Account Director, Experiential Marketing

Cheil; Plano (TX); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Cheil USA is seeking an Account Director, Experiential Marketing in Plano, TX. This senior role leads Samsung’s experiential business, shaping how a global tech brand connects with consumers through ambitious, culturally relevant experiences.

You will guide client relationships, set strategic direction, and unite creative, strategy, production, and operations to turn bold ideas into finished experiences. Travel ~30% domestically, hybrid schedule with in-office collaboration.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in experiential marketing, event production, brand activation, or related field.
• Proven experience leading major experiential accounts and client-facing teams.
• Strong budgeting, estimates, SOW/PO management and agency processes.
• Experience presenting client proposals with PowerPoint and Excel.

Responsibilities

• Lead senior client relationships and serve as day-to-day contact for Samsung’s experiential business.
• Set strategic direction for accounts and coordinate across creative, strategy, production, and operations teams.
• Develop and coach client-facing teams and manage the launch calendar with proactive ideas.
• Outline briefs with objectives, audience, scope, timing, budget, and KPIs.
• Manage budgets, estimates, POs, fees, and pipelines with clear ownership.
• Coordinate cross-departmentally to ensure timelines and responsibilities are aligned.
• Lead briefs, status reports, and client communications to ensure high-quality delivery.

Skills

Experiential marketing

Event production

Brand activation

Client leadership

Budget management

SOW management

Negotiation

PowerPoint

Excel

Hybrid work

Job description

We're a global creative, tech & marketing agency.With 8,000+ Cheilers across 46 countries, we're always lookingfor more remarkable people.

8,000+

Team Members

46

Countries

55

Offices

Brand Experience/Cheil USA
Title: Account Director, Experiential Marketing
Location: Plano, Texas
Schedule: Hybrid, with a minimum of two days in-office per week and regular on-site collaboration
Travel: Approximately 30% domestic travel
Reports to: Head of Brand Experience

About Us

We are Built to Connect.

At Cheil Worldwide, we create connected experiences that move people with work that’s bold enough to stand out, clear enough to be understood, and enduring enough to be remembered. Born from technology and built from one of the world’s largest tech ecosystems, we move with innovation, not after it.

Our approach integrates experiential with data-driven, creatively led marketing, grounded in cultural relevance and built to grow brands.

Cheil USA serves as the lead agency for Samsung. And while Samsung remains a key partner, our work extends across a growing portfolio of globally recognized brands. Powered by a team of 200+ creative problem-solvers, we thrive on pushing boundaries and redefining how brands engage with people.

We are looking for people who chase the Never Been Done Before. Curious thinkers. Driven doers.

About the Role

Great brand experiences don’t just capture attention. They create connections people remember. As Account Director, Experiential Marketing, you’ll be the senior client leader for Samsung’s experiential business, shaping how one of the world’s most recognized technology brands connects with consumers through ambitious, culturally relevant experiences.

You’ll lead key client relationships, set the strategic direction for your accounts, and bring together creative, strategy, production, and operations teams to turn bold ideas into finished experiences. You’ll also lead and develop a client-facing team and stay ahead of your client’s launch calendar, bringing proactive ideas to the table before formal requests arrive.

This role suits someone with equal parts strategic perspective, commercial acumen, and operational understanding, who can inspire client confidence, navigate complexity, and move ideas into execution.

What You’ll Do

• Lead client relationships. Serve as the senior day-to-day contact for your accounts, turning early or incomplete requests into clear briefs with defined objectives, audience, scope, timing, budget, and KPIs.
• Shape the work. Challenge requests when budget, timing, or production realities don’t fit the ask, and bring realistic alternatives to the conversation.
• Plan ahead. Maintain a 3- to 6-month view of product launch cycles, retail and sales periods, sponsorships, and cultural moments, and bring proactive integrated marketing and experiential proposals to the client.
• Own account financials. Manage estimates, scopes of work, purchase orders, budgets, margin, and fee performance, and keep a clear pipeline and resource forecast.
• Connect creative and production. Bring production and operations into conversations early to validate feasibility, cost drivers, and lead times, including fabrication, venues, permitting, staffing, logistics, installation, and onsite operations.
• Coordinate across departments. Get the right people involved at the right time with clear ownership and realistic timelines, and resolve ownership gaps when responsibilities overlap.
• Lead the team. Set standards for briefs, budgets, status reporting, and client communication, and coach team members in client service, commercial thinking, and cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

Must-Have

• 10+ years of experience in experiential marketing, event production, brand activation, or a related field, with significant client-facing leadership experience.
• Proven experience leading major experiential accounts, including product launches, events, exhibitions, retail activations, or integrated programs.
• Experience leading and developing client-facing teams and direct reports.
• Strong command of project budgets, estimates, SOWs, POs, fee structures, and agency commercial processes.
• Experience developing and presenting client proposals, with strong PowerPoint and Excel skills.
• Strong negotiation, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, including the ability to work with incomplete information and compressed timelines.
• Ability to work hybrid in Plano, Texas, with regular on-site collaboration and approximately 30% domestic travel.

Nice to Have

• Experience with major consumer or technology brands.
• Working knowledge of experiential production, including fabrication, venues, permitting, and onsite operations.
• Familiarity with large-scale client procurement processes, such as competitive bidding and purchasing systems.
• Background in agency, experiential, or brand activation environments.

What Success Looks Like

• Clients receive fast, informed, and proactive experiential support.
• Your teams receive clear briefs, strong cross-functional alignment, and realistic expectations.
• Cheil is trusted to anticipate, advise, challenge, and deliver.