Business Manager, Growth and New Business in Portland, Maine at VIA

At VIA, our Business Managers are the backbone of everything we do. The axis that steadies and anchors the rest of the team and the brands we work with. This is not just another team member, this is a player/coach position. Part hype person, part engineer. And for this particular position, the primary client is brand VIA.

Yup, you get to work on the mothership. In our 33 year history, we have never been more excited about our work, our clients, our prospects and our future. We need someone who can harness the excitement pulsing through the agency and share it with the broader world.

You will serve as the central point person for agency marketing, public relations, website content, thought leadership, and some new business development. You will work closely with agency leadership to elevate VIA's visibility. With you in place, the “cobbler’s children” will have shoes that are the talk of the town!

• Manage the execution of VIA's marketing initiatives across owned, earned, and shared channels working with our Social Practice and outside PR agency.
• Coordinate agency communications, thought leadership and leadership speaking opportunities.
• Manage updates to VIA's website and ensure agency work, capabilities, and news remain current.
• Partner with leadership to identify and develop content that lets the world in on VIA's thinking, work and culture.

• Coordinate PR initiatives and media opportunities.
• Working with our external PR agency, and because you are curious and paying attention to what’s interesting, identify some opportunities for VIA leaders to participate in industry events, panels, podcasts, and speaking engagements.
• Be obsessed with our industry so that you can readily talk about trends, emerging topics, and cultural conversations that may create opportunities for agency visibility.

• Monitor market activity, business news, industry movements, and emerging opportunities that may be relevant to VIA.
• Surface opportunities that emerge from existing client relationships, agency partnerships, and broader market trends.
• Maintain our database of prospects, partners and friends so that they know the latest about VIA when the right opportunities arise.
• Help the new business team by supporting live pitches at all phases - we have a lot of them, so time management and the willingness and energy to chase many teammates down is crucial.

You may also be put on other clients, depending on time, but your primary client is VIA out of the gate.

• 0-6 years of agency, marketing, communications, public relations, or business development experience.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong organizational and project management abilities.
• A borderline obsessive curiosity about advertising, marketing, brands, and culture.
• Confidence building relationships with people at all levels.
• Ability to connect dots between trends, conversations, and opportunities.
• Strong attention to detail without losing sight of bigger-picture objectives.
• Comfort working in a fast-moving environment where priorities can shift quickly.
• A bias toward action, ownership, and follow-through.
• CREATIVITY and a “what if we did this?” attitude
• No fear of rejection
• Contagious ENERGY

• You can’t get enough industry news and you are consuming it because you're genuinely interested, not because someone told you to. You're the Jeopardy Champ of Advertising’s Who's Who. You are the first to talk about breaking campaigns and you know the names of hundreds of agencies - not just a few.
• You are a talker and you love finding opportunities, enjoy connecting people, ideas, and businesses.
• You think (and ask questions) before you do. But you LOVE doing.
• You are equally comfortable writing a thoughtful LinkedIn post, coordinating a speaking opportunity, updating website content, or helping prepare a new business proposal.
• Your curiosity is insatiable.

This role is ideal for someone with limitless energy and passion who wants to learn about advertising and the weirdos who make it happen. Someone who loves creative work and environments. Someone who understands Ideas and consequences and they want to spread the goodness. Someone who believes anything is possible and someone who wants to shake the universe.

About VIA…

VIA means "The Way" in Latin. We've been finding the way for 33 years - for our clients, for ourselves, and most importantly for the humans on the receiving end of our work.

We started with $4,000 and a set of principles we wrote in a hotel bar in fifteen minutes. That was 1993. We still use the same principles. They are our lighthouse. They keep us off the rocks:

Be Curious.

Honor the Process.

Think Like the Audience.

Create Respect.

Be on Time.

Be on Budget.

Figure It Out.

Find the Magic.

Do Work That Makes You Proud.

Believe.

We believe in ideas with consequences. Ideas that don’t just look good in a deck, or win a room for an afternoon. Ideas that change what people do next. Ideas that move markets. Ideas that alter destinies.

We're 100% employee-owned. Every person here has a real stake in what we become. That changes what you fight for. What you're willing to put your name on. What done actually means.

We're based in Portland, Maine. Four-day work week. Some of the best benefits of any company our size in America. A 200 year old library that we get to work in every day knowing it’s ours. Great schools. An ocean. A food scene that has no business being this good.