Account Director (Denver)

Motive•Denver, CO

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Motive is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Account Director to serve as the senior point of contact for a client in a highly regulated industry (tobacco/nicotine). As an Account Director at Motive, you are the senior steward of your clients’ business and a key driver of agency success. You are responsible for the management, growth, and overall health of client relationships—balancing strategic leadership, team oversight, and operational excellence. You serve as the consistent connective force between clients, creative teams, strategy, and production, ensuring that work is insight-led, high-impact, and executed to the highest standard. In this role, you are expected to lead both the what and the how: shaping the direction of your accounts while developing and mentoring the team that makes the work happen.

Requirements

10+ years prior experience in account management, often at a marketing or advertising agency, with specific experience in tobacco highly preferred.
Deep understanding of nicotine industry trends, products, and the evolving regulatory environment to inform business strategies.
Proven success leading large, multifaceted accounts with traditional, digital, social, content, shopper/retail, and experiential components.
Demonstrated ability to grow client relationships and identify new opportunities.
Strong leadership skills, with experience managing and developing cross-functional teams.
Exceptional communication, presentation, and relationship-building abilities.
Political acumen and a strong understanding of state and local regulatory dynamics are also highly valued.
Strong budget, timeline, and resource management skills.
A proactive, collaborative, and resilient approach to leadership.
A positive attitude and a drive to produce the best work of your career—and help others do the same.

Responsibilities

Act as a senior strategic partner for clients, guiding marketing strategy and campaign development.
Build strong, trust-based relationships with senior client stakeholders.
Identify and lead organic growth opportunities within accounts, helping to expand Motive’s footprint.
Regularly assess account health and collaborate with agency leadership to evolve the partnership.
Ensures all projects, products, marketing, and communications strictly adhere to the specific creative requirements and restrictions of the nicotine industry. This includes navigating regulations around product marketing, age verification, and health warnings.
Translate client goals and briefs into actionable strategic and creative workstreams.
Collaborate closely with Strategy to ensure creative briefs are focused, insight-driven, and aligned with broader business objectives.
Champion outstanding creative work, tying ideas back to strategy while advocating for originality, innovation, and impact.
Oversee and support execution across a range of deliverables: shopper, experiential, promotions, partnerships and other channels as applicable.
Lead planning and scoping for projects—developing timelines, budgets, teams, and operational plans in partnership with production and project management.
Ensure quality control and accountability throughout all phases of work, from briefing to final delivery.
Navigate and manage program changes with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring positive solution-oriented outcomes supporting program, client, and agency success.
Provide consistency and clarity for your team; delegating appropriately and creating opportunities for them to step up and tackle new challenges.
Lead and mentor an integrated account team, including AADs, Account Supervisors, and junior staff.
Foster a collaborative, high-performance culture that values curiosity, integrity, and results.
Provide feedback, coaching, and support to ensure continued professional growth of team members.
Owns independent brand-level financial leadership, ensuring accuracy, profitability, and fiscal responsibility across accounts.
Monitors team utilization, billability, and profitability metrics, adjusting as needed to maintain healthy business performance.
Leads organic growth stewardship by cultivating deeper partnerships with clients and uncovering opportunities beyond current scopes.
Develops projection schedules grounded in business realities and proactively communicates them to leadership.
Builds relationships with senior client stakeholders (beyond project-specific teams) to identify long-term growth opportunities.
Work cross-functionally with internal departments and external agency partners (IAT) to drive fully integrated campaigns.
Help shape agency thinking and pitch strategy; participate in new business and innovation efforts.
Actively contribute to internal culture, workflow optimization, and agency-wide learning.