Own and grow a high impact new business and client-relationship engine for a luxury-fashion agency, pairing strategic and creative leadership with data-driven insight to land global pitches and expand client scopes.

Growth Strategy: Lead global pitches and RFP responses with cross-functional teams to win new business.
Client Partnerships: Build senior relationships and drive long-term repeat revenue through trusted advisory work.
Creative & Insight: Ground strategies in data, research, and cultural intelligence while driving integrated creative that scales impact.

Job Description

Responsibilities

Partner with the Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President to lead global pitches, shape responses to RFPs, and drive new business conversion.
Build and maintain senior client relationships, acting as a trusted advisor to drive long-term partnerships and repeat business.
Drive new business and organic growth across existing clients by identifying strategic and creative opportunities that expand scope and revenue.
Demonstrate exceptional ability to articulate strategic and creative concepts across visual, written, and verbal formats.
Lead cross-functional teams and partners to ideate, develop, and deliver integrated creative ideas and experiences, ensuring executional excellence, alignment to brand objectives, and delivery against growth and profitability targets.
Partner closely with Insights to ensure all strategies and creative outputs are grounded in data, research, and cultural intelligence.
Drive innovative thinking in collaboration with Karla Otto’s talent division, developing impactful long-term partnerships and talent strategies for both clients and the agency.
Oversee the development of accurate project budgets and ensure financial performance is actively managed against targets.
Define and optimise working processes and workflows tailored to client needs, overseeing Project Managers to ensure efficient and effective delivery.
Manage the reporting process to demonstrate the value of programs and their effectiveness to maximize results and provide key future learnings to continually optimize EMV, impressions etc.

Requirements

8+ years in creative strategy
Demonstrable experience developing brand narratives, positioning documents, and messaging frameworks
In-house experience at a large-scale corporate environment is strongly preferred
Experience working with senior executives or public-facing leaders
Deep knowledge of the luxury and/or fashion media landscape
Strong new business instincts - comfortable leading or significantly contributing to pitches and strategic proposals
A genuine point of view on where media is heading and the ability to articulate it clearly
Intellectually curious, widely read, and able to bring cultural reference and research into client work
Restless with convention and excited by formats, platforms, and collaborators that sit outside the traditional PR model
Exceptional written communication skills - precise, considered, and adapted to audience

Preferred

8+ years in creative strategy — with a clear emphasis on strategic and development ideas
Demonstrable experience developing brand narratives, positioning documents, and messaging frameworks
In-house experience at a large-scale corporate environment is strongly preferred
Experience working with senior executives or public-facing leaders
Deep knowledge of the luxury and/or fashion media landscape
Strong new business instincts - comfortable leading or significantly contributing to pitches and strategic proposals
A genuine point of view on where media is heading and the ability to articulate it clearly
Intellectually curious, widely read, and able to bring cultural reference and research into client work
Restless with convention and excited by formats, platforms, and collaborators that sit outside the traditional PR model
Exceptional written communication skills - precise, considered, and adapted to audience

Benefits

Medical, Dental, and Vision plans
401K Employer Match program
Commuter Benefits
Paid Time Off including Vacation Days, Personal Days, Sick Days, and additional Comp Days
Company-wide closure last week of the year
10 Federal Holidays Observed

