Head of Clients - Top Gear and Motoring

Head of Clients, Top Gear and Motoring (up to £73,000 plus commission)

Immediate is home to some of the biggest and most loved consumer brands in the UK, including Radio Times, Good Food and BBC Gardeners World magazine. Our trusted, quality content reaches millions of people a month across digital, print, video, podcasts, apps and live events.

We’re the destination for people looking to get more from the things they love. We’re here to inspire, fuel, encourage and educate.

Whether it’s the big things, or the little things; from reaching fitness goals to savouring good food, cultivating outdoor spaces, or enjoying the latest TV sensation – we help bring our audiences joy!

About the role

The Head of Clients role is to deliver motoring revenue growth across both BBC Top Gear and IM brands through developing deep relationships with key, strategic motoring clients. You will be accountable for the delivery of the Top Gear brand advertising budget across multiple channels and teams, utilising your insight into the motoring market and key clients’ strategy and products, to drive new opportunities for Top Gear and Immediate.

You will manage the BBC Studios ads relationship, including annual budgeting, weekly forecasting and communicating all brand developments and needs both ways. As part of a motoring client team of two you will manage a Senior Account Manager and be the go-to motoring expert across the IM ads department, working collaboratively and pro-actively with all relevant agency, partnership and IMDirect reps to maximise revenue.

You will be a thought leader in motoring and represent the Top Gear brand internally and in market, building meaningful relationships with key client contacts within the core motoring manufacturers in the UK.

As Head of Clients, Motoring you will;

• Develop and deliver a clear and cohesive IM Motoring strategy
• Ensure TG budgets are hit and exceeded, pro-actively building and presenting new opportunities for the agency reps as well as presenting and pitching the same ideas client side
• Manage the BBC Studios ads relationship, including budgeting, forecasting and communicating all brand and market developments and needs both ways
• Manage the monthly delivery of the Top Gear print magazine working with all key stakeholders across the sales and ad production teams
• Rapidly scale the quality and depth of our motoring client direct relationships, focusing in on a select number of key strategic accounts, sharing information across all sales teams
• Work closely with the Agency team to plan and best activate relevant senior agency strategic planning relationships
• Responsible for ensuring IM Direct Top Gear meet their revenue targets through regular brand updates and sales support, mentoring and sharing expertise
• Play a pivotal role in driving significant motoring revenue growth beyond TG and across the IM network
• Create and deliver strong B2B brand building through thought and category leadership
• Play a key role in identifying and delivering commercial brand innovation and product development needs, internally and to BBC Studios
• Create a deep understanding, analysis and continuous monitoring of the motoring market, competitor sets, including their ad revenue, client base and initiatives and support your team to do the same
• Collaborate and communicate clearly with all IM ad business functions (Partnerships, Agency, IMDirect, Studio, Client Services and Imagine) to ensure strategies, new products, opportunities and BBC guidelines are clear and fully understood
• Play a positive and active role across all sales teams as a senior team member
• Oversee any recruitment, selection and training of your team ensuring that comprehensive development and training plans are in place and successfully executed
• Set stretching KPIs for your team and ensure these are achieved through regular feedback and reviews
• Lead by example in ensuring your own KPIs are adhered to and recorded, and all info is transparent and shared

• Deep understanding of the motoring market, including trends, challenges and new product launches
• Strong client direct contacts with car manufacturers with proven capability to develop and grow new and meaningful client relationships
• Exceptionally strong sales ability at senior level, with the ability to understand and converse with clients at the highest level
• Extremely pro-active and resilient, with the ability to remain positive and optimistic despite challenging market conditions
• Be fully conversant in all relevant media; including social, video, audio, programmatic, data, print, events and e-commerce
• Understanding of the media landscape across all activations including current market pressures and trends that are likely to affect media buying habits
• Strong understanding of brand strategies and marketing
• Good understanding of how clients work internally and with their respective agencies
• Accomplished business and numeracy skills
• Exceptional leadership skills and ability to inspire and motivate both direct and non-direct reports
• Exceptional communication and relationship building skills
• Ability to excite and engage clients with new ideas, with exceptional presentation skills
• Pro-active approach with a drive for results and strong desire to win
• Consistently demonstrate a deeply collaborative approach across multiple teams
• Proven ability to pro-actively deal with challenging situations and demonstrate a positive mindset towards problem solving
• Ability to test and learn at pace and adapt quickly and positively to change
• Able to manage relationships with multiple stakeholders
• Team player with a fun and hardworking attitude
• Evidence of the ability to think strategically, of being able to plan and execute an effective go to market strategy, and of putting in place the processes to support this.

• A relaxed working environment with regular socials including a summer festival

• Supportive well-being initiatives and benefits, talks & workshops, and Mental Health First aiders & Champions
• 25 days holiday plus a day for your birthday. Our offices will be closed between Christmas and New Year’s which are in addition to your annual entitlement
• Tailored training and development through both our inhouse learning platform and LinkedIn Learning
• A progressive and transparent culture focused on your development  
• Flexible / hybrid working plus early finish Fridays
• Cycle to work scheme
• Enhanced Family Policies including paternity, adoption and surrogacy leave. We also provide a pregnancy loss, fertility, and carers policy
• Competitive pension plans and Life Assurance
• A newly renovated modern office with lots of collaborative spaces

At Immediate, we pride ourselves on our open, inclusive, collaborative, and dynamic culture that empowers our people to thrive and give their best. We care deeply about our people, our local communities and the impact we have on the environment. Our active Diversity & Inclusion network, comprehensive well-being programs, and clear sustainability strategies reflect this commitment.

People are at the heart of our business and creating a diverse and inclusive working environment is important to us. Immediate is an equal opportunities employer. We’ll never treat anyone less favourably because of their sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marital/civil partnerships, sexual orientation, race, nationality, ethnic origin, age, religion or belief or disability. We’re also committed to supporting applications from those who are returning to work following a career break, maternity leave or caring responsibilities.

Immediate is a place you can grow, be supported, and make a difference.