Account Lead

Looking to make a mark in gaming culture? London or EU-based? Let's chat!

The Story Mob is the world’s leading international communications consultancy focused on gaming culture, esports and digital entertainment. We work with brands, teams and publishers to shape meaningful communications and engage in authentic conversations with gaming fans. This is the most exciting and fastest growing culture in the world - and communications are helping mold the future of it.

We’re a hungry and ambitious company, where each team member wears a lot of hats and the ceiling for growth is, well... sky-high. Our culture is open-minded, fast and flexible. Great ideas are celebrated, especially if you’re open to helping execute them or learning the skills to get them off the ground.

So, if you’re an ambitious comms pro and excited about gaming, this could be your opportunity to join the world’s first group of gaming-focused communication leaders.

A successful Mobster in this role:

• Independently drives strategy development and day-to-day responsibilities across multiple accounts
• Understands what makes a good story and has strong relationships with journalists at multiple top-tier endemic and non-endemic media 
• Can develop and implement creative concepts and present them to clients and the media 

Core capabilities:

Strategic communications planning

• Can take a comprehensive brief and, knowing what information is essential, ask the right questions to understand the challenge being presented by the client
• independently develops a PR/comms strategy in response to a comms brief using data and insights to inform the strategy
• Ensures account work output delivers against the client’s objectives, evolving the comms strategy/messaging as required

Client support

• Drives day-to-day work on their client accounts, offering recommendations and counsel when required
• Reflects on client issues, anticipating problems and solving them (or flagging the need for them to be solved) before they reach a critical point
• Ensures account teams are delivering against the four client servicing fundamentals: proactivity, value add, quality and expectations management
• Manages and maintains weekly and monthly activity reports, with an eye on key milestones and current activities

Creative storytelling

• Proactively presents new creative concepts and storylines, that sit outside of major campaigns, and presents them to clients and media in a meaningful way
• Identifies, tracks, and secures leadership opportunities (speaking engagements, awards, and expert or contributed content opportunities) that differentiate clients from their counterparts

Media relations

• Independently handles media relations activities across client announcements, trend pieces, and evergreen stories
• Has strong contacts with journalists and multiple top-tier specialist and mainstream media and pitches client storylines regularly
• Is a resident expert on the stories, angles, and assets that help media produce well-researched and authentic coverage across our client portfolio
• Crafts and edits media materials with minimal input from the senior team
• Helps prepare and advise key spokespeople before and after media interviews and speaking engagements

Team management

• Help manages junior team members on client projects and plans the team’s capacity
• Celebrates individual and group achievements
• Works in a non-hierarchical way - mucking in when it gets busy
• Leads with purpose and creates a sense of well-being and pride about being part of The Mob
• Ensures each team member is valued, trusted, and respected
• Encourages debate and interest in ideas that work and actively listens when other people are speaking

Business Development

• Assists agency leadership with content marketing initiatives aimed at elevating the Story Mob as an industry leader and expanding the company’s new business pipeline
• Becomes involved in agency new business proposals contributing to strategy development and creative initiatives and helping to write the documentation
• Writes case studies for every campaign or client they work on
• Actively participates in new business pitches, as assigned by senior management
• Can independently develop new business proposals for small projects, with minimal input from senior management

Crisis comms

• Can craft messaging for crisis situations and escalate to senior managers, when required

About you

You’re a connector We are looking for natural storytellers who have a history of working with the media. You’ll catch our attention if you have experience working within gaming, esports, or tech or if you can demonstrate that you understand these respective industries well. You also know how great comms make the world go round. We’re looking for a senior pro who’s as comfortable media training athletes and spokespeople as they are brainstorming storylines and big-picture strategies.

This isn’t your first rodeo This is a senior role that requires 6-8 years of PR or media experience. You’ve worked consistently with media during your career and are comfortable developing a 12-month communications plan and presenting it to clients. And then pivoting seamlessly, because you understand things can – and often will – change at the very last minute.

You want to go beyond the traditional media relations churn. Gaming, and esports, in particular, isn’t the place for ‘throw as much spaghetti at the wall as you can’– not when it comes to media relations and not when it comes to how we work with our clients. We’re looking for pros who will build a relationship with all of their stakeholders and figure out the best way to work with each and every one of them. Just like you aren’t seeking out column inches at any cost, you aren’t a PR waitress that delivers without context and counsel.

You have a deep understanding of and passion for gaming culture Whether you’re a communications pro looking for a switch (not counting the one you turn on during a long flight), or an esports or gaming veteran with a passion for PR and storytelling, we’d be excited to talk to you. In turn, you must be excited to get your hands dirty, sit front row at some badass esports events, and immerse yourself in our world completely.

You are independent, embrace agency life and understand your role in helping us grow We work from three different countries and across even more time zones. We need someone who is based in London, but we don’t require you to be here 24/7. You want to spend winters in South East Asia? We love that. As long as you meet your deadlines and do excellent work, we want you to be fulfilled in work and in life.

While we're in our 7th year in business, we’ve passed the “official” start-up stage and the world is looking at us as a medium-sized agency with serious muscle to flex. While plenty of processes are established and working well, we’re still fine-tuning other things. You understand that you might be asked to jump into things that might not be at the very core of your job but are helping the business grow and thrive.

Our offer 

• Competitive salary and performance bonuses awarded for contributions to winning new business and successful client retention, fitting your experience and skillset, tailored for your individual contribution to the growth and success of the agency
• Weekly check-ins, quarterly KPIs, and annual reviews supported by a tailored personal development plan aimed at supporting your growth and ambitions 
• A hybrid working model, with majority of the time spent remotely
• Unlimited PTO - on top of the statutory days - for a sane and balanced approach to work and life
• A collaborative approach to building teams that support you and the kind of work you want to go after
• Mentorship and support from some of the most experienced minds in the space and the opportunity to work on leading brands in gaming
• Opportunity to travel to international esports events and B2B conferences
• Opportunity to travel to clients events and offices for regular check-ins and strategy meetings
• 4-day workweek opt-in after your probation period