Director, New Business

About Ogilvy

Ogilvy was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy, one of the most beloved and well-known brands in advertising. We’re investing in the brightest talent in the industry and redefining what it means to be a creative communications agency in today’s world. Our mission is to inspire brands and people to impact the world.

If our ambition excites you—and you want to play a key role in making it happen—then keep reading.

About the Role  

We are seeking a Director of New Business to join our team in New York. You will help us craft the Ogilvy story as we pursue new opportunities with prospective clients. You will help lead a team as we build and scale operational best practices, attract new clients and drive sustainable growth, working alongside Ogilvy leadership, subject matter experts and discipline leads to achieve our ambition. We would prefer you to be in the New York area, but we currently maintain a hybrid working model.

What You’ll Do 

• Lead all aspects of new business development: vetting opportunities, targeting future strategic partners and leading the pitch process from start to finish.
• Serve as agency ambassador and first point of contact for prospects, handling inbound inquiries and outbound leads. Adhere to a glass slipper test against the agency’s criteria to ensure opportunities align with the company growth goal and profit margins.
• Ensure desk research is assigned and conducted to understand opportunity potential.
• Be a great storyteller, formulating strong narratives about our capabilities and historical achievements and translating them into well-crafted RFI/RFP responses and pitch presentations.
• Manage and execute the presentation development process including project managing timetables, ownership assignments, presentation materials and all related communications and meetings.
• Help lead cross-functional teams inclusive of strategy, creative, technology, production and external partners to deliver integrated flawless solutions.
• Build strong, collaborative and trusted relationships, partnering with internal executives to serve the future of the business, and manage up with internal leadership to drive accountability and best practices.
• Effectively manage teams – coaching and inspiring the growth and development of junior staff by providing consistent feedback, training and growth opportunities. Connect daily with direct reports to establish priorities.
• Maintain knowledge database of core agency new business assets — Assess and optimize all new business collateral, leading case study development, upgrading pitch templates and improving any external properties and communication vehicles.
• Work with agency leads to skillfully negotiate fees, SOWs and lucrative partnerships.
• Track, monitor, and report agency’s growth pipeline using CRM tool — Sugar.

What You’ll Need  

• 8+ years of agency or client services experience.
• 2+ years of experience managing a team.
• Charismatic, collaborative and great at relationship-building.
• Strong communication and excellent interpersonal skills, integrating across teams with clarity, diplomacy and empathy.
• Unflapped by tight timelines and fast-paced environments and able to juggle multiple projects.
• Ability to evaluate work with a strategic lens, providing clear, strategically grounded feedback and suggestions to internal teams.
• Understanding of the complex advertising landscape and how to bring together cohesive teams and programs to drive results.
• Gravitas and proven ability to swiftly establish and nurture strong relationships with potential clients of all levels, including C-suite.
• Magnetic personality and energetic presence with an ability to energize staff to participate in growth activities, knowing when to collaborate on decisions and when to take the individual lead with an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Good listener – someone who reads people and a room and adapts their style accordingly.
• Ability to honor and maintain confidentiality.
• A commitment to curiosity and continuous improvement.
• A competitive spirit coupled with team based performance skills.

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, get excited about finding smarter ways to do things and have a burning desire to be part of a winning team where you can truly make a difference, we want to meet you!

How We’ll Support You 

Ogilvy celebrates its people. Fully. Enthusiastically. Unhesitatingly. We’ll empower you with the tools you’ll need to succeed. We’ll give you the autonomy to seek out new paths and better ways of doing things. We’ll support you with colleagues who are experts in their disciplines, drawn from across the Ogilvy network. And we’ll provide opportunities for you to do work of which you’ll be proud, with people you’ll be proud to call your teammates.