Senior Creative / Account Director

Senior Creative / Creative Account Director

Job Description

About PHA

PHA is an earned-first integrated communications agency with offices in London, Manchester, Leeds, and Boston (US).

We believe communication can make the world a better place. It matters. But with constant disruption, fragmentation and growing complexity, earning attention and inspiring action is harder than ever. PHA is built to solve for this.

We nurture, grow and protect brands & reputations for a portfolio of consumer, corporate, technology, B2B, and health clients in the UK and internationally. We bring clarity to a fast, chaotic, complex world, challenging convention and delivering fresh thinking. Our agile multidisciplined teams create dynamic campaigns across earned, social, digital and paid media - engaging audiences wherever they are, always.

We lead with strategy and deliver a full suite of creative services and production capabilities, generating impact at every step of the audience journey from awareness through to conversion. Working as one to solve any client challenge, we bring the best of PHA to drive impact that multiplies. When unboxed minds meet unboxed ambition communications don’t blend in – they break out.

We’re built to make it matter.

Introduction to the role

We’re looking for a Senior Creative / Account Director–level Creative to join our London team and support live client work and upcoming projects.

This is a hands-on, execution-led role - not Creative Director level - suited to an experienced mid-weight or Creative Account Director who is confident leading ideas through to delivery.

The role is ideal for someone who enjoys being close to the work: shaping concepts, running projects end to end, managing shoots, and working directly with clients in fast-moving environments.

We’re open to freelance, freelance-to-perm or permanent appointments, depending on fit and availability, with an ASAP start preferred.

Core Responsibilities

• Act as a senior creative lead across a portfolio of client accounts and integrated projects, working closely with account teams and clients.

• Lead ideation and creative development across campaigns, content and activations, ensuring ideas are strong, deliverable, and earned-first.

• Own projects end to end – from concept through planning, production, delivery, and post-production.

• Plan, manage, and oversee shoots, including pre-production, on-set delivery and post-shoot follow-through.

• Work confidently with clients day-to-day, presenting work clearly and navigating feedback constructively.

• Collaborate closely with PR, Social, Digital and Production teams to bring ideas to life across channels.

• Ensure creative quality, consistency, and craft across all outputs.

• Identify opportunities to add creative value beyond the brief, strengthening long-term client relationships.

• Demonstrate strong organisation, ownership, and accountability across your work.

Stay Curious

• Maintain a strong understanding of social-first, earned, and content-led creative formats.

• Keep up to date with industry trends across culture, media, production, and creative technology.

• Bring curiosity and fresh thinking into brainstorms, pitch work, and live projects.

• Maintain hands-on involvement in creative development and execution.

• Attend role-specific training and participate in agencywide activities and initiatives to build relationships with colleagues.

• Use AI tools responsibly to support creativity, efficiency, insight, and high-quality output, applying professional judgment to ensure all work remains accurate, ethical, and aligned with client and company standards.

Stay Human

• Support and mentor junior creatives and design talent through example, feedback, and collaboration.

• Work closely with senior creative leadership to ensure smooth delivery across projects.

• Communicate clearly and constructively with account teams and production teams.

• Contribute positively to team culture, collaboration, and shared standards.

• Own delivery across your account portfolio, effectively managing team resource.

• Identify opportunities to nurture junior talent within your practice/specialism and across account teams.

• Demonstrate consistent upward management skills to senior colleagues/the Executive Creative Director, share successes, regularly provide feedback on junior team members, identify and escalate performance issues, and offer effective solutions.

• Host at least one training session for junior colleagues.

Stay Ahead

• Support new business activity through creative ideation, pitch work and project scoping.

• Identify opportunities to expand creative thinking within existing client relationships.

• Balance creativity with commercial awareness and delivery realities.

• Represent PHA confidently with clients, partners and collaborators.

• Source and attend networking opportunities to develop industry, partner, talent, and new business contacts.

Benefits

• Hybrid working policy, enabling you to work flexibly from home and one of our offices – minimum requirement of 12 office days per month

• Flexible start and finish times; 8am-5pm / 8:30am-5:30pm / 9am-6pm, as well as an early finish on Fridays between 3:30pm and 4:30pm

• Healthcare cashback scheme (inc. for partner/children) worth up to £2,000 annually for dental, optical, physio, chiro, osteo, and GP charges

• £30 monthly phone allowance

• Weekly Wellness Hour, annual Wellness Day, and accompanying Wellness voucher

• Annual Development Day for volunteering/charity work, and Birthday leave

• 25 days’ annual leave which increases by one day every year from your second anniversary (capped at 31 days)

• 10% new business bonus and £500 recruitment referral bonus

• £1,000 voucher for reaching 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. years’ service

• Monthly companywide awards with a chance to win £50 or £100 for outstanding work

• Enhanced parental leave options; 26 weeks’ full maternity pay, up to 26 weeks’ full adoption pay (depending on the child’s age), and 6 weeks’ full paternity pay

• Option to take a sabbatical for up to 5 months after 5 years’ service

• Employee Assistance Programme with access to six virtual or face-to-face counselling sessions as well as ad hoc mental health, financial, and legal support

• Dedicated Culture Committee responsible for arranging a number of activities and initiatives across sport, social, wellness, sustainability, charity, and EDI, as well as a monthly Culture Club

• Dedicated training team responsible for developing employees at all levels across the business through an extensive programme of external trainers, internal specialists, and industry experts, complimented by the PHA Aspire Mentoring Programme