing the full breadth of Ogilvy Group capabilities to bear on client challenges.
You are a visible, confident leader who inspires teams, builds deep client relationships, and sets the standard for strategic thinking, commercial acumen, and creative ambition.
Key Responsibilities:
Be the senior client partner – Build and maintain relationships with senior client stakeholders across multiple functions, becoming indispensable to their business. Anticipate their needs, advise with authority, and be their go-to for strategic counsel.
Be the growth driver – Lead organic growth initiatives, spotting opportunities across disciplines and therapy areas. Develop and implement account plans that deliver sustained revenue growth, leveraging the full Ogilvy network.
Be the strategic architect – Shape and oversee the strategic direction of accounts, ensuring all work is aligned to client business objectives and market realities. Challenge briefs, push thinking deeper, and ensure strategies are robust and future focused.
Be commercially accountable – Own the financial health of your accounts, including forecasting, profitability, and recoverability. Partner with finance and procurement to negotiate contracts, scopes, and rates that protect and grow agency value.
Be the creative champion – Ensure creative work is bold, relevant, and flawlessly executed. Challenge teams to push beyond “good enough” and deliver work that drives business impact.
Be the team leader – Inspire, mentor, and develop account teams, ensuring they have clarity of role, access to growth opportunities, and the support to perform at their best. Create a culture of collaboration, accountability and resilience.
Be the connector – Bring together the right people from across the Ogilvy Group and WPP to solve client challenges. Build and maintain a strong internal and external network to unlock opportunities.
Be the problem solver – Anticipate risks, manage challenges with confidence, and escalate when needed. Maintain a solutions-first mindset, ensuring momentum is never lost.
Key Skills:
- Proven ability to lead large, complex accounts with significant revenue responsibility.
- Exceptional relationship-building skills at senior client levels, including procurement and C-suite.
- Strategic thinker with deep understanding of healthcare communications, market dynamics, and regulatory environments.
- Strong commercial acumen, with experience in contract negotiation and financial management.
- Creative champion with the ability to inspire bold, impactful work.
- Skilled leader and mentor, able to develop high-performing teams.
- Confident communicator, negotiator, and presenter.
- Resilient, adaptable, and able to thrive in high-pressure situations.
- Well-networked within the industry and able to leverage connections for client and agency benefit.
How we help you Thrive:
- 25 days annual leave + 1 Volunteer Day
- Bupa Healthcare
- Enhanced Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave
- We have a Flexible Working Model with core working hours: 10am – 4pm
- A 1.5:1 Matching Pension Structure
- Wellbeing and Health: Up to £25.00 per month towards physical or online exercise class membership, Unmind membership, LifeWorks tool and annual eye tests and development budgets and Wellbeing incentives and activities throughout the year
- Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work Scheme
- Life Assurance
At Ogilvy, our people are at the heart of what we do: a creative agency that sparks game-changing ideas across culture and business through collaboration, integrity, and a celebration of self-expression.
We believe in building powerful teams with purpose - and we relentlessly curate transformative initiatives that make our commitment to fairness, and equity a reality.
Our ultimate mission is to leave a positive impact on the world, creating a better future for all, while supporting and uplifting the global communities we serve. This is central to our mantra of Borderless Creativity.
Ogilvy is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.
If you need any assistance seeking a job opportunity, or if you need reasonable accommodation with the application process, please contact us at [email protected]. Please note that this contact is only for candidates who are requesting accommodation. Emails for other purposes, including application status requests, will not receive a response.
Skills Required
- Proven ability to lead large, complex accounts with significant revenue responsibility.
- Build and maintain relationships with senior client stakeholders including procurement and C-suite.
- Deep understanding of healthcare communications, market dynamics, and regulatory environments.
- Strong commercial acumen with experience in forecasting, profitability management, contract negotiation and scope/rate negotiation.
- Proven track record driving organic growth and developing account plans across disciplines.
- Strategic thinker able to shape and challenge briefs and ensure work aligns to business objectives.
- Creative champion who can inspire bold, impactful work and push teams beyond 'good enough'.
- Skilled leader and mentor capable of developing high-performing account teams.
- Confident communicator, negotiator and presenter, able to operate at board-level.
- Resilient and adaptable, able to thrive in high-pressure situations.
- Well-networked within the industry and able to leverage connections for client and agency benefit.
- Ability to coordinate cross-discipline collaboration across Ogilvy Group and WPP network.
