Account Director

thelab; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 136,000 - 184,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

401(k) with match

Unlimited vacation

Job summary

thelab is hiring in New York for a senior account leadership role focused on owning large, multi-disciplinary client relationships and driving growth across web development and performance marketing.

You will be the senior, trusted contact for clients, navigate complex brand structures with credibility, and shape expansion opportunities while guiding the team through strategic planning and daily delivery in a fast-paced, hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• 8-10 years in account management, client leadership, or integrated digital delivery at an agency or in-house creative/marketing org.
• Ability to discuss with developers and media strategists and identify when a client request needs further development.
• Strong project-management skills: timelines, dependencies, approvals, and resourcing.
• Growth and business-development instinct: identify opportunities, scope and price them, and sell them.
• Excellent client communication and presentation skills, with credibility to lead senior stakeholders.
• Comfort with ambiguity and fast pace; make good calls without waiting for direction.
• Entrepreneurial, self-directed mindset that strengthens the team.

Responsibilities

• Lead the senior, trusted client relationship as the main point of contact.
• Drive growth by shaping pitches, writing scopes, and converting small work into bigger engagements.
• Support day-to-day delivery with large-scale status updates and yearly planning; communicate clearly to the team.
• Translate client requests into actionable direction for the team and make timely decisions to keep work moving.
• Manage risks and the account team in partnership with discipline leads.
• Collaborate with web development and performance marketing teams to align efforts.

Skills

Account management

Client leadership

Integrated digital delivery

Project management

Growth & business development

Client communication

Strategic thinking

Ambiguity tolerance

Entrepreneurial mindset

Tools

Web development knowledge

CRO programs

Analytics & ad-tech stack

Job description

We're looking for the rare person who can win the room and run the work. You'll own some of thelab's largest, most sophisticated relationships. You're as comfortable shaping a growth plan and walking a CMO through it as you are fielding briefs, negotiating priorities, and keeping web, marketing, and brand teams moving in the same direction.

This is not a figurehead account role and it's not a project management role. It's the person who holds the whole thing: the relationship, the growth, and enough fluency across web development and performance marketing to be useful no matter what's on the table that week.

About thelab

We're a creative and digital agency with developers, designers, writers, strategists, animators, producers, and performance marketers working as one multidisciplinary group. We build and grow brands across the full stack of modern marketing: Shopify and web development, conversion optimization, paid and organic social, SEO, and content and campaign production. We're big enough to do a variety of work for some of the most recognized names in the world, and small enough to stay fast, opinionated, and flexible

.What you'll own

Lead the relationship. Be the senior, trusted point of contact for clients, the person they call first, and the one who can navigate a complex brand organization with credibility.

Drive growth. Treat every account as a business to grow, not just maintain. Spot opportunities for expansion, shape the pitch, write and own the scopes and convert good work into bigger work.

Support the day-to-day. Lead large scale status, yearly planning, and the hard conversations with clarity. Translate client requests into clear direction for the team and make the calls that keep work moving.

Manage risk and the team. Anticipate delivery and relationship risks and resolve them early, in partnership with discipline leads. Help direct and develop the account team around you.

What you bring

• 8-10 years in account management, client leadership, or integrated digital delivery at an agency or in-house creative/marketing org, with a track record of leading large, multi-disciplinary brand accounts.
• You understand how websites get built and optimized and how performance marketing works. You don't need to execute either, but you can hold an informed conversation with both a developer and a media strategist, and you know when a client request needs further development.
• Genuine project-management chops — timelines, dependencies, approvals, resourcing — used in service of the work, not as your primary job.
• A growth and business-development instinct: you see the next opportunity, you can scope and price it, and you can sell it.
• Excellent client communication and presentation skills, with the comfort and credibility to lead senior stakeholders.
• Comfort with ambiguity and a fast pace, and the judgment to make good calls without waiting to be told.
• A builder's attitude. Entrepreneurial, self-directed, and the kind of person who makes the team better.

Nice to have

• Experience with global CPG, or consumer electronics brands, and with the procurement and agency-of-record dynamics that come with them.
• Hands-on familiarity with web development, CRO programs, and platforms across the analytics and ad-tech stack.
• Experience standing up or scaling an account, a new market, or a new way of working.

Details

• Hybrid — in our Flatiron office Tuesdays–Thursdays.
• Salary $160,000
• Benefits include medical, dental, 401(k) match, and unlimited vacation.