Account Director, Contract

Brains on Fire, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Part time

Job summary

BRAINS is seeking a contract Account Director to oversee client relationships, ensuring accounts are profitable while delivering high-quality work. You’ll act as a trusted advisor to senior clients and lead the internal account team with strategic insight.

We encourage applicants, with a preference for candidates on Pacific time for this engagement. You’ll drive growth, manage forecasts, and align partnerships with creative excellence across projects.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in account management or client services at a creative/marketing agency.
• Strong client-facing and strategic leadership skills.
• Proven track record of growing accounts and leading engagements.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow key client accounts, ensuring retention and organic growth.
• Serve as senior point of contact, building trust and partnerships.
• Translate client goals into strategic opportunities for creative work.
• Oversee budgets, forecasting, and profitability of accounts.
• Mentor account team and drive long-term planning with leadership.

Skills

Strategic Partner

Relationship Builder

Business-minded Leader

Clear Communicator

Collaborative Teamwork

Growth Driver

Job description

About BRAINS

BRAINS is an independent creative agency and proud B-Corp. We're a group of no-a**hole, roll-up-our-sleeves creatives, united by a mission to spark market and cultural impact and connect people around shared values and passions. We partner with mission-driven brands looking to rethink and rewrite industry norms.

About the Role

We're looking for a contract Account Director who will be responsible for overseeing client relationships, ensuring that accounts are profitable, strategically led, and delivering high-quality work. You'll act as a trusted advisor to senior clients and a leader for the internal account team. While we encourage everyone to apply, we have a specific need for candidates on Pacific time for this gig.

Key Responsibilities

Client Leadership & Relationship Management

• Lead and grow key client accounts, ensuring retention and organic growth.
• Serve as the senior point of contact for assigned accounts, building deep trust and lasting partnerships.
• Understand your clients' businesses inside and out—their goals, challenges, customers, and competitive landscape.
• Act as a strategic partner, translating business objectives into creative and marketing opportunities.
• Proactively identify ways to add value, presenting ideas, insights, and solutions that drive results.

Strategic Account Growth

• Lead the strategic direction of your accounts, aligning Brains' services with client ambitions.
• In collaboration with leadership, identify opportunities for organic growth and develop plans to expand agency involvement.
• In collaboration with leadership, drive long-term account planning, ensuring we're looking ahead, not just executing the project as it is now.
• Collaborate with creative, strategy, and project management leads to ensure integrated solutions.
• Mentor and develop the account team, setting performance goals and providing feedback.
• Ensure assigned account teams have what they need to succeed - clarity of goals, context, and constructive feedback.

Business & Financial Stewardship

• Oversee financial health of accounts: budgets, forecasting, and profitability.
• Lead client forecasting and ensure accurate scoping in collaboration with project and discipline leads.
• Maintain awareness of scope and team health, flagging risks and collaborating on solutions early.

New Business & Agency Leadership

• Support new business efforts with insights, relationship-building, and strategic leadership in pitches.

Who You Are

• A Strategic Partner You think beyond briefs. You connect client needs with creative potential, and you bring sharp insight to every conversation.
• A Relationship Builder You know how to build trust, navigate complexity, and make clients feel seen, supported, and challenged (in the best way).
• A Business-Minded Leader You balance vision with pragmatism, guiding work that is creatively ambitious and commercially effective.
• A Confident Communicator You bring clarity, warmth, and integrity to how you present ideas, manage feedback, and guide decisions.
• A Collaborative Force You believe the best work comes from integrated teams, and you know how to rally talent around a shared goal.
• A Growth Driver You grow accounts. You see what's next and move toward it with purpose.

Experience

• 5+ years in account management or client services, preferably within a creative, brand, or marketing agency.
• Strong client-facing and strategic leadership skills.
• Proven track record of leading strategic client engagements and growing business.

At BRAINS, we believe in the power of partnership, creativity, and clarity. As an Account Director, you’ll lead with empathy and insight, helping our clients grow, our teams thrive, and our work resonate.