Account Executive

saltxc; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 57,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

The Kitchen North America in Chicago (Hybrid) is seeking an Account Executive to support the Accounts team on small to mid-sized programs and contribute to larger projects. Ideal candidates are strong communicators, organized, and capable of managing end-to-end delivery with a client-focused mindset.

Responsibilities include coordinating with Kraft Heinz brand teams, maintaining project timelines, and ensuring budgets align with client objectives.

Qualifications

• 1-2 years' experience in the advertising industry.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Adaptability and strong problem-solving skills.
• Excellent active listening & time management skills.
• Ability to build rapport and collaborate with others internally and externally.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Keen interest in consumer behaviours and industry trends.
• Strong foundational technology skills - familiarity with O365, social & digital media.
• Passion for advertising & social media.

Responsibilities

• Oversee small to medium programs and support accounts team on larger projects.
• Communicate with brand teams to understand needs and relay to manager and team.
• Manage timelines and book internal meetings/reviews with brand teams.
• Stay updated on brand teams' business objectives.
• Identify industry trends and inform team.
• Act as extension of brand team through planning, execution and wrap up.
• Collaborate with team to fulfill brand needs and provide feedback.
• Coordinate with partners to provide tools and information for the business.
• Regularly update manager on activities and brand team updates.
• Reconciling program budgets; work with finance to stay on budget.
• Review budgets with clients and provide pricing rationale.

Skills

Advertising experience

Verbal & written comms

Adaptability

Time management

Rapport building

Organizational skills

Consumer trends

Tech familiarity

Passion for social media

Tools

O365

Social & digital media

Job description

ROLE: ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

TEAM: THE KITCHEN NORTH AMERICA

LOCATION: CHICAGO (HYBRID)

The Kitchen brings together a range of disciplines and capabilities. It's a team of creatives, producers, data analysts and social experts working together to deliver remarkable ideas that live in a variety of mediums, from social to TV. This team moves at the speed of culture. It is built to respond to trends and events as they happen, coming up with ideas that transcend social media to capture the spirit of the moment, earn media impressions, and get the country talking.

Are you ready to join an award-ambitious team that's making waves in the advertising industry? Our incredible team has been recognized internationally by industry giants like Cannes, One Show and was named Campaign's Global In-House Agency of The Year, further solidifying our position as a leader in the industry. Join us and be a part of something truly special, a team that's dedicated to creating ground-breaking work and pushing limits.

At The Kitchen, we're not just looking for individuals who want to be a part of the advertising industry, we're looking for trailblazers who are ready to lead the way to the next big thing. We want individuals who are passionate about producing award-winning work and have an innate drive to their craft and are eager to generate innovative ideas both within and outside of the brief.

ROLE OVERVIEW:

Account Executives support the Accounts team by overseeing small to medium sized programs and/or working as part of a larger team on large-scale programs. Successful Account Executives are skilled communicators, efficient project planners and flexible and creative problem solvers that can manage projects with excellence from start to finish. The ideal Account Executives are organized, passionate about client relations, and focused on superior project management.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Kraft Heinz Relations
• Communicating with brand teams as required to understand their needs, deliver information back to your direct manager and team, and execute accordingly
• Timeline and communication management, and booking internal meetings/reviews on your projects to brand teams
• Maintaining updated knowledge of brand teams' business and business objectives
• Identifying and informing on industry trends
• Acting as an extension of your brand team throughout planning, execution and wrap up - always keeping your brand team's needs top of mind
• Team
• Collaborating with your direct team to facilitate brand team needs and provide feedback/direction
• Working closely with partners to ensure they have all the tools & information required to support your business
• Working with your manager to develop and support you where/when required
• Liaising with your manager on a regular basis, ensuring they are aware of your activities, informed on brand team updates and can support you as required
• Financial
• Reconciling all sizes of program budgets; staying in close contact with the finance team as required
• Staying on budget in all circumstances, and ability to recognize when a budget may not be sufficient and communicating this to your manager
• Ability to review small to medium budgets with clients, working with your manager to provide detailed overview of budget breakdown and pricing rationale
• Project Management
• Master all details within a project to ensure it is run smoothly
• Working with all departments (creative, production, strategy) and our project management software to develop timelines, ensure projects are tracking against it successfully and any changes or updates are communicated to teams and brand partners as they occur
• Proactively identify process improvement opportunities and work with team on agile problem solutions
• Supporting teams and committees within The Kitchen to create positive culture and test/implement new policies, procedures, and processes

EXPERIENCE & SKILLS

• 1-2 years' experience in the advertising industry
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Adaptability and strong problem-solving skills
• Excellent active listening & time management skills
• Ability to build rapport and collaborate with others internally and externally
• Strong organizational skills
• Keen interest in consumer behaviours and industry trends
• Strong foundational technology skills - familiarity with O365, social & digital media
• Passion for advertising & social media

The anticipated annual base salary range for this position is $$57,000 - $65,000 . Individual compensation within this range is determined based on job-related factors such as experience, skills, level of responsibility, internal equity, and business needs. This range represents the expected base salary for this role and does not include other elements of The Kitchen's total rewards program.