As an Event Director you will play an important role in implementing our clients’ objectives, addressing the clients’ business challenges, working in collaboration with colleagues in the Strategy & Planning, Creative, Digital disciplines, and the Integrated Production team to deliver the project on time, on budget and on brief.
GPJ will look to the Event Director to work independently on projects operating as a key player on some of GPJ’s largest projects and the portfolio of work delivered on your key account. You will champion your area of Integrated Production expertise within the business, providing excellent service to our clients, commercial success for GPJ and the continued growth and development of your competency across the agency’s Integrated Production team.
This role will be dedicated to one of our key accounts – DP World, a multinational logistics company and a world leader in supply chain solutions. You will play an integral part in championing the DP World Account expertise within the Integrated Production Team.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Delivery
- Leading IP teams in their successful delivery as well as cross-agency collaboration to ensure an aligned approach for meeting client objectives
- Lead on driving efficiencies and innovation, particularly on repeat projects
- Vanguard of best practice on the account
- Managing large scale, complex projects, or project areas, and leading Integrated Production teams to deliver for the client
- Taking on overall accountability for all aspects of project delivery, including those directly managed by others
- Responsible for the creation and ongoing management of project timelines and plans to ensure programmes are on track and in line with the overarching project plan
- Responsible for proactively advising the client on all and any delivery and operational considerations
- Developing and/or approving budgets, timelines and supplier contributions, in response to specific client and business needs
- Accountable for the quality of delivery within yours and your direct team’s remit, including the provision of proactive operational expertise to the client / project lead as required
Creative
- Ensure the project creative process is understood and successfully adhered to by all project team members
- Work in close partnership with the Creative Directors and Strategists to ensure all work produced meets clients’ strategic objectives
- Lead key client and internal meetings to provide input / expertise related to production elements within yours and your team’s remit
- Maintain ongoing cross-and inter-agency collaboration to ensure an aligned approach for meeting client objectives
Talent Management
- Understand and be able to communicate knowledge of the skill sets and abilities across the Integrated Production department
- Line and project management of Senior Producer level and below and actively nurtures team for improvement and success
- Support the Integrated Production Leadership Team with successfully casting the appropriate resource to the accounts and projects
- Demonstrate leadership attributes, managing substantial teams across the business, supporting change, managing yours and your team’s workload, instilling best practice
- Ability to clearly communicate performance expectations to your direct reports and line manager
- Manage and coordinate wider team members e.g. freelancers
- Ability to nurture, grow and develop your direct reports and project team
- Drive, support and champion Talent initiatives where agreed and necessary
Client Relationships
- Work in close partnership with Account leads to support all client work
- Partner with clients to provide strategic oversight and counsel on deliverables, managing client expectations accordingly
- Developing awareness of work being delivered across GPJ and PWW network
- Collaborate with the Account leads in understanding and informing clients’ objectives, ensuring project outputs meet these objectives and deliver great results and unlock future opportunities
- Articulate, write and present a clear vision of project success, in order to gain the confidence of a client audience, providing guidance and counsel where relevant
New Business Development
- Actively take the ‘project manager’ role on pitches for larger pieces of work, respond to brief
- Actively promote GPJ through best practice and high standards with a view to retaining and developing more business from existing clients
- Input into staffing grids for project teams as part of the pitch process
- Create GPJ PM and third party budgets as needed for client pitch submissions
- Attend and present pitch presentations when required
- Actively promote GPJ through best practice
- Understand the vision and strategy of GPJ and spot opportunities to support commercial growth
Finance
- If assigned as project lead (on mid-to-large scale deliveries) you will be accountable for the profitability of the overall project, protecting the commercial health of projects including the ongoing management of the SOW
- Work in close collaboration with the Account leads on the ongoing management of project forecasting
- Work with the account leads to identify commercial opportunities within your area of the business
- Responsible for overseeing and approving high-value vendor quotes and change orders, with a continuous focus on how to drive value, profitability and efficiency
- Lead on, or supporting the Account leads with, numerous timely and accurate budget reconciliations simultaneously, often across multiple currencies
- Ongoing evaluation of job cost reports and timesheets – proactively addressing issues and making recommendations ahead of time
About you
- You demonstrate a calm and positive attitude
- You are curious to constantly question, innovate, be open to and identify new ways of working
- You inspire your team to learn, grow and be curious
- You provide healthy challenge to clients and colleagues in order to get to a more successful result/outcome
- You are adaptable and open to unexpected requests and ways of working
- You are always willing to help other people within the project, across departments
- You’re curious and eager to learn about the industry, clients’ business and tech solutions
- You are solutions focused and a creative problem solver
- You’re a challenger who is always looking to improve work rather than, ‘we’ve always done it like this’!
- You are persistence to follow up with stakeholders and clients but demonstrate empathy in understanding the agency and teams workload
- You are truly passionate about planning and delivering a best-in-class event
- You have the ability to adapt your working style and practices quickly to respond to different projects in terms of scale, content, complexity
Your Background, Skills & Experience
- A minimum of 10 years experience in complex event project delivery, including managing and reconciling budgets of over £1 million
- Managing large scale events (between 1000-5000 pax) and/or complex areas on our largest events
- Able to delegate effectively – successful management and oversight of a large team responsible for their own deliverables / areas of delivery
- Ability to articulate clear vision of project success – you are able to inspire and align others in your team towards a common goal and gain client confidence
- Demonstrate strong leadership attributes – you are trusted by others and set a good example displaying integrity, empathy, decisiveness, accountability, adaptability and confidence
- Creative problem solver – presenting solutions to roadblocks in order to move forward
- Ability to make several decisions at the same time, and at pace
- You are the ‘go to’ in the department in your clients events
- An effective communicator who is honest, clear and constructive with your communications
- Active listening skills and can remain open-minded in all situations
- Ability to lead and support courageous conversations
- Decisive, with the ability to make several decisions at once, and quickly
- Previous line management experience
- Strong understanding of financial software
- Experience of responding and delivering to clients with digital, social media or tech solutions
