Job Summary: 

As an Account Associate you are learning how our business works, and you are the ‘go-to’ person on your team for getting things done. You have a strong focus on day-to-day project management and are learning to understand and appreciate the core skills that will enable you to develop effective client relationships. You are efficient, reliable, and learning to work under pressure.

Responsibilities:

Client delivery

• Be the ‘go-to’ person on your team for completing tasks, identify tasks you can take on and proactively offer your support

• Take ownership of meetings (internal and external) ensuring: relevant team members are available; they have everything they need to run it (status reports, agendas, etc.); the necessary logistics are in place (room bookings, etc.)

• Be responsible for driving and managing updates to the status report, ensuring it is regularly updated and internally reviewed prior to client calls and tracking the status of projects

• Capture accurate minutes from meetings (internal and external), ensuring all internal actions are completed according to the timelines

• Prepare timelines prior to the commencement of each project (prepared in consultation with relevant team members)

• Begin to build relationships with your clients, through regular contact (calls/emails)

• Manage external suppliers on client projects, ensuring they deliver to budget and timelines

• Organise logistics for small to medium sized external meetings/events, ensuring that costs are aligned with the budget

• Ensure professional contact with KOLs when undertaking key tasks (e.g. booking travel)

• Start to build your knowledge of your client’s strategy by staying on top of all emails and saving down files appropriately

• Tailor your communication to your team members’ ways of working (i.e. Teams vs. emailing, identifying the most appropriate person to respond to questions)

• Actively participate in the briefing process when you’re being assigned work – arrange the meeting, do any pre-reading, interrogate the brief to confirm your understanding of the project, deadlines and budget

Core skills

• Maintain an awareness of your time and deliverables, thinking ahead to plan and prioritise your work effectively, regularly updating your teams on progress and any challenges (share solutions with your team as soon as they arise)

• Gain proficiency on VVPM, uploading, tagging and managing items for approval

• Focus on attention to detail and develop a full understanding of what ‘client ready’ means – reflect this in your work generally, and particularly for externally-facing outputs

• Gain experience in referencing and proofing accurately

• Develop written materials following a detailed brief, which may include story flows/drafts/amendments/referencing, and manage internal review timings

Personal development

• Buddy new AA starters, sharing your insights and experiences to support their professional development

• Ask questions in a structured way (i.e. accumulating questions and organising a meeting with the relevant person to discuss)

• Seek feedback and proactively feedback to improve individual and team performance

Financial management

• Develop a clear understanding of the relevant RC financial processes (e.g. raising job codes, purchase orders, managing Salesforce opportunities, requesting time moves, etc.) and support your account teams as required

• Begin to draft budgets, talking your account lead through your rationale

• Complete your timesheets and expense claims accurately and on time

Agency environment

• Immerse yourself in the medical communications and pharma industries, your clients’ companies and therapy areas: engage with every opportunity to establish an awareness of developments, innovations and trends. Look for opportunities to reflect these in your work and flag your ideas to your teams and wider team to raise your internal profile

• Familiarise yourself with the ABPI Code of Practice and ensure that your work is always compliant

Required skills and experience:

• Highly organised with a mindfulness of deadlines, the ability to manage multiple tasks based on priorities and a strong attention to detail

• Independent thinker confident in taking ownership of assets and material development, but a team player who enjoys collaboration

• Performs tasks with a sense of urgency and has the confidence to communicate with managers when deadlines will not be met or when issues are foreseeable

• Strong written and oral communication and presentations skills

• Open minded and eager to learn – the more you put in, the more you get out!

• High energy, able to effectively operate in fast-paced, growing and evolving environment