Group Account Director | Strategic Communications

The Opportunity

A leading, high-performing strategic communications agency is looking for an exceptional Group Account Director to join its senior leadership team.

This is a pivotal role for an experienced communications professional who can operate comfortably at a senior level, build trusted client relationships, provide strategic counsel and lead teams to deliver work of an exceptional standard.

You will be the anchor between client trust and internal execution, taking ownership of a portfolio of high-profile accounts and ensuring that strategy, creativity, media engagement and delivery are consistently sharp, relevant and impactful.

This is an opportunity for someone who wants to do more than manage accounts. You will be expected to think strategically, challenge constructively, anticipate reputational risks and become a trusted adviser to senior clients.

Travel: Occasional local travel for client meetings, workshops, and events

What You Will Be Responsible For

Senior Client Leadership & Strategic Counsel

• Own senior client relationships and act as the strategic lead across a portfolio of complex, high-profile accounts.
• Lead client meetings with confidence, clarity and authority, driving decisions, actions and momentum.
• Advise senior stakeholders on reputation, positioning, narrative and stakeholder strategy.
• Anticipate emerging issues and reputational risks, providing calm, considered counsel and response strategies.
• Ensure consistency and discipline across messaging, spokespeople, channels and markets.

Strategy, Content & Editorial Leadership

• Translate business objectives into clear communications strategies, campaign platforms and content roadmaps.
• Lead thought leadership, including CEO and executive bylines, speeches, messaging frameworks, Q&As and narrative development.
• Identify compelling stories and angles from client programmes, data, operations and leadership insights.
• Ensure communications are insight-led, evidence-based, current-affairs relevant and never generic.
• Translate strategic thinking into strong digital and integrated communications executions.

Delivery & Quality

• Own the quality of every major deliverable leaving the team, from press releases and statements to opinion pieces, speeches, stakeholder communications and reports.
• Set and maintain exceptionally high editorial standards, with a focus on clarity, maturity, structure, accuracy and tone.
• Manage deadlines, approvals and fast-turnaround requirements without compromising quality.
• Establish strong account processes, reporting disciplines and ways of working that create predictable, efficient delivery.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, develop and inspire multidisciplinary account teams across PR, media, social, digital, content and project support.
• Set clear expectations and briefs, while coaching team members to strengthen their strategic judgement and output.
• Create accountability around workplans, ownership, deadlines and performance.
• Identify resource and capability gaps proactively and work with senior leadership to address them.

Commercial & Account Growth

• Take ownership of account health, profitability, scope and priorities.
• Identify opportunities to grow existing client relationships through new campaigns, workstreams, stakeholder programmes and strategic initiatives.
• Contribute meaningfully to pitches, proposals, renewals and new business opportunities.

Media & Stakeholder Expertise

• Bring an established network of senior media relationships and a sophisticated understanding of the South African media landscape.
• Lead media strategy, including story angles, target media, spokesperson preparation and narrative timing.
• Provide senior oversight of issues monitoring and response strategy.
• Build credibility with journalists and influencers through quality, accuracy and mature positioning.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, success will be measured by:

• Client trust: You become a valued and relied-upon strategic adviser to senior clients.
• Exceptional quality: Work leaving the team is strategically strong, well written and requires minimal senior-level correction.
• Reliable delivery: Deadlines, approvals and account management are handled with discipline and foresight.
• Strong teams: You develop capable, confident people and create a culture of accountability and high standards.
• Commercial performance: Accounts are well managed, profitable and actively developed where appropriate.
• Strategic impact: Clients move from seeing PR as an output to recognising communications as a genuine business and reputation driver.

What You Bring

We are looking for a senior communications professional with:

• 12–15+ years’ experience in PR and strategic communications, ideally within a leading agency environment.
• A proven track record of leading major accounts and advising senior stakeholders.
• Strong experience across thought leadership, reputation management and integrated communications.
• Experience in one or more complex sectors such as technology, telecoms, mining and energy, retail and sustainability, healthcare, financial services, consumer technology or social impact.
• Exceptional writing, editing and editorial judgement.
• The ability to turn complex or unstructured information into clear strategy, messaging and actionable briefs.
• A strong understanding of media dynamics and reputational risk within South Africa, with broader African experience advantageous.
• Excellent operational discipline and the ability to create structure, accountability and momentum across multiple accounts.

The Person

You are likely to be:

• Strategic, commercially minded and intellectually curious.
• A calm and confident leader who performs well under pressure.
• Someone with exceptionally high standards who is not afraid to challenge weak thinking or work.
• A strong communicator who is direct, respectful and credible with both clients and teams.
• Proactive rather than reactive, with the ability to see issues coming and solve them early.
• Someone with genuine executive presence who can hold their own in a boardroom.
• A natural leader who can build trust, develop people and create high-performing teams.

A Few Non-Negotiables

This is an environment where seniority comes with ownership.

You will be expected to:

• Lead meetings, not simply attend them.
• Follow through with clear actions, owners and deadlines.
• Resolve the majority of account-level issues independently.
• Protect senior leadership time by taking ownership and making sound decisions.
• Maintain exceptional standards across strategy, writing, delivery and client service.
• Understand that reputation and trust are built through precision, consistency and credibility.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a senior, steady operator with sharp strategic instincts and exceptional editorial standards.

You know how to run major accounts as a business, navigate complex client environments, lead people with confidence and produce work that is credible in the boardroom and compelling in the media.

If you are ready for a role where your judgement, leadership and strategic thinking genuinely matter, this could be an excellent next step.

Apply now with your CV and a concise motivation outlining why you believe you are suited to this opportunity.