Account Director, Consumer + Lifestyle

AZIONE•New York, NY

10d•Hybrid

About The Position

AZIONE is a creative communications agency operating at the intersection of culture, media, and brand. We build relevance, not just awareness. Across consumer, lifestyle, food & beverage, hospitality, wellness, retail, fashion, and emerging brands, we help clients shape conversation and drive measurable business impact through strategic storytelling, media relations, partnerships, experiential activations, influencer and talent programming, and cultural positioning. We’re looking for an Account Director to join AZIONE’s Media team, leading a diverse portfolio of consumer and lifestyle accounts. This is not a traditional publicity role. It’s a senior strategic leadership position for someone who understands how modern consumer brands build relevance across media, culture, consumer behavior, partnerships, experiential, influencer, and broader brand conversation. We’re looking for a consumer generalist - someone who can move seamlessly across categories including lifestyle, CPG, food & beverage, hospitality, retail, wellness, fashion, and other consumer-facing businesses. You don’t need to be an expert in every category, but you should know how to quickly understand a brand, its consumer, its competitive landscape, and the conversations it has the right to participate in. You have a strong pulse on the evolving media and cultural landscape and know how to translate a product, founder story, business milestone, launch, partnership, campaign, or cultural insight into meaningful editorial opportunities and brand-building moments. You understand the modern media ecosystem across consumer and lifestyle media, business press, trade and industry media, commerce and affiliate, thought leadership, and culture - and how those channels work together to build relevance and drive impact. You don’t simply react to trends. You anticipate where conversations are headed and identify credible ways for brands to become part of them.

Requirements

6-8+ years of experience across consumer and lifestyle PR, media relations, brand communications, or integrated marketing
Experience working across multiple consumer-facing categories; backgrounds spanning areas such as CPG, lifestyle, food & beverage, hospitality, wellness, retail, fashion, and consumer brands are strongly valued
Strong media relationships across consumer and lifestyle press, with the ability to leverage relationships and credibility across new categories quickly
Proven experience leading senior client relationships and communications strategies
Ability to move fluidly between brand storytelling, product PR, business communications, thought leadership, commerce, partnerships, and cultural opportunities
Strong instincts for storytelling, trend forecasting, and identifying culturally relevant opportunities
Experience developing communications campaigns across launches, partnerships, experiential activations, executive visibility, business milestones, and brand-building moments
A strong understanding of how modern consumer brands build relevance across earned media, commerce, influencer, partnerships, experiential, social conversation, and culture
Experience managing, mentoring, and developing account teams
Exceptional writing, communication, presentation, and organizational skills
Ability to manage multiple fast-moving accounts, priorities, and senior client relationships simultaneously
Proactive, entrepreneurial, resourceful, curious, and highly solutions-oriented, with a strong ownership mentality
Deep interest in consumer brands, culture, media, hospitality, lifestyle, consumer behavior, and the evolving communications landscape

Responsibilities

Lead and oversee a diverse portfolio of consumer and lifestyle accounts, ensuring accounts are strategically strong, delivering against client goals, and consistently exceeding expectations
Serve as senior day-to-day client contact and account lead, building trusted relationships and providing strategic counsel across client initiatives
Quickly become fluent in clients’ businesses, categories, consumers, competitive landscapes, and broader business objectives
Partner with executive leadership to build and deliver client development plans, strengthen AZIONE’s influence with clients, and identify opportunities for organic growth
Proactively identify opportunities across campaigns, launches, partnerships, experiential activations, cultural moments, influencer and talent programming, and broader brand initiatives
Lead client calls, strategic meetings, desksides, press previews, media briefings, event activations, and other media-facing moments alongside senior leadership as appropriate
Anticipate client needs and address issues thoughtfully and effectively, escalating internally as appropriate
Act as a source of knowledge and strategic counsel to clients, bringing category insights, cultural intelligence, media expertise, and informed recommendations to conversations and initiatives
Oversee and contribute to new business processes including brainstorms, research, strategy, deck development, and pitch preparation
Lead proactive media strategy across consumer, lifestyle, business, trade, commerce, hospitality, food & beverage, wellness, retail, fashion, and culture verticals as relevant to assigned clients
Develop compelling narratives and story angles spanning product launches, brand and business growth, founder and executive thought leadership, category innovation, partnerships, consumer trends, cultural conversations, and industry shifts
Identify editorial opportunities tied to broader conversations happening across consumer behavior, business, lifestyle, culture, and clients’ respective industries
Conceptualize and lead integrated communications campaigns as an extension of clients’ in-house teams
Understand the role of commerce and affiliate within the modern earned media landscape and identify opportunities to drive both brand visibility and measurable business impact
Oversee the cadence of media coverage, messaging, and press material development, ensuring all are aligned with clients’ overall strategy and brand guidelines
Draft and provide senior-level review of scopes of work, pitches, press releases, talking points, messaging, and other strategic client materials
Oversee the implementation of brand partnerships and ensure opportunities align with broader client strategy
Review and sign off on client agendas, action items, weekly and monthly recaps, and other key account touchpoints
Oversee and execute launches, campaigns, partnerships, events, and editorial initiatives from strategy through completion
Ignite a steady rhythm of proactive and inbound editorial, partnership, experiential, and cultural opportunities across assigned accounts
Ensure all client materials and communications are polished, accurate, strategic, and aligned with brand positioning
Oversee reporting and coverage analysis to demonstrate both qualitative and quantitative ROI and campaign impact
Stay apprised of emerging technologies, affiliate and commerce platforms, media shifts, consumer behavior, and changes in the broader brand landscape, assessing their relevance for clients
Monitor consumer, business, media, lifestyle, and cultural trends daily, proactively surfacing opportunities and insights to clients and internal teams
Anticipate challenges and proactively offer solutions to senior leadership for issues specific to assigned clients and initiatives
Continuously grow a high-value network across consumer and lifestyle media, including business, commerce, food & beverage, hospitality, wellness, retail, fashion, and relevant trade verticals
Build and maintain relationships with brand partners, cultural partners, and other relevant industry contacts
Be recognized as someone who is highly responsive, well-connected, strategic, resourceful, and solutions-oriented
Leverage relationships thoughtfully to create meaningful opportunities for clients and strengthen AZIONE’s presence across the broader consumer landscape
Lead, mentor, and inspire account teams across client management, media strategy, and execution
Clearly define account team roles and responsibilities, providing coaching, guidance, and tools to facilitate client and team success
Manage the growth and development of team members, taking responsibility for goal setting, development opportunities, performance feedback, and advocating for progression
Lead and participate in teamwide calls, one-on-one team member supervision, and the performance review process to nurture team growth and accountability
Set the standard for client service, strategic thinking, organization, responsiveness, and executional excellence
Encourage positive collaboration and synergy across agency disciplines
Foster a collaborative, proactive, entrepreneurial, and culturally connected team environment
Manage conflict thoughtfully, leaning into issues as they arise and working toward positive outcomes
Lead with integrity, professionalism, accountability, respect, and strong communication across all client and internal interactions