About the company

ABOUT APCO

APCO Worldwide is an advisory and advocacy communications consultancy helping leading public and private sector organizations act with agility, and build organizational reputations, brands, relationships and solutions to succeed. Our expertise and integrated approach enable us to provide a full range of services, across industry sectors and global markets, allowing us to offer effective counsel and programs for boards of directors and CEOs. We meet the evolving needs of executives and their teams in communications, public affairs, government relations, legal, risk, organizational transformation, international relations, corporate responsibility and brand marketing.

ABOUT APCO CHINA

APCO Worldwide has been in China since 1989, and has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. In Beijing, we provide a full range of integrated services across multiple sectors, with a focus on healthcare, ICT, food & retail, and education & publishing. Our clients include large multinational companies, trade associations, governments, NGOs and educational institutions. As an employer, APCO emphasizes talent development and encourages employees to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded them and share knowledge and expertise with their peers.

Job description

RESPONSIBILITIES

·         Develops and executes the business development strategy and plan to grow APCO’s food & retail practice in Greater China and achieve annual business performance targets

·         Represents APCO in conferences and business events to promote APCO’s thought leadership and services in the food & retail sectors

·         Leads at least 5 retainer accounts, offers strategic counselling to clients and provides guidance to the account teams to ensure high quality of deliverables and client satisfaction

·         Manages a team of 5 project staff and provides coaching and mentoring to improve their performance and retain high performers

·         Works in close collaboration with other senior staff in Greater China to achieve business development goals and actively seeks new ways to expand APCO’s business in the region

·         Coordinates with practice and/or team leaders from other APCO offices to identify and develop regional and global clients across service lines

·         Reports to the Chief Operation Officer, Greater China, and interfaces with all levels of staff including administrative, finance, HR and client servicing colleagues

 

COMPETENCIES

Client Management

·         Establishes structures and processes to plan and manage the orderly implementation of change

·         Executes big ideas that are consistently delivered on spec/on time/on budget

·         Looks for and seizes profitable business opportunities and has a willingness to take calculated risks to achieve business goals

·         Makes meaningful contribution to successful business development efforts that benefit the firm

Knowledge/Expertise

·         Is sought out as an expert to provide advice or solutions in his/her specialty or technical area, and actively participates in thought leadership

·         Facilitates post-project & RFP audits to ensure that the actuals, risks, general findings and ‘lessons learned’ are documented and disseminated to support a continuous learning culture

·         Stays up-to-date with the latest economic issues and trends in the industry

·         Cultivates an environment in which development of digital competencies among the team are emphasized

Leadership & Self-management

·         Deals firmly and promptly with performance problems; lets people know what is expected of them and when

·         Fosters a culture that embraces and values coaching and mentoring

·         Develops and proposes a long-term strategy for their team/practice based on an analysis of the marketplace as well as aligning with APCO’s strategic business goals

·         Manages own behavior to prevent or reduce feelings of stress among team members and colleagues

APCO Values

·         Ensures staff is truly integrated and collaborative across APCO

·         Reinforces APCO’s performance standards and policies fairly and consistently

·         Actively seeks out diversity of people when building teams, and diverse ideas and perspectives when creating deliverables

Skills & experience

QUALIFICATIONS AND STANDARDS

Education: Master’s degree or higher

Experience: Minimum of 10+ years of working experience in public affairs for a multinational company in China in food, fast moving consumer goods, retail sectors (agency experience preferred); strong project, budget, client and team management skills; experience pursuing and developing new business; fluency in Mandarin and English required.

Office Environment: The position will be based in APCO’s Beijing office working alongside over 60 Chinese and international colleagues across Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong offices. Local travel and occasional international travel is a requirement of the job.