KARLA OTTO

WHO WE AREFounded in 1982, Karla Otto is a full-service brand-building agency, operating from fifteen cities across the globe, Milan, Paris, London, Munich, Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul. WHAT WE DOKarla Otto’s service is unparalleled. Built on the founder’s pioneering spirit, discerning eye and intuition, our global team is dedicated to delivering work that expertly combines detail and local precision with large-scale impact.Blending the best of fashion, beauty, design, lifestyle, and arts & culture, we offer a panoramic view of opportunities and the ability to execute complex ideas.Our loyal network and unrivalled approach to culture and community enables us to take brands to brave new territories.CAREERSAt Karla Otto we are always interested in hearing from our industry's experts in Strategy, Creative, Talent, Experiences and Communication. If you are a driven to deliver excellence, agile and conscientious, as well as want to work with remarkable clients, please review our openings. THE INDEPENDENTSThe Independents is a global group of industry leaders across luxury and lifestyle, comprising Atelier Athem, Atelier LUM, Bureau Béatrice, Bureau Betak, Bureau Future, CTZAR, INCA, K2, Karla Otto, Kennedy, Kitten Production, Lefty, PRODJECT, Sunshine and The Qode. The collective is powerfully positioned to offer streamlined strategy, creative, talent, influencer marketing, experiences and communications services for leading brands across key territories. To find out more, please visit:http://www.the-independents.com/

Founded in 1982

London, England, GBR

485 employees (162 in marketing)

www.karlaotto.com

Traffic Signals

Monthly Visitors

9.7K

Traffic Source Mix

45.3%

Direct

36.5%

Referral

7.6%

Social

8.9%

Paid

1.4%

Headcount Trend

Current headcount: ~485

Marketing Team

Marketing Team Size

143 (29% of company)

Responsibilities

Partner with the Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President to lead global pitches, shape responses to RFPs, and drive new business conversion.
Build and maintain senior client relationships, acting as a trusted advisor to drive long-term partnerships and repeat business.
Drive new business and organic growth across existing clients by identifying strategic and creative opportunities that expand scope and revenue.
Demonstrate exceptional ability to articulate strategic and creative concepts across visual, written, and verbal formats.
Lead cross-functional teams and partners to ideate, develop, and deliver integrated creative ideas and experiences, ensuring executional excellence, alignment to brand objectives, and delivery against growth and profitability targets.
Partner closely with Insights to ensure all strategies and creative outputs are grounded in data, research, and cultural intelligence.
Drive innovative thinking in collaboration with Karla Otto’s talent division, developing impactful long-term partnerships and talent strategies for both clients and the agency.
Oversee the development of accurate project budgets and ensure financial performance is actively managed against targets.
Define and optimise working processes and workflows tailored to client needs, overseeing Project Managers to ensure efficient and effective delivery.
Manage the reporting process to demonstrate the value of programs and their effectiveness to maximize results and provide key future learnings to continually optimize EMV, impressions etc.

Requirements

8+ years in creative strategy
Demonstrable experience developing brand narratives, positioning documents, and messaging frameworks
In-house experience at a large-scale corporate environment is strongly preferred
Experience working with senior executives or public-facing leaders
Deep knowledge of the luxury and/or fashion media landscape
Strong new business instincts - comfortable leading or significantly contributing to pitches and strategic proposals
A genuine point of view on where media is heading and the ability to articulate it clearly
Intellectually curious, widely read, and able to bring cultural reference and research into client work
Restless with convention and excited by formats, platforms, and collaborators that sit outside the traditional PR model
Exceptional written communication skills - precise, considered, and adapted to audience

Preferred

8+ years in creative strategy — with a clear emphasis on strategic and development ideas
Demonstrable experience developing brand narratives, positioning documents, and messaging frameworks
In-house experience at a large-scale corporate environment is strongly preferred
Experience working with senior executives or public-facing leaders
Deep knowledge of the luxury and/or fashion media landscape
Strong new business instincts - comfortable leading or significantly contributing to pitches and strategic proposals
A genuine point of view on where media is heading and the ability to articulate it clearly
Intellectually curious, widely read, and able to bring cultural reference and research into client work
Restless with convention and excited by formats, platforms, and collaborators that sit outside the traditional PR model
Exceptional written communication skills - precise, considered, and adapted to audience

Benefits

Medical, Dental, and Vision plans
401K Employer Match program
Commuter Benefits
Paid Time Off including Vacation Days, Personal Days, Sick Days, and additional Comp Days
Company-wide closure last week of the year
10 Federal Holidays Observed