Business Director - Hospitality, QSR + Leisure

The Fitting Room; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - GBP 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global communications agency in London is seeking a Business Director with substantial experience in the QSR, hospitality, and leisure sectors. This role requires someone who can lead multi-disciplinary teams and translate brand ambitions into impactful campaigns. Ideal candidates will have over 10 years of client-facing experience, a strong commercial background, and the ability to build trusted relationships with stakeholders. This position offers a hybrid work model with competitive pay up to £90,000.

Qualifications

• 10+ years experience in client-facing roles within creative or brand agencies.
• Experience managing multi-workstream accounts across various channels.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead client relationships for major QSR and hospitality brands.
• Translate client ambitions into actionable strategies.
• Oversee P&L management across multiple portfolios.

Skills

Client leadership

Strategic impact

Commercial acumen

Strong communication

Cultural fluency

Job description

Start:

ASAP

Location:

London

Hybrid:

5 days per week (3 days in the office)

SALARY:

Up to £90,000

Type:

Permanent

About US

We create hype, demand + legacy.®

The Fitting Room is an award-winning, independent global culture and communications house. We design culturally iconic moments at the intersection of strategy, creativity and truth, building lasting connections between brands, culture and the people who shape it.

We are fast, ambitious and deeply people-powered. Our work gets talked about because it always stands for something.

WHY THIS ROLE EXISTS

The Business Director – Hospitality, QSR and Leisure will lead their own division of the agency, bringing strategic direction, commercial leadership and cultural fluency to our clients operating in fast-moving, high-impact environments.

This role exists to be the senior partner to our clients, you must be someone who builds trust in the boardroom, relevance in the feed and empowerment in an enthusiastic team.

Leading multi-disciplinary teams across communications, social, creators, partnerships, experiential and project delivery, you will know how to translate brand ambition into sharp, actionable, culturally tuned work, ensuring all our activity ladders back to brand, audience and cultural intent.

You create clarity, pace and momentum, driving retention, growth and creative excellence across your portfolio.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Client + Stakeholder Leadership

• Act as the senior point of contact for flagship QSR, Hospitality and Leisure clients.
• Build trusted relationships with CMOs, brand teams and senior stakeholders.
• Understand client ambitions and translate them into sharp, actionable briefs.
• Provide a strong point of view on brand, culture, category and audience.
• Manage high-stakes conversation with clarity, confidence and commercial grounding

Strategic + Creative Impact

• Guide strategic direction across earned, owned and paid activity.
• Ensure all work is rooted in cultural intelligence and QSR/Hospitality and Leisure category understanding.
• Leading strategy, creative and production teams within the QSR/ Hospitality and Leisure department to deliver standout, culturally resonant campaigns that ladder into brand intention and business impact
• Translate trends into insights that inform commercial and creative action.

Commercial Ownership

• Own client account P&L across QSR, Hospitality and Leisure portfolios.
• Oversee scopes, budgets, forecasting, resourcing and profitability.
• Identify and grow organic opportunities across TFR’s service lines.
• Lead proposals, renewals and new business pitches with commercial competence.
• Contribute to agency revenue planning, pipeline forecasting and executive decisions.
• Ensure high commercial rigour across teams and accounts.
• Manage, mentor and upskill a high-performance team.
• Lead multi-disciplinary teams across Social, Content, PR, Communications and Project Delivery.
• Set the tone for clarity, energy, pace and cultural curiosity.
• Ensure teams operate with accountability, strong communication and values-driven behaviour.
• Build a positive, ambitious and supportive team culture.

Delivery Excellence

• Oversee seamless cross-functional delivery across multiple workstreams.
• Maintain standards of excellence across strategy, creative, comms, social and experiential.
• Support teams to identify risks early and course-correct.
• Champion integrated thinking and ensure all outputs meet TFR’s bar for cultural impact.

SKILLS, EXPERIENCE + MINDSET

• Minimum of 10 years experience in a client-facing role within a culture-first, creative, social or brand agency working with leading QSR and Hospitality brands.
• Experience running multi-workstream, integrated accounts across social, content, PR, creator and experiential.
• Strong commercial track record: P&L ownership, forecasting, growth and contract negotiation.
• Exceptional communication, presentation and influencing skills from C-suite to cross-functional teams.
• Deep cultural fluency with the ability to translate trends into strategic action.
• Strong problem-solving ability with sharp prioritisation and decision-making.
• Highly organised with strong budget management and commercial acumen.
• Strategic, commercially sharp and culturally tuned.
• Positive, proactive and solutions-led, even under pressure.
• Thrives in pace and excels in fast-moving client environments.
• Values-driven leader who brings energy, empathy and excellence.
• Collaborative and team-first but confident in senior leadership moments.
• Willing to be hands-on when needed and lead from the front.

The Fitting Room started with less than £20 and a vision to build something different. That idea-to-execution mindset still defines us and is central to how we hire. We look for individuals with proven experience, strong drive and values that align with our culture. If you care deeply about your craft, live and breathe pop culture, and want to help shape an ambitious independent agency, get in touch.