Account Director
SimpsonScarborough
full-time
Posted on:
Location: Virginia • 🇺🇸 United States
Visit company websiteSalary
💰 $100,000 per year
Job Level
Lead
About the role
- Serve as a trusted partner to clients: grow relationships, expand accounts, and guide strategic marketing and branding work from strategy through growth.
- Act as both advocate and advisor: cultivate client trust, anticipate needs, and ensure every project strengthens the long-term partnership.
- Lead internal teams with clarity and purpose, balancing big-picture account vision with day-to-day project success.
- Shape scopes, clarify goals, lead presentations, and build enduring client relationships.
- Provide insight and direction across projects and lead goal setting and proposal development to expand engagements.
- Align cross-functional teams (research, strategy, creative, digital, media) around client goals and outcomes and act as escalation point.
- Navigate complex campus environments and align diverse stakeholders to keep momentum toward institutional outcomes.
- Deliver compelling presentations to executive and working groups to facilitate decision-making.
- Proactively identify opportunities for client growth and apply analytical thinking to support client success and agency financial health.
Requirements
- Serve as the client’s senior partner, shaping scopes, clarifying goals, leading presentations, and building enduring relationships that anticipate needs and drive growth.
- Provide insight and direction across projects, ensuring deliverables reflect client goals and broader strategy.
- Lead goal setting and proposal development to expand client engagements.
- Align cross-functional teams (research, strategy, creative, digital, media) around client goals and project outcomes.
- Act as a trusted escalation point, resolving challenges quickly and diplomatically.
- Navigate complex campus environments, align diverse stakeholders, and keep momentum toward shared institutional outcomes.
- Deliver compelling presentations that simplify complexity, inspire confidence, and facilitate decision-making across executive and working groups.
- Proactively identify opportunities for client growth and contribute to agency-wide revenue goals.
- Apply analytical thinking to ensure account strategies support both client success and the agency’s financial health.
- Minimum 5 years in client-facing account management roles within an agency environment.
- Familiarity with higher ed marketing/communications/advancement preferred but not required.
- Skilled at presenting to senior leaders, facilitating discussions, and writing clearly and persuasively.
- Ability to handle challenges under pressure, bringing calm, clarity, and quick decision-making.
- Experience defining clear goals, creating accountability, and motivating teams to deliver.
- Proven ability to translate big-picture strategies into focused, coordinated actions.
- Ability to interpret financial, performance, and market data to inform decision-making and drive profitability.
- Ability to manage multiple accounts independently in a fast-paced, remote-first environment.
- Strong knowledge of brand strategy, market research, content, digital marketing, and campaign execution.
- Bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent practical experience will be treated equally.