Account Director – Experiential & Live Events

The Imagination Group; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Comprehensive paid time off

Generous parental leave

401k match

Job summary

The Imagination Group in New York seeks an Account Director to lead experiential marketing and live event programs for global brands from our New York studio. You will be the client’s trusted partner and senior day-to-day lead, owning relationships, delivering immersive brand activations and ensuring profitability.

You will lead a team of account managers and coordinators, collaborating with strategy, creative and production leads, and taking briefs from proposal through on-site delivery while

Qualifications

• 8+ years of account management experience at experiential/live events agencies.
• Experience leading and mentoring account teams.
• Commercially minded with budgets, change orders and revenue targets.
• Strong client relationship and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Act as trusted partner and senior point of contact for clients.
• Lead briefs, timelines and workbacks with creative, production and suppliers.
• Own project revenue, budgets and reconciliation; meet targets.
• Mentor and develop a team of account managers and coordinators.
• Oversee client communications, status updates and debriefs.
• Collaborate with Client Services Director on growth strategies.

Skills

Account management

Experiential marketing

Team leadership

Budget management

Client relationship management

Job description

Account Director – Experiential & Live Events

Imagination is looking for an Account Director to lead experiential marketing and live event programs for global brands from our New York studio. You will be the client’s trusted partner and senior day-to-day lead – owning relationships, driving account growth and delivering brand activations, exhibitions, product launches and immersive experiences at scale.

Leading a team of account managers and coordinators, and working alongside our strategy, creative and production leads, you will take every brief from proposal through production and on-site delivery, while staying accountable for project revenue and profitability.

This is an agency-side client services leadership role – not a sales, SaaS or media account role.Is This Role for You?

• You have led experiential, live event or brand experience programs at an agency for 8+ years.
• You have managed, mentored and grown account teams.
• You are commercially minded and comfortable owning budgets, change orders and revenue targets.
• You get energy from growing client relationships and spotting the next opportunity.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the trusted partner and senior point of contact for clients, with a deep understanding of their brand, business and priorities that helps us influence their thinking.
• Provide highly responsive client service and maintain very high levels of client satisfaction.
• Lead the reverse-brief process and propose new initiatives that sustain and grow the account.
• Identify and pursue organic growth opportunities across the client’s business.
• Build strong relationships with your clients’ other agency partners.
• Manage client communication, status updates and briefings so clients always know the delivery schedule.
• Play Client Lead or Project Lead on all projects, and lead client debriefs.
• Lead, mentor and develop a team of account managers and coordinators, providing guidance and checking quality of work.
• Work with Resource Management to plan current and forecast client workload.
• Ensure the team follows creative, financial and system processes.

Experiential Program & Project Delivery

• Act as the internal voice of the client at every stage, from proposal to live delivery.
• Define and manage project scope and deliverables lists.
• Develop briefs, timelines and workback schedules with creative, production and third-party suppliers, and make sure every department has what it needs to deliver.
• Work closely with our specialist Production Leads to deliver events, activations, exhibitions and content.
• Own agendas, meetings and client calls.
• Lead internal debriefs and manage case study production so your clients’ work is added to our case study library.
• Oversee budget creation and schedules, and review and approve project budgets in line with delivery timelines.
• Own project revenue and meet or exceed client revenue targets, monitored and reported monthly.
• Manage budgets, fees and change orders, and track burn against budget.
• Ensure timely financial reconciliation and client communication.
• Partner with the Client Services Director on the growth and development of your clients.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• 8+ years of account management experience at an experiential, live events, brand experience or integrated marketing agency.
• A strong track record across events, experiential activations, exhibition design, digital and social, screen content production and marcomms programs.
• Experience leading, mentoring and developing account teams.
• Commercial experience owning project budgets, revenue targets, fees and change orders.
• Ability to manage multiple projects at once, prioritizing resources so work is delivered on time and on budget.
• Excellent presentation, written and verbal communication skills, with confidence in front of senior client stakeholders.
• A strategic thinker and creative problem-solver who leads by behavior and attitude, not title.
• Strong relationship-building skills across clients, internal teams and suppliers.
• Flexible and adaptable as client needs and market conditions change.
• Able to work occasional weekends and holidays around client workload, and travel internationally for up to two weeks at a time.

What we can offer you:

• Work with a state-of-the-art product and deliver it to exciting and innovative brands
• Learning and development opportunities that contribute to professional growth
• A fun, engaging work culture
• Be part of a mission-driven team that values agility, integrity, and excellence
• Opportunity to contribute to large-scale, high-impact projects from day one

Benefits and perks offered:

• Comprehensive paid time off benefits
• Hybrid work model, where our team comes into the office a minimum of 3 days per week
• Generous parental leave
• Up to 4% safe harbor company 401k match

WHAT MAKES US, US

We spark the imaginationChanging the way people think, feel and act

We design experiences that create memories, change behaviours and shape cultures

We specialise in consultancy, brand destinations, live events, content and investor communications

Imagination believes that diversity, equity and inclusion are more than just words, and more than a legal framework or a moral obligation – they are guiding principles that, when acted upon, make us stronger, more innovative and more creative as an organisation.

We commit to not only significantly increasing our efforts to effect change today, but also to ensure that our efforts will be sustained for the long-term.

To support us on this journey we have appointed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Board to help shape our plans to bring about positive change, to help us learn and keep us all moving forward together.

We believe the responsibility for a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace ultimately rests with all of us.

We believe that all employees should feel a sense of belonging at Imagination – regardless of their race, religion or belief, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, disability or background.

We believe racism has no place within our workplace or our work culture and we reject all forms of hatred, prejudice, intolerance and discrimination.

We believe that Black Lives Matter and it is our expectation that all employees become actively committed to making unbiased choices and are anti-racist in everything they do. Our Imagination community must share and live these beliefs, as diversity makes us stronger.

Our priority is humanity and our efforts towards a more diverse, more equitable and more inclusive workplace are never done.