Senior Director, Food & Agriculture

Senior Director, Food + Agriculture  

Padilla is seeking a Senior Director to join our thriving agriculture and food practice. In this role, you will have the opportunity to drive meaningful change in agriculture and across the food supply chain. Many of the clients we serve focus on sustainability and innovation across a variety of categories within agriculture, including crop production, animal nutrition and health, carbon sequestration, conservation, commodity promotion, lending, technology, ag retail and much more.   

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING: 

Client Management 

• Act as a strategic advisor to clients by addressing difficult or complex client circumstances, resolves sensitive situations, mediates conflicts and negotiates successful outcomes 

• Supervise the development and implementation of integrated campaigns, messaging, client programs and KPIs to deliver the highest possible outcomes for clients  

• Analyze complex situations and develop and manage the implementation of creative, effective solutions on behalf of our clients 

• Mange budgets, allocations and timelines for your accounts so that they are profitable  

• Addresses financial issues that impact accounts, including monitoring performance etc.  

• Ensure delivery of agency services at maximum value and highest possible quality, given the scope and budget, to meet client needs 

• Build strong relationships with clients, including leadership/C-suite within client organizations 

• Demonstrate outstanding ability to write strategic integrated marketing materials and plans 

• Understand what is happening in the overall industry and helps to educate direct reports and colleagues about key issues  

 

Team Management  

• Motivate all team members to perform at their highest level 

• Demonstrate outstanding ability to train and mentor direct reports, teaching them a variety of professional skills across marketing, PR, strategy, digital media and more 

• Prepare for and conducts reviews for direct reports including annual goal setting 

• Ensure the effective onboarding of new team members  

• Seek out professional development opportunities for your team  

• Maintain acceptable profit margin within accounts managed and teach others to do the same 

• Consistently meet billable goals and the billable goals of employees directly supervised 

 

New Business Development 

• Generate, present and sell in new ideas to existing clients to support their evolving business needs 

• Help establish food and agriculture team goals to maximize growth and expand services  

• Lead the development of new business proposals and ensure a winning strategy 

• Ensure new clients, opportunities and prospects are identified in alignment with food and agriculture team and company goals, and that specific plans are established to maximize the potential to land targeted new clients 

• Actively network and develop relationships aimed at generating new business opportunities 

• Consistently develop thought leadership content for marketing purposes  

• Join or become a member of a marketing/communication professional organization and/or a client industry trade organization, and attend functions staged by these groups for the purpose of networking on behalf of the agency 

 

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR: 

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent industry experience  

• 8-10 years of communications experience, ideally in an agency setting 

• High degree of knowledge about agriculture, farming and related industries and issues  

• Five or more years of management experience that includes financial and profitability oversight 

• A track record of successful new business development 

• Experience in all stages of business development from prospecting to contract negotiation 

• Ability to travel as needed 

#LI-Hybrid