Executive Director, Account Strategy

Dotdash Meredith•New York, NY

4d•$150,000 - $175,000•Hybrid

About The Position

People Inc. is seeking an Executive Director of Account Strategy to lead their Health vertical. This leadership role is responsible for managing a team of Account Strategists who support the pharmaceutical and healthcare advertising business. The primary goals are to drive revenue retention and growth through exceptional client strategy, campaign management, and operational efficiency. The role requires a solutions-focused, critical-thinking, and analytical leader experienced in the complexities of health and pharmaceutical advertising. This individual will act as a senior strategic partner to various departments including Sales, Marketing, Ad Operations, Campaign Analytics, Research & Measurement, Product, and Data, ensuring program success from pre-sale to renewal. The position emphasizes identifying performance improvements, strengthening client relationships, increasing revenue, and advancing the Health advertising capabilities. The ideal candidate is a proactive, growth-oriented self-starter committed to process improvement, efficiency, problem-solving, and elevating client service standards within the Health organization. This is a hybrid role requiring 3 days per week in the NYC, NY office, with up to 2 remote workdays allowed.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree preferred and/or equivalent experience.
8+ years of experience within digital media, advertising, publishing, or an advertising agency; pharmaceutical, healthcare, or health media experience strongly preferred.
4+ years of experience managing and developing high-performing teams, including experience managing managers and/or senior-level individual contributors.
Demonstrated experience supporting complex, high-value advertising partnerships.
Relationships with clients, agencies, sales teams, and internal stakeholders.
Strong understanding of the pharmaceutical advertising ecosystem, including DTC and/or HCP media, audience targeting, campaign measurement, data partnerships, and the operational complexities associated with healthcare advertising.
Working knowledge of programmatic media buying and execution across display, video, CTV, and other digital channels.
Strong analytical skills with the ability to identify larger trends across campaign and business data and translate them into actionable recommendations.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and navigate complex organizations with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
A solutions-oriented leader who proactively identifies challenges, develops recommendations, and drives issues through resolution.
Strong executive communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with senior internal stakeholders, clients, agencies, and external partners.
Demonstrated commercial mindset with an understanding of how strong client service, campaign performance, and strategic partnership contribute to retention and revenue growth.
Driven to make things happen while consistently acting with integrity, professionalism, and respect for others.

Responsibilities

Lead the Account Strategy function to drive client success, revenue retention and growth, and operational excellence.
Partner with Sales and cross-functional leaders to address business needs, identify growth opportunities, and build scalable processes that improve performance and efficiency.
Lead, develop and inspire a high-performing Account Strategy organization, creating clear expectations, accountability and opportunities for growth.
Coach and develop managers and individual contributors, proactively assess talent and organizational needs, and build structures that support the evolving needs of the business.
Lead and develop the Health Account Strategy team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, strategic thinking, client service, and deep expertise across the pharmaceutical and healthcare business.
Serve as a senior strategic partner to Health Sales leadership, helping drive revenue retention, renewals, incremental opportunities, and long-term account growth across key clients and agency partners.
Develop deep expertise across the Health portfolio, including DTC and HCP advertising solutions, branded and unbranded programs, custom content, audience targeting, programmatic activation, and measurement offerings.
Ensure the team understands the unique requirements and complexities of pharmaceutical advertising and can confidently navigate client, agency, regulatory, operational, and measurement considerations.
Identify opportunities to improve workflows, processes, systems, and work products, creating greater efficiency and scalability as the Health business grows.
Provide strategic recommendations that help evolve our advertising product suite, measurement capabilities, client deliverables, and overall Health offering.
Build strong partnerships across the sales support teams.
Lead regular team meetings, training, and development opportunities to ensure the Account Strategy organization maintains strong expertise across Health products, systems, processes, measurement solutions, and industry trends.
Own the Performance Center of Excellence including campaign reporting and measurement, ensuring the team can confidently analyze first- and third-party data, identify meaningful trends, develop actionable insights, and translate performance into compelling client stories.
Ensure the team consistently connects campaign performance back to client objectives and broader business outcomes, moving beyond reporting metrics to delivering meaningful strategic recommendations.
Proactively communicate business, campaign, and client needs to senior management and cross-functional partners, identifying risks early and driving solutions before they impact the client or revenue.
Partner with Health leadership to identify broader trends across clients and campaigns and translate those learnings into new products, capabilities, processes, and commercial opportunities.
Represent Account Strategy as a senior leader within the Health organization, helping shape how People Inc. continues to evolve and grow its pharmaceutical and healthcare advertising business.