Group Account Director

Publicis Groupe ANZ; New York (NY); On-site; USD 149,340 - 239,148; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental

Vision

401K

Paid time off

Job summary

BBH in New York seeks a Group Account Director to lead a portfolio of major clients, ensuring flawless delivery across strategy, creative and finance. The role requires executive presence and deep client leadership.

You will partner with senior clients and internal teams, drive growth and profitability, mentor staff, and represent BBH with professionalism. A results-driven, proactive leader is essential.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in client service in advertising or related agency environment.
• Experience leading large client teams and internal groups.
• Ability to derive insights and craft strategic recommendations.
• Excellent written and oral communication, including presentations.
• Proven capability to manage budgets and profitability.

Responsibilities

• Maintain flawless execution and project management across assigned accounts.
• Lead client relationships and drive revenue growth.
• Collaborate with Creative, Strategy, Production and Finance teams.
• Develop and present strategic proposals to C-suite clients.
• Mentor mid- and senior-level staff and foster high performance.
• Represent BBH with executive-level professionalism and executive presence.

Skills

Client service leadership

Advertising leadership

Strategic agility

Executive presence

Communication skills

Business acumen

C-suite engagement

Team mentorship

Job description

Overview

We are currently seeking a full‑time Group Account Director to join our team.

The ideal account person is a leader, someone with the tenacity, resourcefulness, business sense, pro‑active curiosity, and cool‑headedness to behave like the CEO of their account, brand or project. The account person is the only person in the agency who touches every aspect of a project in some way: from the relationship with the client, to the relationship with the team, from strategy to finance to creative to production.

The GAD is the department’s senior‑most leader. They act as autonomous business leads across one or more of the agency’s largest and most important clients. GAD’s are polished, professional decision makers who excel at creating trusting relationships—internally and externally. They’re fluent in our business offer, comfortable formulating a vision for solving client problems, articulating that vision as an operationally savvy proposal and selling it to clients.

The Short List:

• Leads a portfolio of clients that generates $7-10MM+ in annual revenue
• Ultimately responsible for the financial wellness of their businesses, both by driving growth and opening doors to additional revenue and by ensuring profitability of the enterprise.
• A skilled executive, interfacing with our most senior clients (often C‑suite). Comfortable in any situation and working to solve any problem.
• A gifted communicator, presenter, proposal writer and developer of business.
• Manages/mentors/trains mid‑and‑senior level staff. High EQ and empathy.
• The ultimate collaborator across disciplines.

Responsibilities

The Group Account Director is accountable for operational excellence and client satisfaction across all clients/brands/initiatives assigned to them.

They are a consummate professional in all they do, say & write and bring significant respect and gravitas (“executive presence”) to all situations – internally and externally. This includes overseeing flawless execution and project management, team development, and growth through existing and new clients. The GAD collaborates seamlessly with other functions and capabilities across BBH— including Creative, Strategy, Production, Project Management, Finance, etc.

GAD’s become the agency’s authority on the client’s business, organizational structure, culture, politics, financial processes, budgets, competitors, business challenges and opportunities and industry trends.

As part of the team, the GAD is also a key driving force for growing BBH’s client portfolio. This includes leading, partnering with and managing new business opportunities and pitches when called upon to do so.

The GAD must own difficult conversations, evaluate gaps in team behavior and autonomously work to fine tune their working teams to the highest level of performance.

Partnership with Clients

The GAD is BBH’s senior‑most client partner. They are responsible for creating & maintaining trusting, productive relationships with clients and executive teams they work with.

• Leads client relationships with the emphasis on driving revenue growth, both organically and as a partner on new business
• Embraces, champions and can sell all of BBH’s capabilities.
• Manages internal (CS and other) teams to identify, propose, and deliver all agreed‑upon projects, on time, on budget, and on scope.
• Partners with PM and other colleagues to coordinate internal and external resources against signed work.
• Ensures all correspondence, materials, presentations and proposals seen by prospective and existing clients are error‑free, of highest quality, relevant to the client’s business challenges, and reflective of BBH’s philosophy.
• Communicates findings, insights, and recommendations in a clear and compelling manner in written, oral and presentation forms.
• Leads and interacts with colleagues and clients in a positive, professional and motivating manner.

Project / Financial Management

• Champions best‑in‑class project and financial management for all projects and growth opportunities
• Coaches and teaches project management and budget management skills to team members and holds them accountable for flawless project management for all workstreams
• Champions the financial process. Partners with Finance to ensure that the team is delivering and tracking tasks, projects and costs effectively.
• Ensures project teams are informed and behavior demonstrates an understanding of targets, budget allocations, and profitability
• Supports Finance Team on revenue forecasting & recognition, financial reporting, invoicing and debt collection
• Partners with Finance to forecast revenue and monthly targets for their clients. Proactively and continually monitors the business and raises challenges/risks in a timely fashion
• Recommends course of action if client revenue targets are moving off target

Qualifications

• 10+ years of relatable experience in client service
• Significant experience leading advertising agency (or similar) teams, with internal and client leadership experience
• Strategic agility: capable at arriving at insights that will help solve a client’s challenge.
• Conceptual thinker, appreciates great creative, knows how to support and sell the very best ideas.
• Expert at solution finding – able to identify cost‑effective and client‑effective plans with and across all of BBH’s capabilities.
• Exceptional communication skills, including presentation and written communication skills.
• Experienced and polished business acumen. Comfortable with C‑Suite Executives and the most junior clients.
• Demonstrated leadership and relationship building skills – sophisticated around various personality levels and seniority levels.

Additional information

Our Publicis Groupe motto "Viva La Différence" means we’re better together, and we believe that our differences make us stronger. It means we honor and celebrate all identities, across all facets of intersectionality, and it underpins all that we do as an organization. We are focused on fostering belonging and creating equitable & inclusive experiences for all talent.

Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off.

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact [e-mail].

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Compensation Range: USD $149,340.00 - USD $239,148.00/Annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. This role may also be eligible for bonus or incentive compensation. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third‑party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 8/3/2026.