Influence Business Director

Influence Business Director

Location: London
Contract: Fixed‑Term (12 months)
Full Time
Reporting into: Managing Partner / Client Partner
Department: PR & Influence

About Ogilvy

Ogilvy UK has been creating iconic ideas that deliver impact at scale for clients since 1948. Our agency brings together brand advertising, customer experience marketing, PR, influence and consulting, all fuelled by Behavioural Science. We specialise in integrated campaigns for clients such as Sainsbury’s, Lloyds Banking Group, Unilever and Mondelēz International. Ogilvy’s influencer marketing practice is the largest globally and has won the Cannes Grand Prix for Social & Creator for two consecutive years.

Role Overview

As an Influence Business Director, you will lead the strategic direction and integrated delivery of our full suite of influence activity for one of the world’s most iconic and dynamic technology brands within the UK market. This role demands a forward‑thinking, data‑driven leader who can navigate the complexities of tech marketing and leverage the power of influence to drive brand reputation, product launches, and cultural relevance at scale across the UK.

You will sit at the intersection of influence‑first thinking, culture‑led marketing, and integrated agency delivery, ensuring influencer campaigns, events, social content and advertising work seamlessly together to create maximum impact across diverse UK audiences.

Key Responsibilities

• Client Leadership & Stakeholder Management: Act as the senior day‑to‑day client lead for the UK teams of our leading tech client, building trusted, long‑term partnerships at senior levels. Provide strategic counsel across brand building, product launches, reputation management, cultural activation and the evolving influence landscape in the UK. Lead complex stakeholder management across the client's UK teams and key internal stakeholders, ensuring alignment and clear communication. Ensure the tech client benefits from consistent, senior‑level leadership fully embedded in their UK business objectives and challenges.
• UK Influence Strategy Development: Lead the creation of UK influence strategy toolkits, frameworks and playbooks that balance brand consistency with platform specifics. Embed influence‑first thinking, ensuring creator‑led content, partnerships and social activations are foundational, not additive. Partner closely with creative, media, and strategy leads to shape culturally relevant, insight‑led ideas powered by influencer insights and data for the UK market. Drive the strategic integration of paid, earned and owned influence channels to maximise reach and impact. Oversee market engagement across the UK and act as a central connector between the tech client's UK teams and local activation partners. Provide clients with emerging influencer trends, platform shifts, competitor activity and data‑driven insights into UK audience behaviour. Utilise advanced analytics and reporting to demonstrate campaign effectiveness, optimise performance and articulate ROI for influence investments.
• UK Events & Integrated Campaigns: Lead the influence strategy and delivery for key UK brand moments, product launches and events, ensuring alignment and maximum creator engagement. Play a central role in developing and activating high‑impact influencer partnerships, embedding them seamlessly into integrated campaign narratives. Work with market and agency leads to bring partnerships and events to life in locally relevant, culturally resonant, impactful ways across the UK. Directly manage a London‑based team of influence specialists, fostering growth and development. Foster a collaborative, high‑performance team culture grounded in integration, shared ownership and a passion for influence. Lead integration across influence, advertising, social and content teams to ensure truly joined‑up delivery and a holistic client approach within Ogilvy.

What Makes This Role Different

• 100% dedicated tech client focus, allowing for deep brand immersion and long‑term strategic thinking.
• Deeply partnership‑led, with influencer collaborations and strategic event activations embedded into the core brand strategy.
• Strong emphasis on influence‑first, data‑driven, culture‑first marketing.
• Sits within a fully integrated agency model, requiring constant collaboration across disciplines.
• Proven experience in UK‑specific leadership roles within influence marketing, digital marketing or related fields, ideally in technology or large‑scale consumer brands.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, confidence navigating complex, multi‑layered client organisations.
• Strong understanding of how major brands operate across the UK market.
• Demonstrated experience working in integrated agency environments across influence, advertising, social, content and data & analytics.
• A passion for culture‑led, data‑driven, influence‑first marketing and its role in driving brand relevance and business impact.
• Strategically minded and commercially astute, comfortable operating at a senior client level and driving significant business growth.
• Highly organised and process‑driven, capable of designing and managing complex long‑term influencer programs efficiently.
• Extensive and established network within the influencer industry, including leading creators, talent agencies, platforms and industry thought leaders specific to the UK market.

Personal Qualities

• Extensive senior leadership experience (e.g., Senior Account Director or Business Director) within a top‑tier agency.
• Strategic yet pragmatic.
• Culturally curious and globally minded.
• Confident, collaborative and calm under pressure.
• Energised by complexity, scale and partnership‑driven work.
• Demonstrated track record of P&L ownership and delivering significant, year‑on‑year business growth.
• Proven success in leading and winning multi‑million‑pound new business pitches.
• Exceptional leadership skills with experience in shaping departmental culture and developing senior talent.
• Strategic visionary with the ability to anticipate market trends and define a clear, forward‑looking path for the business.
• Outstanding commercial acumen and sophisticated negotiation skills.

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave + 1 Volunteer Day.
• Enhanced maternity, adoption and shared parental leave.
• Flexible working model with core hours 10am – 4pm.
• Wellbeing and health: up to £25 per month towards fitness class membership, Unmind membership, LifeWorks tool and annual eye tests.
• Season ticket loan and cycle‑to‑work scheme.
• Life assurance.

Equal Opportunities Statement

We are an equal opportunity employer and we’re committed to creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for everyone who wants to work at Ogilvy. For us, diversity, equity and inclusion is integrated into everything we do. Your race, colour, ethnic, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability or any other characteristic has no bearing on our hiring decisions, but we encourage everyone to feel free to express their true selves in an environment in which we continually strive to make as inclusive as possible. If you have a disability and would like a guaranteed interview under the Disability Confident Scheme, please let us know. We welcome all applications regardless of any protected characteristic.

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