Edelman - Director - Public Relations - Consumer Domain

PR Director (with agency experience in Consumer Vertical)

Role Specifications :

Project Management :

- Set priorities, schedules, assign tasks and manage a team of staff in executing projects.

- Address problems and issues, apprise Directors of the progress, problems/ risks if any.

- Study market, competitor, economic activity and trends and lead the functional planning exercise and monitor implementation

Project Execution/Client Servicing :

- Prepare job engagements.

- Provide technical inputs, analysis, conceptualize solutions, final reports and presentations to clients.

- Negotiating on behalf of clients where necessary.

- Managing client perception with respect to the project/ Aggressive follow-up for collections.

Business Development :

- Actively sell practice specific services and create cross selling opportunities.

- Actively sell other services to clients, generate new work from existing clients, keep seniors apprised of opportunities.

- Generate ideas for transactions and deal structuring and be aware of key issues in negotiations.

- Develop contacts with key persons in industry.

- Overall responsible for client perception in their respective geography (ies).

Employee Development/ HR :

- Involve in manpower planning, employee recruitment/employee retention

- Be a coach and provide feedback to staff.

- Be responsible for technical training on the job - design, development and delivery.

- Manage employee grievance on work related issues./Conduct performance reviews for all levels reporting to the position.

Business Plan :

- Provide inputs for practice specific business plan and future direction of the practice.

- Maximize profitability of the business through effective management of costs and income.

- Analyze jobs completed to identify future efficiencies through better staffing and increased delegation.

Professional Development :

- Keep abreast of new developments in profession, business and the regulatory environment and disseminate among the team.

- Represent the firm at Seminars/ Conferences.

Organizational responsibilities :

- Take active interest in organizational endeavors outside the IA function, generate ideas, and oversee implementation.

- Key Performance Indicators

- Functional Plan - Plan vs. Actual

- Timeliness - w.r.t achievement of various KRAs, objectives as agreed.

- Targets of revenue, profitability, fee, margins, P&L, cost, etc.

- Customer (internal and / or external) satisfaction scores/ levels.

- Number of Key Accounts, New Accounts, Repeat Business Targets.

- Employee/ Subordinate Feedback or Satisfaction scores & other relevant measures.

Qualifications & Skills :

Educational Qualifications :

- A Post Graduate qualification in Business Administration or a professional qualification in the field of public relations/ marketing communication or advertising.

Experience : Minimum of seven to nine years of experience in public relations or communication after post-graduation.

Skills :

- An Account Director must have extensive experience in the agency arena with communications, coupled with a broad understanding of all facets of marketing communications.

- The AD should have an in-depth understanding of brand management and a working knowledge of traditional and non-traditional media.

- Both agency and corporate experience is a plus. A demonstrated track record of developing and executing successful public relations strategies and programs as an agency practitioner is critical.

- Must also be entrepreneurial in spirit and have the interest and capability to manage ambiguous situations. In addition, the AD should have excellent communication skills, a strong sense of self as well as confidence in his or her abilities to provide sound counsel and recommendations on how the business is operated.

- He/ She must believe in his/her convictions and be able to support opinions and recommendations with substantive arguments.

- He/ She must have a team player attitude, possess strong leadership qualities and capable of effectively managing a team.