EVP, Client Leadership

dentsu; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 206,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Vision insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Short-term disability insurance

Long-term disability insurance

401k

Flexible paid time off

15 paid holidays per year

Paid sick leave

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Dentsu Creative in Chicago seeks an EVP, Client Leadership to guide a major home-improvement retailer partnership, elevate senior client relationships, and drive strategic direction across marketing and operations.

You will oversee a portfolio, shape an innovation agenda including AI, and partner across creative, strategy, media, production, and finance to deliver modern, integrated marketing. The role reports to the US Chief Client Officer and requires 15+ years of agency leadership.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in an agency or similar environment.
• Experience leading large, complex accounts and multi-disciplinary teams at EVP/SVP level.
• Deep retail marketing experience with national retailer in a high-volume environment.
• Proven record building C-suite relationships and organic growth.
• Experience overseeing significant account P&L with forecasting, scope, staffing, margins, and investments.
• Strong integrated marketing acumen across creative, media, strategy, production, commerce, content, digital, social, TV, OOH, and omnichannel.
• Working knowledge of AI and modern marketing tools with practical application.
• Ability to lead through complexity and change while staying hands-on and engaged with clients and teams.
• Exceptional executive communication, presentation, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.

Responsibilities

• Own the senior agency relationship with a large home improvement retailer and cultivate senior client partnerships across C-suite stakeholders.
• Serve as the senior strategic advisor on client business, retail landscape, and evolving marketing priorities.
• Lead client conversations, business reviews, and executive presentations with clarity and a proactive point of view.
• Anticipate client needs and strengthen dentsucreative’s position as an indispensable partner.
• Provide executive oversight for a double-digit portfolio, including revenue, profitability, forecasting, and account health.
• Identify and convert organic growth opportunities across the client relationship and broader portfolio.
• Partner with agency leadership on new business and adjacent growth opportunities.
• Balance client ambition with commercial discipline while protecting quality and value.

Skills

Executive leadership

Client leadership

Retail marketing

C-suite relationships

P&L management

Integrated marketing

AI awareness

Change management

Executive communication

Job description

Job Description:

The EVP, Client Leadership will serve as the senior relationship and business lead for a large home improvement retailer, one ofdentsucreative’s most important retail partnerships, while overseeing a broader portfolio of business. This executive will be the face of the agency with senior client leadership and the internal leader accountable for strategic direction, operational excellence, team performance, organic growth, and the continued evolution of the partnership.

This role calls for a proven agency leader who can thrive in a fast-moving retail environment, build trusted C-suite relationships, and connect brand, promotional, seasonal, and culture-led marketing into a cohesive business agenda. With strong operational leadership already in place, the EVP will focus primarily on elevating the relationship, shaping the future vision, and introducing forward-looking opportunities across innovation, AI, and modern marketing practices. This role reports to the US Chief Client Officer.

Key Responsibilities:

Executive Client Leadership

• Own the senior agency relationship with a large home improvement retailer and cultivate trusted, influential partnerships across C-suite and executive client stakeholders.
• Serve as the senior strategic advisor on the client’s business, retail landscape, competitive dynamics, consumer behavior, and evolving marketing priorities.
• Lead consequential client conversations, business reviews, and senior-level presentations with clarity, confidence, and a proactive point of view.
• Anticipate client needs, navigate leadership and organizational change, and strengthendentsucreative’s position as an indispensable business partner.

Business, Portfolio and Growth Leadership

• Provide executive oversight for adouble-digitportfolio, with accountability for revenue, profitability, forecasting, scope, and sustainable account health.
• Identifyand convert organic growth opportunities across the client relationship and broader client portfolio.
• Partner with agency leadership on new business and adjacent growth opportunities where relevant.
• Balance client ambition with commercial discipline, ensuring the team delivers against business commitments while protecting the quality and value of the work.

Integrated Marketing and Creative Partnership

• Connect brand marketing, high-volume promotional retail work, seasonal campaigns, retail-driven sales programming, and culture-led partnerships into a unified client agenda.
• Collaborate across creative, strategy, media, production, project management, finance, and other integrated partners to deliver effective, modern marketing solutions.
• Champion creative ambition while ensuring the work is grounded in the client’s business goals, customer needs, brand strategy, and retail calendar.
• Bring a strong understanding of the broader marketing ecosystem beyondcreative, including media, commerce, content, data, technology, and channel dynamics.

Innovation,AIand Transformation

• Proactivelyidentifyopportunities to modernize the client’s marketing capabilities, operatingmodel, tools, and ways of working.
• Bring practical knowledge of AI and its application across marketing, content, insights, operations, and client solutions; translate emerging capabilities into responsible, business-relevant opportunities.
• Create a forward-looking innovation agenda that moves the partnership from reactive account management to proactive thought leadership.
• Partner with subject-matter experts to frame, test, and scalenew ideaswhilemaintainingappropriate governance, brand stewardship, and client trust.

Team and Agency Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop approximately six direct or closely aligned account team members, in partnership with established SVP-level leadership.
• Create clarity across roles, decision-making, expectations, and ways of working in a highly matrixed, cross-disciplinary environment.
• Build an inclusive, high-performing culture that values accountability, collaboration, candid feedback, and strong talent development.
• Operate as an enterprise-minded agency leader who contributes todentsucreative’s culture, commercial priorities, and broader transformation agenda.

Required Experience and Capabilities

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in an agency, marketing, or similarly complex client-services environment, including significant senior client leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated success leading large, complex accounts and multi-disciplinary teams at the EVP, SVP, or comparable level.
• Deep retail marketing experience, ideally supporting a major national retailer in a high-volume, fast-paced promotional environment.
• A proven record of building C-suite relationships, increasing executive influence, and creating organic growth through strong strategicpartnership.
• Experience overseeing a significantaccountP&L with fluency in forecasting, scope, staffing, margin, and investment decisions.
• Strong integrated marketing acumen across creative, media, strategy, production, commerce, content, digital, social, television, out-of-home, and omnichannel experiences.
• Working knowledge of AI, emerging technology, and modern marketing tools, with the judgment toidentifypractical use cases and guide responsible adoption.
• Ability to lead through complexity and change whileremaininghands-on, decisive, and highly engaged with clients and teams.
• Exceptional executive communication, presentation, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.

Theannualbase salary range for this position is $206,000 - $300,000.Placement within the salary rangeis based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factorspermittedby law.Additionally, this position is eligible for discretionary incentive compensation.

Benefits available with this position include:

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance,
• Life insurance,
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance,
• 401k,
• Flexiblepaidtimeoff,
• At least 15paid holidays per year,
• Paid sickand safeleave, and
• Paid parentalleave.

Dentsu alsocomplieswithapplicable state and local lawsregardingemployee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time offpursuant tothe Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act,in accordance withits plans and policies.For more information regardingdentsubenefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com.

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Location:

Chicago

Brand:

Dentsu Creative

Time Type:

Full time

Contract Type:

Permanent

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