Director of Account Management

Brand Apart•Atlanta, GA

About The Position

The Director of Account Management (DAM) leads the Account Management discipline (called Project Leadership) and is one of the agency’s most senior client leaders. This role is responsible for building and developing two connected teams: Account Managers and Project Managers. These teams work together to manage client projects from kickoff to delivery with rigor and care. Account Managers are the primary client contact, championing the client's vision and guiding projects through the agency's systems. Project Managers ensure projects stay on time and on budget by planning and tracking tasks. The DAM defines how these disciplines work together, sets standards, and develops the people. The DAM also personally manages a small number of key client relationships, acting as a senior account lead on one large-scale account at a time, setting a high bar for the team. This role operates at the intersection of clients, delivery, and craft, partnering with vertical leads to ensure work is led consistently, with care, and with creative excellence.

Requirements

Proven experience leading both account management and project management functions, within an agency setting.
Proven client gravitas: trusted by senior clients, calm under pressure, and skilled at managing needs, expectations, and hard conversations.
Deep fluency in agency systems and process — briefs, scopes, timelines, budgets, and approvals.
Experience overseeing integrated creative work across disciplines such as design, video, experience, and strategy.
Track record building teams, standards, and processes — and developing junior and mid-level talent into confident leaders.
Sophistication in proposals, scopes of work, and pitch craft.
Budget fluency across varied project types and commercial models, including retainers.

Responsibilities

Lead, build, cultivate, and professionally develop Brand Apart’s Account Management and Project Management teams.
Create the standards, best practices, and point of view for how Brand Apart manages client relationships and delivers projects.
Define clear roles and handoffs between account managers and project managers, and build the systems and order for how projects move through the agency’s process.
Build repeatable structures for kickoffs, status meetings, debriefs, standups, sprints, and cross-team integration.
Lead all Account Management team meetings, and pursue fluency in every Brand Apart service to lead as an informed, equipped voice.
Personally own select key client relationships, serving as senior account lead on large-scale accounts.
Bring senior client gravitas: manage client needs, questions, and requests with timeliness, professionalism, and calm authority.
Nurture client relationships across the entire lifecycle of an account (and beyond), earning a seat as a trusted partner rather than a vendor.
Ensure account managers are moving projects through the agency’s system and process with clarity and consistency, from brief to approval to launch.
Create best practices for ongoing retainer work, elevating how Brand Apart cares for and stays ahead of its most valued ongoing clients — and mentor growing account managers in that standard.
Set the standard for how project managers keep work on time and on budget, from task planning through final delivery.
Oversee project management systems, timelines, and budgets across the team’s full slate of active work.
Partner with account managers on every account to align client expectations with realistic scope, schedule, and budget.
Identify and resolve delivery risks early, escalating and problem-solving before issues reach the client.
Champion the tools and processes that keep tasks, timelines, and budgets visible and accountable across the team.
Exhibit sophistication and acumen in structuring proposals, presentations, scopes of work, and pitch decks — and take the lead on setting the Brand Apart standard for them.
Lead or collaborate with key leaders on proposal development and scoping for new opportunities.
Train account managers and project managers to competently and confidently build scopes, timelines, and budgets that are realistic, on-brand, and representative of the work the agency would deliver.
Manage Account Management and Project Management workflow and own resourcing decisions across both teams.
Serve as a key decision maker, in partnership with the Leadership Team, on new projects and allocations to set every engagement up for success.
Maintain a bench of trusted contract partners for large-scale account and project needs.
Build fluency in budgets across project types to properly steward accounts and guide the team’s commercial judgment.
Serve as people leader for the Account Management and Project Management teams: coaching, mentorship, performance, and career development.
Model the client stewardship and delivery discipline both teams are built on.
Support hiring: identify team gaps with Leadership and drive candidate consideration, interviews, and decisions.
Pursue personal and professional development — staying inspired, and inspiring the Brand Apart team.
Contribute to internal initiatives and investment in Brand Apart’s culture.
Join brainstorms and ideations across the agency.
Contribute to Brand Apart’s inspiration and creative growth — and raise a hand wherever help is needed.