Director, Pitch

Building a Brand Starts with a Story

FIRST is a leading global brand experience agency providing Content, Creative, Digital Technology, Management & Delivery, and Data & Insights services. For 30 years, we have utilized three flexible delivery models: Embedded teams, Corporate Campus operations, and a Full-Service Agency.

Managing over 37,000 events & projects annually across 110 countries, FIRST serves 130+ brands, specializing in Fortune 500 companies within the Financial Services, Technology, Healthcare, Media, and Professional Services sectors. FIRST is part of the broader Encore family of companies. Encore is a global leader in event production and technology.

Consistently recognized for excellence, recent honors include 2026 Chief Marketer Agency of the Year, the Ad Net Zero Award for sustainability, and more.

Learn more at www.firstagency.com

What You Would Get To Do

The Director, Pitch runs First Agency's new-business pitches from the first brief to the final presentation. Success is measured by win rate and new-business revenue won, delivered in partnership with the sales leads who own each opportunity.

You will collaborate with other senior Client Services leaders to bring together FIRST’s Agency positioning, creative and experience strategy, production and delivery planning, and commercials into one compelling submission — whether a written RFP response or an in-person presentation. Together, the team needs to deliver responses on time, meet the client's specific requirements, and stay within the set budget parameters. This role helps shape the story we tell and ensures every pitch shows FIRST at its best and makes us the clear choice for the client.

This role is at the centre of how the agency grows. You'll report to and work directly with the Chief Growth Officer, the New Business Acquisition team, creative leadership and the heads of each discipline.

The Director, Pitch does not own client relationships or set pricing. Sales leads own the opportunity and the client relationship; Finance owns pricing and margin approval; the Pitch Director owns the process, the team and the quality of what we submit.

Your Contributions

• Run the pitch process. Own the timeline, budget, resources and milestones for every pitch, from RFI and RFP through to final presentation, drawing on supporting roles across the agency.
• Build and lead pitch teams. Help identify the key people from strategy, creative, experience design, data & AI, production and finance, then keep them focused and on schedule for their respective deliverables.
• Shape the story. Work with strategy and creative leads to turn the client's brief into one clear, persuasive narrative and a memorable pitch experience — for an experiences agency, how we pitch is part of the proof.
• Manage client feedback during the pitch stages. Take client feedback from the sales leads after each meeting or Q&A round and adjust our approach, materials or commercials as we go.
• Write and quality-check. Manage the proposal lead, who writes and edits RFP responses, credentials, case studies and leave-behinds, so everything is consistent, compliant with the brief and on brand.
• Coach presenters. Run rehearsals as needed and give clear, direct feedback so the room sees a confident, cohesive team.
• Improve how we pitch. Run win/loss reviews, work with marketing to keep our credentials, templates and case-study library current, and track pitch metrics such as win rate, cost per pitch and conversion by stage. Share what we learn with the sales and delivery teams.
• Support pipeline decisions. Run a consistent go/no-go review with the Chief Growth Officer and sales leads on which opportunities to pursue, using fit, likelihood of winning, expected margin and the resources each one needs.
• Protect the commercials. Work with Client Services and Finance to verify every pitch budget and pricing proposal meets our margin guidelines, and pass-through costs are scoped and shown clearly.
• Use AI to pitch faster. Work with the Head of Data & AI to build an AI-assisted content library and response workflow that cuts first-draft time and frees the team to focus on strategy and creative.

What We Are Looking For

• 8+ years in agency new business, account leadership or strategy, ideally in events, experiential or B2B marketing, with at least 3 years leading pitches end to end
• A track record of winning pitches, including large or multi-market and global accounts
• Strong project management. You keep several pitches moving at once without losing quality
• Excellent writing and storytelling, and you know how to make a deck persuasive
• A confident presenter and coach, comfortable in front of senior clients and able to build strong rapport and presence with internal teams
• The ability to lead senior people you don't manage directly, with influence rather than authority
• Calm judgment under pressure, and the willingness to make the hard call when time is short
• A working knowledge of corporate procurement, RFP portals and how agencies are paid, including fee, management-fee and pass-through models
• Experience pitching across several disciplines, such as live events, conferences, brand experiences, and digital or hybrid formats
• Hands-on skill with Keynote, PowerPoint or Figma, plus a good eye for design
• Experience with pitch analytics or a CRM such as HubSpot or Salesforce
• A network among marketing, events and procurement leaders at large B2B companies
• Comfort using AI tools for research, drafting and content reuse

At FIRST, we believe that the passion, creativity, and commitment of our teams drive our success. That's why we offer a range of benefits and perks to support your personal and professional growth

• Private Medical Insurance with BUPA from day one
• 28 Days Annual Leave PLUS Bank Holidays
• Personal Volunteer Day
• 20 Days of Sick Pay each Year
• Enhanced Parental Leave (Maternity & Paternity)
• Wellness Stipend
• Complimentary access to Headspace, Rocket Lawyer & Maven
• Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Season Ticket Loan
• Mobile Phone Allowance
• Pension Scheme Enhancements
• Discretionary Bonus Structure
• Global Opportunities: With a presence in 7 countries worldwide, including headquarters in London, New York, and Singapore, you may have the opportunity to work on exciting projects across different locations.

#LI-TS! #LI-Hybrid