SEC Newgate is seeking an Account Manager to join its Manchester team, offering a unique opportunity to work across both local advocacy and corporate affairs. In this role, you will play a pivotal role in driving planning communications — such as community consultation and stakeholder engagement — while also contributing to the consultancy’s broader corporate affairs work.
You’ll be supporting organisations at the forefront of transformational change, including developers of new homes, renewable energy projects and major infrastructure, ensuring their messages resonate at both local and national levels.
This position is ideal for professionals enthusiastic about local advocacy and experienced in planning communications, and keen for an opportunity to experience corporate affairs.
Whether your background is in an agency or another relevant role within the development sector, you’ll have the chance to engage with the challenges of securing planning consent and to deepen your understanding of government policy affecting the property, energy, transport and infrastructure sectors.
The role offers excellent prospects for career progression in both local advocacy and corporate affairs.
What you’ll be doing:
As an Account Manager, you will use your skills and experience of the corporate communications, built environment and infrastructure sectors to manage, on a day-to-day basis, a variety of accounts, owning responsibility for activity, working across sectors within SEC Newgate and working closely with junior colleagues and the senior team.
You will be expected to:
- Take day to day responsibility for building client relationships and managing smaller accounts.
- Work with your Account Director to develop and deliver industry leading programmes of stakeholder and community engagement, public consultation and local and national public affairs.
- Attend community events, with occasional evening and weekend working.
- Support the growth of SEC Newgate in the North and the Local Advocacy team by actively identifying and pursuing new business leads, delivering research for proposals and pitches and supporting the company’s marketing initiatives.
- Embed your knowledge of best practice in consultation and engagement and your sector knowledge into the team, contributing articles to our regular client newsletters.
- Line manage Executives and play a role in their professional development.
Ideal for you if you have:
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, with a professional eye for detail.
- Strong organisational and time management skills.
- The ability to think clearly, rise to challenge and work as part of a team as well as under your own initiative.
- A good track record of delivering programmes of stakeholder and community engagement, public consultation and local and national public affairs, either at an agency or in-house.
- Demonstrable confidence in managing relationships with clients and stakeholders.
- Proven ability to think strategically, to manage projects and workstreams and to deliver client-ready documents and events.
- Some experience of actively nurturing and developing members of a team.
- A genuine desire to network, take part in marketing activity and win new business.
- Experience in crafting clear and compelling messaging for both internal and external audiences, ensuring alignment with wider corporate objectives.