Account Director - Shopper Marketing

About the Role

This role is for an experienced Account Director to join THE TEAM's growing Global Travel Retail (GTR)/Shopper Marketing team, which delivers integrated shopper marketing campaigns, global activations and retail experiences for leading consumer brands. The Account Director will help shape one of THE TEAM's fastest-growing service offerings, leading the strategic development and delivery of Global Travel Retail programmes across Europe, IMEA, APAC and the Americas. As the senior client lead, they will build trusted relationships, drive commercial growth, inspire high-performing teams and help establish THE TEAM as a leader in Global Travel Retail and Shopper Marketing.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as senior lead for a portfolio of Global Travel Retail and Shopper Marketing clients, building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, retailers, airport partners, production partners and key stakeholders.
• Develop a deep understanding of client objectives, shopper behaviour, market trends and competitive threats to provide strategic counsel and robust partnership strategy and campaigns.
• Oversee annual planning, quarterly business reviews, strategic discussions, KPI setting and campaign evaluation with clients, rights holders and internal teams.
• Lead the strategic development and delivery of integrated shopper marketing campaigns across Global Travel Retail, duty-free, airports and retail environments.
• Oversee the design, production and delivery of activation materials, including 2D/3D creative, digital screens, retail theatre and in-store visibility assets.
• Manage multiple activations across Europe, IMEA, APAC and the Americas, ensuring alignment with global brand strategy while enabling local market relevance.
• Oversee premium airport activations and collaborate with internal teams to develop scalable shopper engagement mechanics, promotional campaigns and omnichannel activations.
• Support the development of global playbooks and activation toolkits to ensure consistency across markets.
• Provide senior oversight of flagship industry events, including TFWA Cannes, from concept through to delivery.
• Ensure campaigns are delivered to the highest creative, operational and commercial standards, with project timelines (over)delivered and accurate budget and project reporting, and lead onboarding of new people, programmes, campaign transitions and asset management.
• Mentor and develop Account Managers and Senior Managers, fostering a collaborative, high-performing team culture and strong relationships across strategy, creative, production and project management teams.
• Own commercial performance of the client portfolio, driving profitability and sustainable growth through scope development, forecasting, fee negotiations and budget management.
• Identify new business opportunities, contribute to the growth of THE TEAM's Global Travel Retail and Shopper Marketing offering, and partner with procurement, finance and legal teams to ensure commercial compliance.
• Stay ahead of Global Travel Retail and shopper marketing trends, applying shopper insights and campaign performance to optimise future activations and deliver measurable business impact.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• Significant experience working on partnership activations and global toolkit creation, across several brand sectors and shopper channels including, on premise, global travel retail, grocery and customer engagement either agency or client-side.
• Experience working with, or for global sport/entertainment rights holders.
• Strong understanding of Global Travel Retail, airport retail, duty-free and omnichannel shopper marketing.
• Proven experience leading global campaigns, activation toolkits and international marketing programmes.
• Strong client leadership skills with experience managing senior stakeholders and growing strategic accounts.
• Commercially minded, with experience managing significant budgets, forecasting and account profitability.
• Excellent project leadership skills, managing multiple international workstreams simultaneously.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and developing high-performing talent.
• Outstanding communication, presentation and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience working across international markets including Europe, IMEA, APAC and the Americas.
• Willingness to travel internationally to support client meetings, market visits and major activations.

About the Company

THE TEAM provides representation and marketing services to talent, brands and properties across 28 countries and more than 70 cities worldwide. Shaped by its belief in the unifying power of sports, music and entertainment, THE TEAM leads with intelligence, ideas and influence.