Account Director

AK Creative; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

AK Creative in New York is seeking an Account Director to lead omnichannel campaigns for US-based clients, driving growth and seamless delivery across time zones. You will own client relationships, guide strategy, and oversee cross-functional teams to deliver integrated programs across content, social, events, and more.

The role requires strong financial acumen, a hands-on approach, and the ability to manage budgets, resources, and client expectations in a fast-paced agency environment.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering omnichannel campaigns for consumer and B2B brands.
• Proven track record leading creative teams and managing client expectations.
• Experience working across US/UK time zones and collaborating with international teams.
• Strong financial acumen, including forecasting, budgeting and profitability oversight.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the day-to-day lead for US-based clients and manage key relationships.
• Drive account growth and ensure end-to-end project delivery across campaigns.
• Coordinate with UK-based teams and multiple time zones to align on scope and timelines.
• Develop accurate project scopes, budgets and quotations with the Business Director.
• Monitor project budgets, resource utilization and profitability, leveraging data where possible.

Skills

Account leadership

Client management

Budget management

Cross-functional leadership

Tools

AI-enabled tools

Job description

We are looking for an Account Director to join one of the world's leading advertising agencies in New York.

Full-time role (part-time arrangements considered)

Location: New York City

Start Date: Oct/November

Reporting to: Business Director, with a dotted line to the Global Creative Director

About the Role

We are looking for a high-impact Account Director to join a growing US team supporting a globally recognised creative agency.

This is a hands-on role, acting as the day-to-day lead for US-based clients. You'll own key client relationships, drive account growth, and ensure seamless end-to-end project delivery across integrated creative campaigns. We're looking for an omnichannel account leader with experience working directly with global brands and agile creative teams.

The role is based in their New York satellite and works closely with a UK-based team, requiring strong collaboration across multiple time zones. We are open to both full-time candidates and those seeking a 3-4 day per week arrangement.

The successful candidate will lead a portfolio spanning both consumer and B2B brands, delivering integrated campaigns across content, social, events, thought leadership, film, and sales enablement channels.

Responsibilities

Client Services

• Serve as a strategic partner to clients, challenging briefs, addressing business objectives, and leading client relationships, expectations and quality of output.
• Provide clear, confident guidance and decision-making within fast-paced and evolving client environments.
• Lead projects from briefing and commercial scoping through to delivery, project management, resource planning, billing and performance evaluation.
• Act as the key point of connection between clients and internal teams, ensuring seamless collaboration across workstreams and US/UK time zones.
• Ensure all creative output adheres to legal, regulatory and rights management requirements.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with senior stakeholders, facilitating regular face-to-face engagement and keeping leadership informed of upcoming priorities and opportunities.
• Proactively identify opportunities to grow existing accounts and generate new business.
• Deliver compelling presentations, leading status meetings and pitching content, social and creative recommendations with confidence.

Creative

• Work in close partnership with creative teams to develop, strengthen and champion outstanding ideas from brief through to execution.
• Critically assess creative work against client objectives, audience insights and strategic requirements before presentation.
• Advocate for strong creative solutions, using client knowledge and commercial understanding to support and protect the work.
• Navigate client feedback effectively, helping teams refine and optimise ideas while maintaining creative integrity.
• Understand how creative concepts can be effectively integrated across channels to maximise campaign impact and effectiveness.

Operations & Team Management

• Drive clear communication and collaborative working across teams, acting as the primary bridge between client leads and UK-based creative and production teams.
• Ensure briefs are clear, actionable and set teams up to deliver exceptional creative work.
• Partner with Account Management and Project Management teams to maintain alignment on scope, timelines, deliverables and resource requirements.
• Oversee resource allocation across projects and accounts to ensure efficient and effective delivery.
• Monitor project budgets, resource utilisation and business objectives, leveraging data and AI-enabled tools to track burn rates and team capacity where appropriate.

Finance & Scoping

• Develop accurate project scopes, budgets and quotations, working closely with the Business Director to ensure financial alignment.
• Own project profitability, ensuring work is delivered on time and within budget while identifying opportunities for operational efficiencies.
• Manage project billing processes and third-party supplier invoicing.
• Evaluate retainers and project agreements to ensure they remain commercially appropriate and accurately scoped.

We're Looking for Someone Who

• Has a proven track record delivering successful omnichannel campaigns across both consumer and B2B audiences.
• Can lead creative teams to produce impactful content that delivers against both brief and budget.
• Demonstrates success in growing accounts through identifying and securing new opportunities.
• Builds trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and fosters effective collaboration across teams.
• Is highly organised, able to structure complex projects and processes while working seamlessly across multiple time zones.
• Excels at prioritisation and managing competing demands while consistently meeting deadlines.
• Possesses strong financial acumen, including forecasting, budget management and profitability oversight.
• Has exceptional attention to detail and maintains high standards across all deliverables.
• Is a collaborative and proactive team player who contributes positively to culture and team performance.
• Thrives in fast-paced environments and remains calm, focused and strategic under pressure.
• Brings strong commercial awareness and a pragmatic approach to project and account management.

We'd Also Like to See

• Demonstrable experience developing and delivering integrated, multi-channel programmes spanning thought leadership, film, events, social media and always-on content.
• Experience managing productions, shoots and complex multi-asset content delivery programmes.
• A forward-thinking, technology-curious mindset with a genuine interest in how emerging tools and AI can improve ways of working, increase efficiency and unlock creative opportunities.
• Strong understanding of social media platforms, trends, performance metrics and how to turn insights into actionable recommendations.
• Experience with event activations and influencer marketing programmes, and how they contribute to wider digital and brand ecosystems.