Associate Managing Director, Aquent Studios

Aquent; Redmond (WA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Aquent is seeking an Associate Managing Director to lead a major technology client, growing the relationship and expanding work across the organization. You’ll partner with senior leadership to develop solutions spanning marketing, AI, automation, and experience services, while guiding discovery, scope, pricing, and negotiations.

You will own the engagement from sale through implementation, driving profitability, governance, and renewal strategies, with hybrid delivery responsibilities across

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in account management, client services, or a consultative client-facing role, ideally within technology, creative services, managed services, agency, or consulting environments.
• Experience managing relationships with a large-scale or enterprise-level client, including exposure to senior stakeholders across multiple business units or teams.
• Familiarity with services provided by a creative agency, such as content, creative, integrated marketing, digital experiences, marketing operations, and AI and automation.
• Experience with managed services and project delivery models, where output is measured against a defined scope of work.
• Basic financial acumen, including working with budgets, forecasts, or account profitability metrics, with an interest in growing into full P&L ownership over time.
• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience; strong academic performance or evidence of intellectual curiosity and initiative (independent projects, leadership roles, relevant certifications, or self-directed learning).
• Practical experience using AI tools (e.g., Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, or similar) to support daily work, with experience applying them more strategically to creative processes and workflows.
• Strong communication, relationship-building, and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead or influence work through collaboration rather than direct authority.

Responsibilities

• Partner directly with the SVP of Aquent Studios to grow the account, engaging new client groups and expanding work across the organization.
• Cultivate stakeholder relationships and business opportunities within product groups and business units where Aquent Studios does not yet have a foothold.
• Understand client business priorities, organizational challenges, and emerging needs.
• Diagnose those challenges and translate them into engagements using current services, expanded services, or new capabilities.
• Create and maintain a strong pipeline of incremental opportunities.
• Cultivate strong client relationships to identify opportunities for advisory or consultative services.
• Partner with Studios SME’s to lead discovery to understand client needs, desired outcomes, and operational requirements.
• Develop solutions utilizing Aquent Studios capabilities, including marketing operations, creative services, AI and automation, events and experiences, content development, and emerging capabilities.
• Define the scope, deliverables, resource structure, and implementation of client engagements, applying an understanding of the account’s financial fundamentals to positively affect profitability and continuously drive margin improvement.
• Develop pricing and financial models that meet requirements and profitability objectives.
• Lead RFI & RFP requests.
• Write and negotiate proposals, SOWs, contract renewals, and change orders.
• Maintain business ownership of the engagement from sale through implementation, ongoing operations, renewal, and expansion.
• Develop account plans that address client priorities, retention, and growth, including renewal and expansion strategies well in advance of contract expiration.
• Lead client governance and executive business reviews/QBRs.
• Identify opportunities to demonstrate business impact, operational efficiency, innovation, and cost savings.
• Proactively identify account risks and implement corrective actions.
• Monitor scope adherence, expansion, and leakage.
• Oversight of revenue, gross profit margin, and financial performance for the account.
• Operate to execute against growth, profitability, and operational targets.
• Ensure timely and accurate invoicing.
• Advance innovative, efficiency-driving approaches such as AI, automation, and new workflows to improve the quality, speed, or cost of delivering project outcomes.
• Track and report on account health, pipeline opportunities, and progress against growth and margin-improvement goals.
• Partner with Studios delivery leads to ensure execution of the engagement.
• Ensure delivery teams understand contractual scope, business objectives, deliverables, financial expectations, and client priorities.
• Maintain visibility into the work at all times ensuring quality, resource requirements, milestones, risks, and overall delivery performance.
• Support resource and capacity planning to align skillset with the scope of work/engagement.
• Lead resolution of significant client, commercial, or operational issues.
• Create a culture where people are encouraged to speak up, share ideas, and contribute to how the business grows and improves.
• Challenge the team to experiment, encourage creativity, and share ideas to iteratively make things better.
• Lead with trust and provide autonomy, empowering employees to take ownership of their work and results.
• Build an environment where the work is interesting and meaningful. Help people see the impact of their work so they feel connected to the outcomes and motivated to accomplish great things together.
• Coach and share feedback to support people in growing their skills, expanding their capabilities, and taking on greater responsibility.

Skills

Account management

Client services

Stakeholder management

Communication

AI tools usage

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Copilot

Claude

ChatGPT

Job description

THIS ROLE IS HYBRID

Position Summary

The Associate Managing Director (AMD) is a client-facing business leader responsible for growing one of Aquent Studios’ client relationships within the technology industry. Partnering closely with the SVP of Aquent Studios, the AMD strengthens the existing relationship, works to open new areas of business while continuously bringing more innovative and efficient ways of working to the account. The AMD identifies opportunities across the client’s enterprise product groups and corporate functions, develops solutions utilizing Aquent Studios’ full suite of capabilities, and leads opportunities from initial discovery through scope development, pricing, negotiation, and close. As new business is won, the AMD will lead implementation and assume ongoing business ownership of the engagement, partnering cross-functionally with Studios leads and delivery teams to build strong client relationships, operational rigor, and financial performance. This role combines business development, client relationship management, commercial leadership, financial management, and operational oversight with expertise in professional and managed services at an enterprise level.

