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Senior Director, Food + Agriculture  

Padilla is seeking a Senior Director to join our thriving agriculture and food practice. In this role, you will have the opportunity to drive meaningful change in agriculture and across the food supply chain. Many of the clients we serve focus on sustainability and innovation across a variety of categories within agriculture, including crop production, animal nutrition and health, carbon sequestration, conservation, commodity promotion, lending, technology, ag retail and much more.   

Senior Directors are tasked with ensuring the overall success of client programs and client retention, serving as the senior strategic resource for clients and setting account strategy. We are seeking a candidate who has excelled at client strategy and account management in an agency setting and can adeptly provide strategic counsel across a broad client base. You will also play a robust role in the vision and leadership of the food and agriculture team by supporting new business development.  
 
If you are a strategic client counselor, a hound for marketing trends, an advocate for food and agriculture, and driven to meet metrics by consistently bringing new ideas to the table and delivering superior results for clients, then this role is for you.   

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING: 

Client Management 

  • Act as a strategic advisor to clients by addressing difficult or complex client circumstances, resolves sensitive situations, mediates conflicts and negotiates successful outcomes 
  • Supervise the development and implementation of integrated campaigns, messaging, client programs and KPIs to deliver the highest possible outcomes for clients  
  • Analyze complex situations and develop and manage the implementation of creative, effective solutions on behalf of our clients 
  • Mange budgets, allocations and timelines for your accounts so that they are profitable  
  • Addresses financial issues that impact accounts, including monitoring performance etc.  
  • Ensure delivery of agency services at maximum value and highest possible quality, given the scope and budget, to meet client needs 
  • Build strong relationships with clients, including leadership/C-suite within client organizations 
  • Demonstrate outstanding ability to write strategic integrated marketing materials and plans 
  • Understand what is happening in the overall industry and helps to educate direct reports and colleagues about key issues  

 

Team Management  

  • Motivate all team members to perform at their highest level 
  • Demonstrate outstanding ability to train and mentor direct reports, teaching them a variety of professional skills across marketing, PR, strategy, digital media and more 
  • Prepare for and conducts reviews for direct reports including annual goal setting 
  • Ensure the effective onboarding of new team members  
  • Seek out professional development opportunities for your team  
  • Maintain acceptable profit margin within accounts managed and teach others to do the same 
  • Consistently meet billable goals and the billable goals of employees directly supervised 

 

New Business Development 

  • Generate, present and sell in new ideas to existing clients to support their evolving business needs 
  • Help establish food and agriculture team goals to maximize growth and expand services  
  • Lead the development of new business proposals and ensure a winning strategy 
  • Ensure new clients, opportunities and prospects are identified in alignment with food and agriculture team and company goals, and that specific plans are established to maximize the potential to land targeted new clients 
  • Actively network and develop relationships aimed at generating new business opportunities 
  • Consistently develop thought leadership content for marketing purposes  
  • Join or become a member of a marketing/communication professional organization and/or a client industry trade organization, and attend functions staged by these groups for the purpose of networking on behalf of the agency 

 

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR: 

  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent industry experience  
  • 8-10 years of communications experience, ideally in an agency setting 
  • High degree of knowledge about agriculture, farming and related industries and issues  
  • Five or more years of management experience that includes financial and profitability oversight 
  • A track record of successful new business development 
  • Experience in all stages of business development from prospecting to contract negotiation 
  • Ability to travel as needed 

#LI-Hybrid

Padilla is a full-service agency that transforms brands and organizations through strategically creative communications. Our work across a range of industry sectors is consistently recognized by the PRWeek Awards, PRovoke IN2 SABRE Awards and PRSA Anvil Awards, among others. Padilla operates in seven cities in the U.S. through its family of brands, which includes SHIFT (performance communications), FoodMinds (food and nutrition affairs) and Joe Smith (brand strategy). As an AVENIR GLOBAL company and a founding member of the Worldcom Public Relations Group, the agency provides services to clients through 155 offices worldwide. Transform with purpose at PadillaCo.com.   

 

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