Group Account Director

Publicis Groupe; New York (NY); On-site; USD 149,000 - 239,000; Full time

Job summary

Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) in New York is seeking a full-time Group Account Director to lead a portfolio of major clients, including financial services. The position requires a senior leader who can act as CEO of their accounts, managing client relationships, teams, strategy, finance and production.

The GAD develops trusted partnerships with senior clients, drives revenue growth, oversees project delivery, and mentors mid- and senior-level staff while collaborating across BBH’s disciplines to

Qualifications

• 10+ years of relatable experience in client service.
• Significant experience leading advertising agency teams.
• Strategic agility: capable at arriving at insights that solve a client’s challenge.
• Conceptual thinker, appreciates great creative, knows how to support and sell ideas.
• Exceptional communication skills, including presentation and written communication.
• Demonstrated leadership and relationship-building across seniority levels.

Responsibilities

• Own client relationships, driving revenue growth and new business.
• Lead and mentor teams across disciplines to deliver projects on time and on budget.
• Develop trusted relationships with executives and present compelling proposals.
• Oversee financial management, forecasts and profitability for assigned accounts.
• Collaborate with Creative, Strategy and Production to deliver integrated work.
• Attend pitches and contribute to new business opportunities.

Skills

Client service leadership

Agency leadership

Strategic agility

Conceptual thinking

Exceptional communication

Leadership & relationship building

Job description

Company description

Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) is a world-famous creative agency that makes jaw-dropping, thumb-stopping, eye-opening work for brands across the globe. Founded in London in 1982, we now have offices in New York, Los Angeles, Stockholm, Mumbai, Singapore, and Shanghai. Our first ad for Levi’s showed a black sheep travelling in the opposite direction to a flock of white ones. That’s where we got our logo and our guiding philosophy: when the world zigs, zag. Why? Because it’s easy to zig, to go with the grain. It feels safe. It feels like the sensible thing to do. But the greater risk is failing to stand out. We believe in the power of difference to make a difference.

Our goal is a simple one: make the best work in the world. That’s where you come in. We need rebels, dreamers, thinkers, mathematicians, makers, artists, visionaries, doers, observers, the different and the unreasonable. We need Black Sheep. People who want to make the hearts flutter and minds do flips, who can change businesses and culture. People who want to make a difference, come here for something different.

https://www.bartleboglehegarty.com

Overview

We are currently seeking a full-time Group Account Director to join our team. Financial services experience a plus.

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 a 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. 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 12/1/2026.