Business Director

JOIN OUR JOURNEY

Medialab is the UK’s leading independent media agency, and one of the fastest growing in the industry. We’re a media agency that’s made differently: purpose-led, data-driven, founder-run and proudly independent.

Our entrepreneurial spirit means success is recognised and rewarded. There are no limits to what you can achieve here, which our employees agree with, evidenced by being a Campaign Best Place to Work for six consecutive years and one of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025. As well as this, we’re Campaign’s Independent Agency of the Year 2024 and Media Week’s Independent Agency of the Year 2025.

We are IPA Effectiveness accredited, an IPA People-First agency, and All In Champions, with industry-leading work recognised by double-gold at the 2024 IPA Effectiveness Awards for our work with Laithwaites and a 2025 Effie for our work with Alzheimer’s Society.

Our independence means we can focus 100% on doing the right thing to secure success for our clients and our brilliant people. We work with a wide variety of clients including Hovis, IG, Sharps Bedrooms, SunLife, Standard Life, Ancestry, Laithwaites Wine, Save the Children, Guide Dogs, Alzheimer’s Society, RNLI and Clearscore.

OUR VALUES

• Commit to Doing the Right Thing (Act with integrity and accountability)

• Help People Flourish (Invest in people)

• Dig Deeper to Understand Better (Data driven curiosity)

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU

Working at Medialab comes with lots of perks including all the usual things you would expect, such as a competitive salary package, pension, season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, weekly social events and big summer / end of year parties.
On top of that, we offer extra benefits, which make life at Medialab even more rewarding:

• Time to Unwind – 25 days holiday (+ Christmas holiday closure), birthday & mental health day off, holiday buying scheme, flexi-hours and work abroad scheme.

• Hybrid Working – Balance between home and office. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements from the commencement of employment.

• Career Growth – A meritocratic approach to progression with quarterly reviews, CPD Platinum accredited training, mentoring and leadership support.

• Health & Wellbeing – Private medical insurance, health cash plan, gym discounts, wellbeing apps Mental Health First Aiders and unlimited free professional counselling.

• Supporting Families – Enhanced parental leave, flexible working and life assurance.

• Giving Back – Paid charity days and sustainability initiatives.

YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE

We're looking for a Business Director to lead client relationships with confidence, commercial focus and strategic vision. This is a senior position in a growing team, reporting into a Client Managing Director. You will act as the bridge between clients, strategy, activation and measurement - shaping the director of accounts, mentoring your team, and ensuring our work delivers measurable business impact.

This role isn't about day to day delivery, it's about leadership, clarity and connection. You'll oversee a portfolio of clients, guiding teams to produce work that's insight led, channel smart and strategically grounded. You'll bring energy to the room, clarity to complex challenges, and rigour to how we plan, deliver and evaluate campaigns.

You'll lead by example - fostering trust, challenging thinking, and empowering others to perform at their best. You'll collaborate with Planning Directors, Digital Director and specialist Squads to deliver brilliant, joined up work that moves the needle for our clients.

As a senior lead within a growing agency, this person will have a strong track record of driving both successful results for clients, and evidence of effectively managing their team P&L, through both organic growth and new business.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

• Leading client relationships: Acting as the senior contact for a portfolio of clients, ensuring delivery against strategic goals and nurturing trusted, long term partnerships.

• Driving commercial performance: Manging account profitability, forecasting and activation, ensuring every peice of work reflects Medialab's quality and strategic rigour.

• Inspiring and developing your team: Line managing Account Director and overseeing a teams of 12, providing mentorship, feedback and growth opportunities aligned to their career pathways.

• Collaborating across squads: Partnering with Planning, Digital and Channel Specialists to ensure campaigns are cohesive, data informed and high performing across all channels.

• Supporting strategic development: Translating client objectives into clear, actionable media and communications strategies that balance brand and performance thinking.

• Embedding best practice: Working with Squad Leads and Heads of Channel to ensure frameworks, tools and ways of working are consistently applied across your accounts.

• Owning delivery and quality: Overseeing all outputs across your client group - from briefs to post campaign analysis - ensuring clarity of story, insight, and effectiveness.

• Leading New Business: Driving and contributing to pitch responses, shaping strategic recommendations and inspiring confidence in prospective clients.

• Championing measurement and effectiveness: Partnering with our data and insights teams to ensure robust measurement frameworks are in place, including econometric analysis and campaign evaluation.

• Leading with accountability: Monitoring account health and delivery standards, identifying risks early and communicating proactively with senior leadership.

• Contributing to agency leadership: Playing a visible role in Medialab's wider growth - from mentoring and process development to new business and thought leadership.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• Proven experience in media or communications leadership, manging multiple clients and teams, ideally across both brand and performance channels.

• Strong commercial acumen with confidence managing budgets, contracts and forecasting, ensuring value and efficiency for clients and the agency alike.

• Experience of leading and converting new business pitches, demonstrating strategic storytelling and the ability to build confidence with senior stakeholders.

• A strong understanding of measurement and effectiveness, including econometrics, attribution and KPI frameworks that link media investment to business outcomes.

• Deep understanding of the media ecosystem - from planning principles to digital activation - and how channels work together to drive outcomes.

• Strategic agility - the ability to simplify complex problems, balance long term brand building with short term growth, and bring clarity to multi channel campaigns.

• Leadership through collaboration - empowering and supporting teams to deliver their best work while creating an environment built on trust, feedback and accountability.

• Exceptional communication skills - confident, articulate and credible with senior stakeholders, with natural ability to influence and inspire.

• Curiosity and drive - a growth mindset, always looking for smarter, better, more effective ways to deliver impact for clients.

• A role model for Medialab's values - Commercially sharp, strategically rigorous, and always acting with integrity and care for the people and clients you lead.