Automotive Account Partner & Strategy Lead

IW Group Inc.; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

IW Group Inc. in Los Angeles is seeking a Client Partner (Account Director) to lead strategic client relationships and drive integrated campaigns across automotive brands.

You will guide teams across strategy, creative, media, production, experiential, and social to deliver culturally relevant work that meets client objectives. The ideal candidate is a proven leader with 7+ years in account management, automotive experience, and a track record of growing key relationships while managing budgets,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Advertising, Marketing, Communications, Business, or a related field preferred, or equivalent professional experience.
• 7+ years of account management or client services experience within an advertising, integrated marketing, digital, or communications agency.
• Automotive account experience required, with demonstrated experience supporting integrated automotive marketing initiatives.
• Experience managing senior client relationships and complex, high-profile accounts.
• Experience leading integrated campaigns across strategy, creative, media, social, production, digital, and/or experiential.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain trusted client relationships, serving as a strategic partner and senior day-to-day point of contact.
• Develop a deep understanding of the client’s business, brand, audiences, competitive landscape, and marketing objectives.
• Translate business challenges and cultural insights into clear strategic recommendations and integrated marketing solutions.
• Anticipate client needs and proactively identify opportunities that strengthen the client’s business and agency partnership.
• Provide clear, confident counsel and navigate complex client conversations, feedback, and changing priorities.
• Lead client meetings, presentations, campaign reviews, and strategic discussions.
• Build strong working relationships with external agency partners and stakeholders.
• Lead integrated campaigns from briefing and strategy through creative development, production, launch, and measurement.
• Partner closely with strategy, creative, media, social, production, experiential, and other disciplines to deliver cohesive work.
• Champion culturally relevant ideas and ensure audience and cultural insights are meaningfully reflected in the work.
• Establish clear scopes, timelines, deliverables, responsibilities, and milestones across multiple workstreams.
• Champion creative excellence while ensuring work remains strategically sound, culturally relevant, executable, and aligned with client objectives.
• Identify risks, resolve issues, and remove roadblocks before they impact campaign quality, timing, budget, or client relationships.
• Identify opportunities to expand existing client relationships through new initiatives, capabilities, audiences, and scopes of work.
• Maintain oversight of account budgets, scopes, timelines, staffing needs, and overall account health.
• Partner with agency leadership and internal teams to ensure resources are appropriately aligned with account needs.
• Proactively communicate changes that may affect scope, budget, resources, or timing.
• Support the development of scopes of work, estimates, annual planning, and financial forecasting.
• Contribute to organic growth initiatives, agency presentations, and new business opportunities as needed.
• Partner with strategy, media, and other teams to establish campaign KPIs and measurement frameworks.
• Lead the development of campaign recaps, performance reports, business reviews, and recommendations.
• Use campaign results, audience insights, and market trends to identify opportunities for optimization and future growth.
• Provide clear direction and mentorship to junior and mid-level account team members.
• Foster collaboration and accountability across internal departments and external agency partners.
• Ensure teams understand client expectations, priorities, and the broader business context behind assignments.
• Partner with department leadership to identify resource needs and workload concerns.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Automotive marketing knowledge

Client relationship management

Executive presentation

Integrated marketing

Cross-functional leadership

Budget & scope management

Leadership under ambiguity

Communication skills

Organizational discipline

Education

Bachelor's degree in Advertising/Marketing/Communications

Tools

AI-enabled productivity tools

Job description

IW Group Inc. in Los Angeles is seeking a Client Partner (Account Director) to lead strategic client relationships and drive integrated campaigns across automotive brands.

You will guide teams across strategy, creative, media, production, experiential, and social to deliver culturally relevant work that meets client objectives. The ideal candidate is a proven leader with 7+ years in account management, automotive experience, and a track record of growing key relationships while managing budgets,