Director of New Business

Job Description

Overview

Ogilvy is seeking a Director of New Business to lead growth efforts for their Washington, D.C. office.To be considered for this position, candidates should have 5+ years of professional experience (preferably in an agency/consultancy setting) with at least 1-2 years business development experience preferably in advertising, public relations, marketing communications, or related professional services industry. This role will adapt and deliver a focused business development strategy to dovetail with the overall US business development plans. The Director of New Business will also pro-actively identify, qualify, and manage a new business pipeline to the conclusion of each opportunity.

Responsibilities

• Lead business development and proposal efforts for Ogilvy’s office in Washington, D.C., reporting directly to the Group Managing Director.
• Work with the senior leadership team to accelerate Ogilvy’s growth and advance our reputation in the market.
• Spearhead and orchestrate agency pitches and proposals, including development and management of the new business process, ensuring best practice approaches to key opportunities, drafting RFI / RFP content, and developing best-in-class response formats.
• Improve and maintain a knowledge management system for efficient access to key proposal content.
• Create lead-generation programs and drive capture plan implementation to help teams achieve ambitious growth targets.
• Improve the team approach to vetting and pursuing new business leads with the goal of increasing the new business pipeline and conversion rates, fostering a community of business development and a culture of growth.
• Receive, review, deconstruct, and assign responsibilities for each new business opportunity to ensure the best team (including both internal and external subject matter expertise) is responding to the opportunity, increasing our ability to win each new client.
• Support each of the key RFP pitch opportunities led out of the DC office.
• Maintain DC’s contributions to the CRM database and leverage it to support positive contact with targets, as well as wider marketing initiatives. Use the CRM system to provide accurate pipeline reporting to finance and other new business teams, both locally and globally.
• In collaboration with the senior leadership team, develop and direct new business training programs for all levels of agency employees.
• Develop relationships and work collaboratively with the broader Ogivy USA new business team to ensure that new business plans, pipeline health, and targets are achieved.
• Develop and maintain the agency’s collateral, case study library, pitch presentations, marketing and intelligence for the business portfolio.

Qualifications

• Previous experience of new business development in advertising, public relations, marketing communications, or related professional services industry.
• Experience with private and public sector business development management.
• Proficiency with federal market intelligence websites and services.
• Understanding of federal and state government business development lifecycle.
• Team player with a can do / 'sleeves rolled up' attitude.
• Proven ability to write ambitious business development plans and content and deliver against it.
• Entrepreneurial and self-starter - dependable team player but also ability to work on their own.
• Creative and strategic thinker.
• Strong presentation skills and the ability to apply them in a range of presentation settings.
• Ability to demonstrate an outstanding degree of accuracy and attention to detail in all written work and analytical content.
• Able to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to multitask multiple opportunities at the same time.
• Ability to build relationships at all levels internally and externally, and sell ideas and suite of services
• Understanding of brands and their relationship with communications.
• Strong program, client, and people management skills.
• Bachelor’s Degree or higher, preferred.
• Agency experience is a plus.