Role: Managing Director
Sector: Creative Agency
Location: Manchester
Permanent: Hybrid – 3 days in the office
Salary: Competitive + equity/options
Ref: VisionFR3061
VisionFR is working with a multi-award winning global creative agency who work with some of the world’s leading brands to find a Managing Director, based from their Manchester office.
They are looking for an experienced commercial and strategic Managing Director to play a key role in taking the agency to the next stage of growth. This will be a non-client facing internal role will have an internal focus on the agency, driving growth and operational excellence, and leading a high-performance management team. The successful candidate will have a demonstrable proven track record of success, ideally with marketing agency experience, but they are primarily seeking a candidate with a strong commercial acumen and leadership capability who can develop and execute comprehensive business plans and strategies to achieve revenue growth and profitability goals.
The successful candidate will be outcome-focused, with a strong finance background and understanding to be able to interpret commercial data and act quickly and decisively on the insights they provide. They will have a fast-paced, direct approach, be able to spot potential issues before they arise and come up with pragmatic, proactive and creative solutions to support the business. Importantly, the successful candidate will be a mentor and role model for the team at all levels of the organisation, currently approx. 70 people, helping to cultivate a commercial mindset across the entire business.
The Responsibilities and Activities of the Managing Director
- Will work alongside the external facing CEO to provide strategic leadership to the business, inspiring and motivating the team and ensuring business goals are front and centre of everything we do
- Provide operational oversight to ensure the agency achieves its goals and objectives, working with the team to act as the engine room for growth
- Develop and implement operational strategies, policies, and procedures to drive efficiency, resilience, scalability and effectiveness across all business functions.
- Oversee marketing and business development strategy and implementation, ensuring lead gen targets are met and the company executes on an effective marketing plan to drive leads
- Collaborate with the executive team to set strategic priorities, quantify progress against key metrics and drive the execution of key initiatives
- Lead and mentor a high-performing management team, fostering a culture of commercial awareness, collaboration, innovation, and excellence against clear targets
- Oversee financial management, budgeting, and forecasting processes to ensure the agency’s financial health and sustainability
- Ensure compliance and best practice standards are maintained across all commercial arrangements
- Ensure the business is built on a scalable model, capable of sustainable and consistent growth
Skills & Experience required of the Managing Director
- Must have held a similar role in a 50+ people business
- Significant commercial experience in driving substantial EBITDA and turnover growth in previous leadership roles.
- Proven track record of success in leading businesses to achieve ambitious new business revenue targets.
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire and motivate teams towards achieving common goals.
- Excellent business acumen with a commercial and strategic mindset and the ability to make sound decisions in complex situations.
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build rapport and influence stakeholders at all levels.
- M&A experience and understanding
Benefits:
- EMI equity share package with heavily weighted reward based on agency success
- Competitive benefits; private medical, enhanced pension, medical expense plan etc
VisionFR is committed to encouraging equality, diversity, inclusion and eliminating unlawful discrimination within our workforce and whilst fulfilling our Client recruitment needs.
Due to the high level of applications being received if you do not hear from us within 5 working days, please assume your application has not been successful on this occasion, usually due to other candidates having more relevant sector exposure, qualifications or required skills. We thank you for your interest.