Account Director - Marketing Communications & New Business

More about the role:

The Account Director – Marketing Communications & New Business at Burson India will be responsible for determining the marketing strategy of the firm & lead all outreach initiatives for marketing the firm. The individual will take full responsibility for the reputation management of the firm along with the leadership.

The purpose of this role is to have an impact on the Burson India brand through progressive marketing strategies and communications across all media and platforms. The Role encompasses planning and executing an integrated 360° marketing programme spanning social media, earned media, paid media, digital, and thought leadership anchored to strategic content themes that give the brand a coherent, consistent narrative across all channels. To develop, establish and maintain marketing strategies to meet organizational objectives. Effective management of the marketing, advertising, sponsorships, and promotional activities of the organization. Responsible for external communication, supporting new services and partnerships, messaging & content creation, conceptualizing special events, sponsorships & promotions, and thought leadership initiatives of the firm.

What you'll do:

Strategy, Planning & Brand Management

• Develops and executes the firm's annual integrated marketing strategy and programmes — both short and long term — in consultation with the CM&GO, Burson Group India; defining objectives, messaging, and activities across monthly, quarterly, and annual plans.
• Holds overall responsibility for brand management and corporate identity — ensuring all marketing output is consistent with company messaging, guidelines, and positioning priorities.
• Researches, analyses, and monitors communications industry trends and the competitive landscape — building and maintaining competitive intelligence and market scanning processes that translate category trends, whitespace opportunities, and positioning gaps into actionable growth strategies for leadership.
• Ensures effective control of marketing results and takes corrective action to ensure marketing objectives are achieved within designated budgets; maintains monthly, quarterly, and annual performance reviews.

Media Relations, Thought Leadership & Executive Visibility

• Manages end-to-end media relations across A&M media — securing thought leadership article placements, executive interviews, industry quotes, and press releases for Burson Group India's leadership on a monthly basis.
• Plans, executes, and manages global leadership visits to India — coordinating logistics, communications, internal briefings, and stakeholder engagement

Content, Collateral & Production

• Leads the creation and publication of all marketing material — working with writers and designers to oversee copywriting, design, layout, and production in line with company messaging and marketing plans.
• Plans and oversees the organisation's promotional activities including print, electronic, and direct mail outlets; communicates with external partners on ongoing campaigns.
• Supervises the Marketing Section on SharePoint — ensuring all marketing knowledge, collateral, and templates are current and accessible to the wider team.

Social Media, Digital & Paid Media

• Oversees and manages Burson India's social media presence across LinkedIn, Instagram, and X — developing platform-specific content strategies, maintaining a weekly social content calendar, overseeing creative briefing and approvals, managing publishing schedules, and conducting regular performance reviews.
• Works in collaboration with Burson Group India's Digital Marketing expert on integrated online campaigns

AI-Powered Intelligence & Performance

• Embeds Burson proprietary AI tools as a core part of the marketing workflow — applying them to competitor research, content development, campaign performance analysis, and audience strategy to make marketing decisions faster and more informed.

Events, Awards & Sponsorships

• Implements the Marketing Calendar across events, awards, publications, speaking opportunities, sponsorships, and partnerships.
• Manages the end-to-end industry awards strategy — overseeing the entire entry process from creation and storyboarding through submission, coordination, and post-win activities on behalf of Burson Group India and its clients.
• Identifies and pitches jury and speakership opportunities for Burson Group India's leadership at industry events and awards forums on a monthly basis.
• Plans and executes the GABBYs (internal awards programme) on a yearly basis.

New Business Support

• Facilitates the new business process across practices — including Case Studies, Playbook, Credentials, Bios, Role Scope, and Financial Proposal Templates.
• Supports India and APAC new business growth initiatives by maintaining growth trackers, updating the Burson New Business Pipeline, providing pitch support through research, credentials, case studies, and rate cards, and managing the Corner Office Sales Kit and Opportunity Tracker on an ongoing basis.
• Prepares and presents quarterly and annual new business reviews for leadership.

Internal Communications & Compliance

• Maintains effective internal communications to ensure all relevant company functions are kept informed of marketing objectives, plans, and updates.
• Ensures compliance with all systems, processes, and policies.

Fiscal Management

• Manage the implementation, tracking and measurement of integrated marketing campaigns, on time and within budget.
• Achieves financial objectives by preparing an annual budget; scheduling expenditures; analyzing variances; initiating corrective actions.
• Develop short and long-term plans and budgets for PR programs and their activities, monitor progress, assure adherence, and evaluate performance.

AI-Powered Intelligence & Performance

• Embeds Burson proprietary AI tools as a core part of the marketing workflow — applying them to competitor research, content development, campaign performance analysis, and audience strategy to make marketing decisions faster and more informed.

Social Influencer Skills

• Stay updated on social media trends and build relationships with key influencers and community contacts to optimize channels.

Experience that contributes to success:

• Postgraduate degree in any discipline, or a professional qualification in public relations or marketing.
• 8+ years of experience in marketing communications and strong track record of driving agency growth through new business development and identifying opportunities.
• An organized individual, with excellent time-management skills. Creative thinker, able to work under pressure & meet deadlines. Persuasive, enthusiastic and tenacious.
• Quickly recognises the need to adapt personal, interpersonal, and managerial behaviour, reads reactions, seeks feedback and adjusts approach in response to changing demands and requirements.
• Understands how businesses work, stay updated on policies, practices, trends, technology, and information affecting the business and organization, is aware about the competive landscape and how strategies and tactics playout in the marketplace.
• Negotiates skilfully in tough situations with internal and external stakeholders - settling differences with minimum friction, winning concessions without damaging relationships and balancing directness with diplomacy.
• You must possess a strong familiarity with how Generative AI tools are used across communications programmes, especially in planning, research, ideation, content creation, and daily operations to drive relevance and efficiency