Account Director / Senior Account Director

Company description

Publicis Groupe is not just a company you work for; it’s a platform for you to take your talent to the world.

If you want to help change the world, ideas alone are not enough. Real impact can only come from having meaningful access to a world of knowledge, people and resources. At Publicis Groupe, you are connected to our global network, intelligence, tools, clients, brands and 80,000 brilliant minds with expertise in data, technology, media, strategy, creativity and business transformation, all literally at your fingertips.

Go ahead, the world is waiting.

Publicis Groupe is the largest communications group in the world. Founded in Paris in 1926, we are present in more than 100 countries as leaders in marketing, communication, and digital business transformation. Two of its biggest solution hubs in Singapore - Publicis Communications and Publicis Media & Digital.

Publicis Communications, the creative communications hub of the Publicis Groupe, is a collective of the most passionate, purposeful, and progressive creative agencies in Singapore. They are Publicis Worldwide, Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, Prodigious, and MSL.

Publicis Media & Digital, which is comprised of global media agency brands Starcom, Zenith, Spark Foundry, and Performics, is powered by digital-first, data-driven global practices that together, help our clients navigate the modern media landscape.

Our two other solution hubs, Publicis Sapient and Publicis Commerce, empower businesses to embrace digital transformation and equip them with a total commerce experience.

Overview

We are looking for an experienced Account Director - Senior Account Director who can act as a senior communications specialist and strategic client lead across a portfolio of high-profile corporate and consumer brands. The role will lead accounts such as Science Centre Singapore, TWG Tea and PropertyGuru, with responsibility for communications strategy, senior client counsel, earned media and reputation, integrated campaign development, team leadership and account growth.

The successful candidate must bring deep PR and communications expertise and be able to independently shape narratives, distil and unpack briefs, identify reputational and earned opportunities, counsel senior clients and spokespeople, and lead teams to deliver communications programmes that create meaningful public and media impact. At Senior Account Director level, the role will also be expected to operate as part of the agency’s senior leadership bench, with broader responsibility for people development, business growth and the quality of the agency’s communications thinking.

Responsibilities

Strategic client counsel & account leadership

• Lead senior client relationships and act as a trusted point of counsel on communications strategy, reputation, positioning and campaign direction.
• Critically analyse briefs and business challenges, identify the real communications problem to solve, and recommend the right approach rather than simply executing a prescribed scope.
• Lead strategic planning across assigned accounts, ensuring programmes have clear objectives, audiences, narratives, KPIs and a strong earned rationale.
• Anticipate client needs, issues and opportunities, and proactively course-correct accounts where required.
• Orchestrate account teams end-to-end, setting priorities, maintaining momentum and ensuring clients receive consistently senior, high-quality counsel.
• PR strategy, earned media & reputation
  Own the earned communications strategy across accounts, including corporate profiling, consumer storytelling, thought leadership, media engagement and issues preparedness.
• Bring strong news judgement and a sophisticated understanding of the Singapore media environment, including how different newsrooms, verticals and stakeholders assess relevance and credibility.
• Develop strong media narratives and story architecture that connect client business priorities with wider cultural, consumer, industry or societal conversations.
• Build and leverage senior relationships with editors, journalists, creators, influencers and other relevant opinion-formers and stakeholders.
• Provide senior counsel on reactive communications, sensitive issues and reputational considerations, including when to engage, how to position and when not to pursue publicity.
• Lead senior spokesperson preparation for interviews, announcements and high-stakes external engagements.

Content, messaging & integrated communications

• Counsel teams and clients on communications strategy, messaging and narrative development across corporate and consumer audiences.
• Guide the development of high-quality communications materials including strategic plans, key messages, press materials, speeches, briefing documents, thought-leadership content and executive communications.
• Provide senior editorial judgement and ensure work is persuasive, audience-led and strategically sharp, not simply factually correct.
• Partner with Creative, Social, Influence and other specialist teams to develop integrated ideas with a strong communications backbone and clear potential to earn attention.
• Ensure channel choices support the communications objective, bringing together earned, owned, social, creator and paid activity where appropriate rather than defaulting to a single discipline.

Stakeholder, campaign & event leadership

• Lead the agency approach to stakeholder engagement across media, influencers, partners, industry bodies, communities and other relevant audiences.
• Oversee major launches, media programmes, experiential activations, briefings and events, ensuring the communications story is clear and the experience delivers against strategic objectives.
• Represent clients and the agency confidently in senior stakeholder engagements, meetings, interviews and external forums.
• Think ahead on potential risks, sensitivities and opportunities, and ensure teams are prepared to troubleshoot effectively.

Team leadership & capability building

• Lead, coach and develop Account Managers, Executives and junior team members through both formal and day-to-day guidance.
• Set the strategic and quality bar for teams, helping them move beyond task delivery into stronger judgement, counsel and communications thinking.
• Resource accounts effectively, bringing in the right specialists and senior support when needed while maintaining commercial discipline.
• Create confident, motivated teams and provide clear direction during complex or high-pressure periods.
• Contribute to the agency’s communications capability through training, mentoring, best-practice development and active championing of agency culture and standards.
• Commercial leadership, account growth & new business
  Own the commercial health of assigned accounts, including scope, resourcing, budget management, profitability and contract considerations.
• Identify and convert opportunities to deepen existing client relationships and grow accounts organically through relevant communications counsel and new initiatives.
• Lead or play a senior role in new business development, from strategic response and proposition development through pitch narrative and presentation.
• Build strong chemistry with prospective clients and bring a clear senior point of view that demonstrates the agency’s communications expertise.
• At Senior Account Director level, contribute to broader agency growth priorities, capability development and senior management discussions.

Qualifications

• Approximately 10+ years of relevant PR and communications experience, ideally within an agency environment, with a proven track record leading significant client relationships and teams.
• Essential: deep, hands-on PR and earned communications expertise. Candidates must have personally led communications strategy, media narratives, senior media engagement and client counsel — not only managed integrated campaign delivery.
• Strong strategic judgement and the ability to connect business objectives, audience insight, reputation and earned opportunity into a clear communications recommendation.
• Established understanding of the Singapore media and stakeholder landscape, with credible senior media relationships and the confidence to advise clients on what will and will not earn attention.
• Excellent writing, messaging and editorial judgement, with the ability to simplify complex information and sharpen the work of others.
• Confidence counselling senior clients and spokespeople, including challenging assumptions constructively and navigating sensitive or ambiguous communications situations.
• Proven ability to lead multiple accounts and teams, manage resourcing and commercial considerations, and maintain quality across a demanding portfolio.
• Experience across corporate and consumer communications is strongly preferred. Exposure to public-sector/institutional, luxury/lifestyle, property/technology or similarly complex categories would be advantageous.
• For Senior Account Director candidates: demonstrated ability to operate beyond individual accounts by mentoring senior team members, driving growth areas and contributing to agency-wide leadership and capability building.