Account Director- Integrated

Our client a leading brand strategy integrated and XM agency located in Toronto is looking to hire an Account Director to lead several tier 1 clients.

REPORTS TO: Group Account Director 

WORK LOCATION: Hybrid (3 days a week in office).

THE ROLE: The Account Director plays a critical leadership role on the account team at the Agency. As a strong, confident client leader, you will own relationships, manage the team, and drive integrated projects across the agency. You’ll take client briefs through full development from idea design to delivery, ensure programs meet budget and performance expectations, and mentor team members (including supporting and developing an Account Supervisor direct report). Integrated agency experience is mandatory; experiential marketing (XM) experience is a bonus.

Our ideal candidate has 8-10 years of marketing/advertising experience in an agency or client environment.  

Who You Are

• Experienced Manager: You’re an experienced People and Project Manager. You’re driven by coaching and mentoring teams to achieve their best results.
• Collaborative Partner: You’re highly collaborative and believe in a partnership approach to both client and internal relationships.
• Independent Thinker: You’re happiest in entrepreneurial environments where you can push on conventions, flex your problem-solving muscles, and colour outside the lines to get to the best work.
• Culturally Curious: You have a deep interest in emerging market trends, consumer behaviours, and cultural reference points.
• Solution-Oriented: You take a solution-first approach to overcoming obstacles. There is always a way, and no idea too far reaching to explore.
• Agile Multitasker: You love the thrill of running multiple projects at once, and have a history of success in fast-paced environments.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Function as primary point of contact for mid-to-senior client (eg./ Brand Manager to Senior Brand Manager). 
• Actively manage Team of Account Supervisors, Account Managers, and Account Coordinators. 
• Provide regular feedback, mentorship, and coaching to team of reports (including an Account Supervisor), with an eye to building confidence, leadership capabilities, and developing individual skillsets. Hold regular status meetings and performance check-in’s.
• Delegate work across team to ensure tasks are effectively completed, providing critical input along the way. 
• Assist leadership team in management of internal resources in relation to workflow, responsible for providing 3-month ahead outlook. 
• Manage and prioritize work across different stages of life-cycle including, pitching, planning, and executing, with a comfort and ease in managing multiple programs, clients, and reports at once. 
• Resolve tough planning challenges with client using a creative and ‘can do’ approach to problem solving.   
• Contribute to the big ideas that build our clients business. Actively lead client briefings, internal brainstorm process, feasibility assessments, logistical planning, and oversight of your team in execution. 
• Own vision, deck build and presentation of activation plans, wrap reports, and as needed, pitch decks.  
• Work closely with internal creative, design, and strategy teams, to ensure harder working ideas are brought to life on-plan, on-time, and on-budget. 
• Assess feasibility of work during idea concepting phase. Actively build on ideas to enhance their impact and feasibility. 
• Regularly translate client feedback on a program into actionable work for team. 
• Set business building KPI’s for all client work. Monitor results and continually optimize executional strategy to maximize performance.  
• Support Group Account Director in organic business development by mining growth opportunities within your client portfolio.  
• Review and approve program budgets. Actively manage program profitability and cash flow, providing client team with an accurate monthly report and forward looking forecast. 
• Map out scopes of work for agency resources on project based programming. 
• Periodic site visits to live executions when programs are in market.  
• Actively contribute to the collaborative team culture at the agency through action oriented approach to leadership and teamwork.  

KEY REQUIREMENTS

• 9 – 10+ years progressive experience in an agency or client-side environment. 
• Experienced at growing and running a team of people. 
• Strong ability to effectively delegate tasks to team based on individual skillsets. Proficient at getting work done through others. 
• Track record of building strong relationships with client, showing an ability to influence decision making in realm of planning and execution. 
• Demonstrated experience and success in designing and selling executional vision. 
• Ability to regularly lead difficult conversations with positive outcomes. 
• Proven track record of producing measurable business results against organizational goals. 
• Ability to influence organizational culture and operations beyond own team. 
• Successfully managed multiple projects, reports, and clients at once, while remaining cool under pressure. 
• Post-Secondary degree from an accredited institution, ideally in Business, Communications, or Marketing.