Business Director

Department: Advertising - Unilever

Location: London

Contact type: 6-month FTC

Full Time/Part time: Full Time

Reporting into: Client Category Lead

Start date: 5th December 2025

ABOUT OGILVY

Our vision is to inspire brands and people to impact the world. To create big ideas that make a significant contribution to the planet, society, and the bottom line. We believe in today’s world this is the best way for our clients to achieve sustainable growth. We achieve this by breaking down the barriers that restrict talent and ideas.

Which is why our teams work fluidly across 5 capabilities: Advertising, Consulting, Ogilvy One, PR & Influencer, and Health. This allows us to not only operate but innovate at the intersection of capabilities and talent. We believe impact and magic lies at this intersection. Ogilvy scales this by seamlessly connecting and accessing the deep cultural expertise of 132 offices in 83 countries.

The result is multifaceted ideas for our clients that drive impact and are born from the intersection of platform x culture x technology. We call this Borderless Creativity. 

Ogilvy was ranked the number one UK agency at D&AD and was the only UK agency to win a Glass Lions at Cannes. Ogilvy was also nominated network of the year in Cannes Lions, Campaign, Effie Awards EMEA, London International Awards, The One Show and WARC Rankings. 

THE ROLE

As a forward-thinking and inclusive creative agency, Ogilvy is expanding its team to meet the demands of executing global creative platforms in competitive markets. We are seeking a seasoned professional to step into the role of Business Director within our advertising team.

As a strategic and composed leader accountable for creative excellence, client relationships, and financial profitability of your business areas, you'll serving as a credible partner to clients and an ambassador for the agency. Drawing on your strong advertising expertise across advertising, specifically in broadcast, digital, and social first channels, you'll proactively manage teams with brilliant communication, foresee challenges, and plan contingencies while continuously identifying opportunities to grow the business. You'll inspire and develop your team through clear feedback and approachable leadership, fostering strong morale and team spirit while maintaining account profitability. Championing agility, innovation, and continuous improvement, you'll optimize processes and ensure the agency consistently delivers exceptional work and service that maximizes creative potential and achieves shared objectives.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Making Work We’re Proud Of

• You lead by creating conditions for brilliant solutions to appear and thrive. You meaningfully input into the creative development process and understand how different crafts around Ogilvy contribute to a brilliant creative solution.
• You proactively identify potential creative opportunities and areas of growth for the business, turning this knowledge into a plan of action. You think creatively to improve business operations and strategically sell in work.

Responsibility & Accountability

• You manage multiple projects, defining roles and responsibilities for your team, and holding them accountable to ensure delivery as required.
• You make decisions on behalf of the agency and team, understanding the ramifications and managing up when necessary.
• You demonstrate to clients that you are accountable for the agency's performance and relationship.

Commercial Acumen

• You have an informed view of the commercial implications of internal decisions and external influences at both the micro (project) and macro (account) levels.
• You engage with clients and internal stakeholders on commercial topics and problem-solve to protect the interests of the agency and the relationship.

Collaboration

• You ensure senior stakeholders across the agency engage with the ambition and resources your team needs to support the work. You manage up as well as down.
• You manage key mid-level stakeholders in the client organization to protect and promote the agency's ambitions.
• You work well with other crafts at Ogilvy, understanding their value and the role of earned media within the agency mix.

Problem Solving & Decision Making

• You take a holistic view of projects to identify future opportunities and risks.
• You act decisively to solve problems quickly, understanding when leadership support is needed.

Building Client Relationships

• You are a trusted partner and adviser to mid-level clients, respected and valued by senior clients. You understand the client’s business objectives and aspirations, providing a sounding board that encourages deeper conversations around potential opportunities.
• You navigate issue resolution with clients and senior stakeholders.

HOW WE HELP YOU THRIVE

• 25 days annual leave + 1 Volunteer Day [per annual]
• Bupa Healthcare
• Enhanced Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave
• We have a Flexible Working Model with core working hours: 10am – 4pm
• A 1.5:1 Matching Pension Structure
• Wellbeing and Health: Up to £25.00 per month towards physical or online exercise class membership, Unmind membership, LifeWorks tool and annual eye tests and development budgets and Wellbeing incentives and activities throughout the year 
• Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work Scheme
• Life Assurance

Our ambition is to attract the very best diverse talent to Ogilvy, and to be the employer of choice in the UK. We want everyone to feel welcome when they join us, and once they’re here, for them to want to stay with us, grow their career, and to feel they belong with us. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we’re committed to creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for anyone who wants to work at Ogilvy. We believe that for creativity to flourish, everything about how we work must have diversity at its core. Your race, colour, ancestry, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or veteran status have no bearing on our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know and we will do everything we can to accommodate.