📣 Please note, these events are for Agency Hackers’ members only.

If your agency isn’t a member yet, get in touch with Anne.

Agencies often struggle with unclear roles, fuzzy career progression, and inconsistent performance management – causing confusion at every level.

Who’s responsible for what? What does ‘good’ look like? How do you measure success – and reward it fairly?

These were the questions that Nicola Ray, co-founder and CEO of Modern, set out to answer. Alongside Sian Eddy, Modern’s operations director, she developed a comprehensive job architecture – a clear, structured framework outlining:

• Every role in the agency (including freelancers and future hires).
• Defined responsibilities, performance targets, and salary bands.
• A transparent system for career progression, pay reviews, and bonuses.
• Consistent expectations and measurement across every department within the business.

“We use this framework for everything – from evaluating performance and identifying underperformance, to shaping personal development objectives,” says Nicola. “Every role is measured on a four-point scale, so we can have objective, meaningful conversations at review time.”

“It also helps us identify high performers consistently, so we can reward them fairly and plan for their growth.”

In this session, Nicola & Sian will demonstrate how they’ve embedded this framework into their agency – and how you can do the same.

We will cover:

• How to create a structured job framework for your agency. Nicola and Sian will share how they mapped out every role, responsibility, and competency across each department – and why this clarity matters.
• How role clarity drives better performance and accountability. “If someone is underperforming, we use this to flag it. After two quarters with no improvement, they go on a performance improvement plan. The entire process is clearly documented.”
• How to build a transparent salary and progression system. The team can see salary bands for every role, and understand exactly how to progress.
• How to make performance reviews more objective on both sides. “If someone’s underperforming, we can point to clear, documented expectations. It also gives managers a consistent, fair way to evaluate their team, by removing the guesswork from reviews and pay decisions.”
• How it supports long-term growth & agency planning. Nicola and Sian will share how this framework helps with team structure, hiring needs, strategic decisions, and succession planning – essentially, giving the agency a clearer view of where it’s heading and what it needs next.

If you’ve ever struggled with unclear roles, career progression confusion, or managing underperformance fairly, this session will give you a practical, proven framework to bring clarity and structure to your agency.