Regional Commercial Director, Asia
• Full-time Hong Kong or Singapore-based role
• Incredible opportunity to join the world’s leading lifestyle publisher
Role Overview
Time Out’s brand footprint in Asia has increased significantly since 2017 when Time Out Group plc, the parent company, made the strategic decision to take over the franchise businesses in Hong Kong and Singapore and run them as owner-operated businesses.
Under direct management, Hong Kong and Singapore have developed into high-growth businesses with a total annual turnover of £2m+, a combined monthly audience of over 2.5m users and over 30 staff. And this is just the beginning.
To continue to grow the business in these markets we are looking for an experienced Regional Commercial Director, with proven multi-market management experience and the capability to run, in effect, their own business. The role has become available due to the current Regional Commercial Director leaving the company. The regional nature of the role requires an individual who is currently living and working in either Hong Kong or Singapore and has lived and worked in either country, ideally both
The successful candidate will join a business with a roster of brand-name clients, high-quality local sales staff, a strong commercial product portfolio and an international network of specialists in over 30 countries where Time Out operates.
The Regional Commercial Director will report into the Managing Director for Asia, based in Singapore, and it is expected that they will transition to General Manager of Hong Kong after a successful start and then onto Managing Director, Asia in the future.
The role will entail travel between Hong Kong and Singapore as well as to other markets in the region where necessary and/or relevant
Responsibilities
• Direct management of the sales targets and the local sales teams in Hong Kong and Singapore including revenue reporting to internal stakeholders, leading regular team meetings and one-to-one staff development
• Develop agency relationships to ensure new business as well as increased business from existing accounts
• Mentor and develop all sales personnel in HK and SG
• Ownership of key accounts and senior-level agency relationships
• Open up untapped commercial sectors including, but not limited to, FMCG & consumer technology
• Create best of breed commercial campaigns to drive maximum value for clients and Time Out
• Grow media agency absolute revenues, vs previous years, as well as percentage of revenues from agencies vs direct client spend.
• Assist with product development and ideation including new commercial platform discovery and implementation eg new events series, video content strategy etc
• Take the lead on getting inventory and audience into high-yielding PMPs and programmatic partnerships
• Development of required sales collateral
• Indirectly work with our regional franchise partners to build and sell in regional commercial programmes to key clients including airlines, hotel groups, financial service providers and alcohol brands
• Thought leadership and brand ambassador responsibilities for Time Out in Asia
Requirements
• Fluent spoken and written English, fluent Cantonese highly useful, fluent Mandarin a benefit
• Proven experience of having worked, or currently working, directly in Hong Kong media sales. Candidate will have to prove that they have contacts at relevant media agencies and clients
• At the bare minimum good knowledge of Singaporean media market as well as proof of good contacts at relevant media agencies and clients in Singapore
• Ability to communicate articulately to local and international business owners and senior decision-makers and to think regionally to monetise the Time Out network across APAC
• Minimum 10 years experience in media sales or sales-related roles
• 5 years team leadership or departmental management experience
• Senior-level relationships with media agencies and direct clients
• Good understanding of Asian culture and industries including F&B, travel, finance and tourism
• Thorough understanding of the APAC media and content marketing landscape including video, mobile, social, broadcast, display, programmatic and experiential
• Proven sales track record in selling multi-platform and custom content solutions
• Entrepreneurial, results-oriented and self-driven
• Ability to conceptualize and deliver creative solutions with a focus on storytelling for multiple screens
• Excellent Organisational skills and attention to detail
• Self-motivated
• Energetic in people management and taking ownership of client projects
• Ability to handle heavy workload, exceed client expectations and requests with strong problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, and confidence in presenting in front of clients, staff and our audience
• Ability to use data, research and insights to justify recommendations
