Account Director: POSM

Role Overview The Account Director is the senior leader responsible for the end-to-end delivery of all marketing production workstreams for India, including POSM, print, packaging, merchandising, OOH, premiums, and retail activation materials. This role owns the client relationship at a senior level, leads the Noida delivery team, ensures commercial and operational governance, and drives efficiency, process improvement, and value engineering within the India market. The Account Director acts as the strategic partner to senior client stakeholders and the central escalation point for the Indian supply base and internal delivery organisation. Key Responsibilities 1. Senior Client Leadership & Strategic Ownership - Serve as the primary senior partner for India-based marketing, trade, brand, and procurement stakeholders. - Lead annual and quarterly planning discussions, including campaign mapping, budget alignment, and production strategy. - Provide strategic recommendations around POSM optimisation, value engineering, cost improvement, and supplier strategy. - Support clients in improving speed-to-market, production efficiency, and workflow clarity. - Lead governance meetings, QBRs, performance reviews, and strategic alignment sessions. 2. Team Leadership & People Development - Lead the Noida team across account management, QC, sourcing, artwork coordination, and operations. - Provide coaching, capability development, and mentoring to Senior AMs, AMs, and AEs. - Manage resource planning, capacity forecasting, and task prioritisation. - Foster a collaborative, solutions-driven, high-performance culture. - Facilitate cross-learning between India and regional delivery teams. 3. Operational Excellence & Workflow Oversight - Oversee all project pipelines from briefing to delivery, ensuring timelines, budgets, and quality metrics are consistently met. - Manage complex workflows across POSM, print, OOH, merchandising, packaging, and promotional items. - Ensure accurate scoping, documentation, briefing quality, and technical feasibility. - Review and approve escalations relating to artwork, supplier performance, material feasibility, or quality concerns. - Champion continuous improvement programs in workflow, automation, and documentation. 4. Supplier Ecosystem & Production Control - Partner with sourcing and QC teams to optimise India’s supplier network and capability mapping. - Oversee high-impact escalations involving vendor delivery, delays, quoting deviations, or quality risks. - Steer value engineering initiatives, material substitution strategies, and cost optimisation exercises. - Ensure alignment between supplier capabilities and project requirements. 5. Commercial Management & Governance - Own financial performance for the India market, including revenue tracking and cost governance. - Ensure accuracy in job estimates, cost sheets, approvals, PO and invoice workflows, and audit documentation. - Track savings, cost avoidance, and commercial KPIs. - Support business case development for new cost-saving initiatives or supplier strategy proposals. 6. Cross-Functional & Regional Collaboration - Work closely with regional stakeholders on cross-market initiatives, reporting, and alignment. - Represent India in regional calls, strategy meetings, and operational reviews. - Share market insights, risks, and opportunities with the broader APAC organisation. Requirements Experience - 10+ years in marketing production, activation, print/POSM, packaging, or client servicing. - Experience managing multi-stakeholder workflows in India across brand, trade, procurement & suppliers. - Proven leadership experience overseeing large teams. Skills - Excellent communication in English and Hindi. - Strong commercial acumen (cost sheets, budgeting, estimates, governance). - Deep understanding of India’s supplier ecosystem for POSM/print/OOH. - Ability to manage high-volume, fast-paced workflows. - Strong problem-solving, escalation handling, and senior stakeholder management. Leadership Qualities - Calm, structured, and decisive. - Strong sense of ownership and accountability. - Able to influence, negotiate, and inspire.