Key Responsibilities

Client Development & Growth

• Partner directly with the SVP of Aquent Studios to grow the account, engaging new client groups and expanding work across the organization.
• Cultivate stakeholder relationships and business opportunities within product groups and business units where Aquent Studios does not yet have a foothold.
• Understand client business priorities, organizational challenges, and emerging needs.
• Diagnose those challenges and translate them into engagements using current services, expanded services, or new capabilities.
• Create and maintain a strong pipeline of incremental opportunities.

Solution Development and Commercial Leadership

• Cultivate strong client relationships to identify opportunities for advisory or consultative services:
• Partner with Studios SME’s to lead discovery to understand client needs, desired outcomes, and operational requirements.
• Develop solutions utilizing Aquent Studios capabilities, including marketing operations, creative services, AI and automation, events and experiences, content development, and emerging capabilities.
• Define the scope, deliverables, resource structure, and implementation of client engagements, applying an understanding of the account’s financial fundamentals to positively affect profitability and continuously drive margin improvement.
• Develop pricing and financial models that meet requirements and profitability objectives.
• Lead RFI & RFP requests.
• Write and negotiate proposals, SOWs, contract renewals, and change orders.

Client & Business Leadership

• Maintain business ownership of the engagement from sale through implementation, ongoing operations, renewal, and expansion.
• Develop account plans that address client priorities, retention, and growth, including renewal and expansion strategies well in advance of contract expiration.
• Lead client governance and executive business reviews/QBRs.
• Identify opportunities to demonstrate business impact, operational efficiency, innovation, and cost savings.
• Proactively identify account risks and implement corrective actions.
• Monitor scope adherence, expansion, and leakage.

Financial & Operational Management

• Oversight of revenue, gross profit margin, and financial performance for the account.
• Operate to execute against growth, profitability, and operational targets.
• Ensure timely and accurate invoicing.
• Advance innovative, efficiency-driving approaches such as AI, automation, and new workflows to improve the quality, speed, or cost of delivering project outcomes.
• Track and report on account health, pipeline opportunities, and progress against growth and margin-improvement goals.

Delivery Leadership

• Partner with Studios delivery leads to ensure execution of the engagement.
• Ensure delivery teams understand contractual scope, business objectives, deliverables, financial expectations, and client priorities.
• Maintain visibility into the work at all times ensuring quality, resource requirements, milestones, risks, and overall delivery performance.
• Support resource and capacity planning to align skillset with the scope of work/engagement.
• Lead resolution of significant client, commercial, or operational issues.

People Leadership

• Create a culture where people are encouraged to speak up, share ideas, and contribute to how the business grows and improves.
• Challenge the team to experiment, encourage creativity, and share ideas to iteratively make things better.
• Lead with trust and provide autonomy, empowering employees to take ownership of their work and results.
• Build an environment where the work is interesting and meaningful. Help people see the impact of their work so they feel connected to the outcomes and motivated to accomplish great things together.
• Coach and share feedback to support people in growing their skills, expanding their capabilities, and taking on greater responsibility.

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in account management, client services, or a consultative client-facing role, ideally within technology, creative services, managed services, agency, or consulting environments.
• Experience managing relationships with a large-scale or enterprise-level client, including exposure to senior stakeholders across multiple business units or teams.
• Familiarity with services provided by a creative agency, such as content, creative, integrated marketing, digital experiences, marketing operations, and AI and automation.
• Experience with managed services and project delivery models, where output is measured against a defined scope of work.
• Basic financial acumen, including working with budgets, forecasts, or account profitability metrics, with an interest in growing into full P&L ownership over time.
• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience; strong academic performance or evidence of intellectual curiosity and initiative (independent projects, leadership roles, relevant certifications, or self-directed learning).
• Practical experience using AI tools (e.g., Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, or similar) to support daily work, with experience applying them more strategically to creative processes and workflows.
• Strong communication, relationship-building, and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead or influence work through collaboration rather than direct authority.

Who You Are

You have a genuine curiosity about how work gets done and how it could be done better. You’re comfortable in front of senior clients, but you also don’t mind rolling up your sleeves to keep programs moving. You’ve consistently taken on more responsibility in every role you’ve held, and you think in systems — connecting the dots between client needs, delivery execution, and financial outcomes. You may come from account management, agency, or consulting. What matters most is a track r