New Business Director

Company Description

 

We are Publicis LondonAt Publicis London we have one founding belief – that nothing is more valuable than an idea that Moves The World. We’re focused on the absolute best of international creativity: be that British brands looking to export or Global brands requiring a London hub. We want the best talent from around the globe to bring their skills to our agency.

 

Some of our clients include L’Oréal, Essity, Nestlé, Heineken, Renault/Dacia, Tourism Ireland and many more.

 

Our values are designed to guide the way we behave. We have three:Empathy: listen with intent, look out for each other, bust your biases. Invention: Find inspiration in strange places. Never stop experimenting. Make new things and make them useful. Action: make it collaborative, make it happen, make it mean something. 

Overview

We’re hiring a New Business Director to help shape the next chapter of growth at Publicis London. This is an opportunity to take real ownership of how the agency identifies opportunities, builds relationships and turns ambitious thinking into winning pitches. You’ll work closely with senior leadership and teams across the agency and Publicis Groupe, bringing together strategy, creativity and commercial thinking around the opportunities that matter. If you enjoy making complex pitches happen while keeping people focused, collaborative and inspired, this role gives you meaningful scope to make an impact.

Responsibilities

What you'll be doing:

• Shape and deliver the agency’s new business strategy, identifying and qualifying opportunities that support its growth ambitions.
• Build a strong pipeline of prospective clients, developing relationships with clients, pitch consultants and industry contacts.
• Lead pitches from brief to final submission, creating clarity around strategy, responsibilities, priorities and deadlines.
• Bring together creative, strategy, planning, production, client services and Groupe expertise to develop compelling responses to client briefs.
• Turn Publicis London’s positioning, creative work and effectiveness credentials into persuasive stories tailored to different clients and opportunities.
• Partner with marketing to connect targeted outreach, thought leadership, events, credentials and content to new business priorities.
• Use feedback, pitch performance and conversion data to strengthen future pitches and help build an inclusive, commercially focused new business culture.

Qualifications

Skills we're looking for:

• Relevant new business experience gained within a creative agency or comparable environment, with a strong understanding of how agency pitches work.
• Experience leading complex new business pitches from start to finish, balancing strategic thinking with outstanding delivery.
• Strong commercial judgement, with the ability to assess opportunities, understand client needs and focus effort where it can have the greatest impact.
• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to bring structure and clarity to multiple pitches and workstreams.
• Clear and persuasive communication skills, together with the ability to build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, prospective clients and partners.
• A collaborative, solutions-focused approach that helps different disciplines contribute their best thinking towards a shared goal.
• Strong attention to detail and appreciation for excellent creative work; experience bringing together capabilities across international markets or disciplines is welcome but not essential.

#LI-CB2

Additional Information

Publicis London offers a wide range of benefits to support our employees. Full details are shared when you join, but highlights include core benefits such as Pension, Life Assurance, and Private Medical cover, alongside enhanced policies like Reflection Days and Shared Parental Leave. You’ll also have access to a range of additional initiatives, including:

 

📖 Please check out the Publicis Career Page which showcases our Inclusive Benefits and our EAG’s (Employee Action Groups).

 

Publicis Groupe works primarily from the office or our clients' office four days per week.

 

At Publicis London, we are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, and do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age, citizenship, relationship status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected characteristic. 

 

We are committed to providing a fair, accessible, and inclusive recruitment process. If you have any access needs - for example, related to disability, neurodivergence, or a health condition - please let us know. We’ll work with you to ensure the process works for you. Sharing this information will never impact your application.

 

Guided by our values, we listen with empathy, uplift each other, take responsibility, and embrace change - building a culture where everyone feels seen, respected, and genuinely included.