Associate Director Of Client Services

Ample; Cincinnati (OH); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Short Term Disability

Paid maternity/paternity coverage

15 days PTO

An additional week off for holiday

401k Program Participation

Job summary

Ample is seeking an experienced client services and strategic leadership professional who thinks strategically, builds real trust with clients, and thrives in a flexible, fast-paced agency environment. In this role, you'll serve as the primary strategic and relationship owner for one of our flagship clients, while managing a portfolio of additional retainer accounts.

You'll operate at a senior level — leading high-stakes client strategy conversations — while staying hands-on enough to jump into

Qualifications

• Agency experience in fast-paced client environments with ambiguity.
• Ability to own complex, high-stakes client relationships and strategic conversations.
• Develop deep client relationships and act as an extension of the client's business.
• Willingness to do hands-on work when needed and manage multiple priorities.
• Excellent communication that ensures clarity and progress.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary client services owner for the flagship account and day-to-day relationship management.
• Lead strategic client conversations and drive project delivery.
• Grow ownership of ongoing strategic workstreams for primary clients.
• Own day-to-day client services for additional retainer accounts.
• Nurture relationships with growth-focused accounts and coach existing account managers.
• Provide light people-management and coaching to mid-level client services staff.
• Be hands-on in client tools when required and guide broader team on where to focus.
• Participate in discovery projects alongside senior team members.
• Articulate requirements clearly to clients, developers, designers, and strategists.
• Review accounts, identify opportunities, and mitigate risks.

Skills

Agency experience

Strategic client leadership

Relationship ownership

Project management

Communication

Multitasking

Coaching

Ambiguity handling

Client discovery

Tools

Asana

Contentful

Job description

If you're an experienced client services and strategic leadership professional who thinks strategically, builds real trust with clients, and thrives in a flexible, fast-paced agency environment, Ample has an opportunity that might be a great match for you.

In this role, you'll serve as the primary strategic and relationship owner for one of our flagship clients, while also managing a portfolio of additional retainer accounts and nurturing key growth relationships across the agency. You'll operate at a senior level — leading high-stakes client strategy conversations — while staying hands-on enough to jump into the details when it's the right call.

Ample is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is a remote role that requires on-site availability in Cincinnati once per week. This position is open to candidates located in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia. Preference is given to candidates living within a 100 mile radius of Cincinnati. In addition to being on-site in Cincinnati once per week, the candidate must be willing to travel on occasion when a project or company initiative requires their attendance. The salary range for this position is $100k - $115k.

Why employees like working with us

Ample is a place for smart, interesting, and passionate people to call home. It's also the first call for anyone seeking great digital work.

Our culture is the brand in action. Caring about one another personally leads to a contagious empathy for our clients and their needs. It's so refreshing, clients continue to work with us - as do former employees.

How we do it:

• We seek out and thrive on meaningful work
• We cultivate an encouraging work environment that upholds a sustainable work-life balance
• We celebrate the person and the professional
• We take a serious approach to our craft without taking ourselves seriously

Primary responsibilities of this role include

• Serve as the primary client services owner for our flagship account, taking ownership of day-to-day relationship management and project delivery
• Be a proactive and assertive partner to the client — leading and pushing the client forward rather than waiting to be told what to do
• Grow into ownership of key ongoing strategic workstreams for your primary clients
• Own day-to-day client services for a small portfolio of additional retainer accounts
• Identify and nurture relationships with a small number of additional growth-focused accounts, partnering with and coaching existing account managers on relationship management and client services execution
• Provide light people-management and coaching support to mid-level client services and operations team members, potentially including a formal reporting relationship
• Be willing to do hands-on execution work directly within client toolswhen needed, while helping the broader team determine when that work should shift elsewhere
• Over time, begin participating in new client discovery projects as a strategic and operational co-lead alongside senior team members, building toward independently supporting discovery for new clients
• Articulate requirements clearly to clients, developers, designers, copywriters, strategists, and other team members
• Review accounts, identify opportunities, and support the development of meaningful client relationships
• Proactively identify risks, blockers, shifting priorities, and opportunities to improve process or outcomes

The skills that matter most

• Agency experience is a must. You've worked in fast-paced client environments and know how to navigate the nuance, pace, pressure, and ambiguity that comes with client service and strategic account leadership.
• This isn't your first rodeo - You can own complex, high-stakes client relationships with authority, including the strategic conversations, not just the project management.
• You are obsessed with our clients - You thrive on being an extension of your client's business. You develop deep relationships with them to ensure that Ample is a true partner for their organization.
• You lead without ego - You're senior enough to own strategy, but you're also willing to do the in-the-weeds work (task management, content updates) when it's needed, especially in a smaller company environment.
• You can create schedules, manage timelines, track tasks, facilitate team communication, and help everyone understand what needs to happen next.
• You live in the zone - Prioritization is huge. You'll need the focus to manage your time and to-do list effectively while helping others do the same. You have to be someone we can count on to deliver on time, every time.
• Multi-tasking mastery - You have the ability to juggle several clients and priorities with ease. You can wear multiple hats without much hand-holding.
• The soft skills - Approachability and empathy are essential. You will be a point person for clients and team members, which means you need to be accessible, calm, thoughtful, and easy to work with.
• You talk the talk - You have a fundamental belief that there's no such thing as overcommunication. Communicate clearly, effectively and often.
• The zig and the zag - You'll need the ability to adapt to changing demands in a fast-paced environment. We are a small agile team, and thus require someone who can roll with changes and hit the gas when it's time to move.
• Coaching mindset - You have experience or strong interest in coaching and mentoring less experienced client services team members.
• Comfortable with ambiguity - This role will evolve as it's built out, particularly the discovery and strategic ownership components.

One or more of these things would be exceptional

• Experience owning a strategic client relationship for a large or complex organization (e.g., religious institutions, higher ed, healthcare, or other mission-driven organizations)
• Experience working with project management software such as Asana
• Familiarity with Content Management Systems, especially Contentful
• Experience scoping and estimating digital projects
• Experience or exposure to structured discovery processes for new client engagements
• Comfort facilitating meetings, standups, retrospectives, project check-ins, and client presentations
• People management or coaching experience

Benefits for our employees

• Health insurance option for self and family for health, vision, and dental
• Short Term Disability
• Paid maternity/paternity coverage
• 15 days of PTO
• An additional week off for holiday break
• 401k Program Participation