Senior Account Lead & Strategist

AgencyQ; Bethesda (MD); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

AgencyQ in Bethesda, MD seeks a Senior Account Lead & Strategist to own strategic client relationships, drive retention and growth, and translate goals into multi-year roadmaps with KPIs. You will lead executive discussions, manage budgets, and align delivery with high-quality standards.

You will partner with PMs and delivery to land initiatives on time and within scope, using CMS/DXP platforms and analytics to show measurable impact for clients and AgencyQ.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 7–10 years of client-facing experience in a digital agency, consultancy, or in-house digital organization.
• Proven track record growing existing accounts and increasing revenue.
• Experience owning executive-level relationships with C-suite or senior stakeholders.
• Experience defining KPIs and measurement frameworks and reporting digital performance.
• Three or more on-time, on-budget projects with teams >5 and budgets >$250k as lead.
• Deep understanding of digital including CMS and DXP implementations, design systems, analytics.
• Experience using Jira, Github, or similar tools and Salesforce for pipeline/account tracking.
• Experience in an Agile environment.
• PMP and/or Scrum Master certification a plus.
• Detail-oriented, organized, and able to prioritize across multiple accounts.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• US Citizenship required for certain government engagements.

Responsibilities

• Own relationship health, client satisfaction, and renewal for strategic accounts.
• Identify and close expansion opportunities across stakeholders and units.
• Build multi-year digital roadmaps linking objectives to platform and AI initiatives.
• Define KPIs, instrument them, and report performance in business reviews.
• Establish and run executive cadences: quarterly reviews, steering committees, and planning.
• Navigate stakeholder groups and push toward decisions.
• Collaborate with PM and delivery leadership to land work on time and on budget.
• Lead scoping, estimating, proposals, and change orders with practice leads.
• Monitor revenues, staffing plans, and gross margin versus targets.
• Review client needs and translate into credible solution directions across CMS/DXP and Analytics.
• Bring benchmarks and competitive insights to clients.
• Advocate for client and AgencyQ’s standards internally and externally.
• Provide leadership and mentorship to project teams.

Skills

Executive relationships

Account growth

Client retention

KPIs & metrics

Agile

CMS/DXP

Analytics

Jira

Github

Salesforce

Budget management

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

US Citizenship

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Jira

Github

Salesforce

Job description

Overview

AgencyQ is looking for a Senior Account Lead & Strategist to own the direction, health, and growth of our most strategic client relationships. This is a hybrid role. Part trusted advisor, helping clients use digital technology to move their business and mission forward. Part account leader, accountable for retention, expansion, and the outcomes we promised.

You will define what success looks like alongside executive stakeholders, translate it into multi-year roadmaps with measurable KPIs, hold delivery honest against those commitments, and continuously find the next place where AgencyQ can create value. Candidates should be enthusiastic about all things digital, comfortable in front of senior stakeholders, and equally comfortable in the details of a schedule, a budget, or a dashboard.

Note: The salary range includes compensation tied to on target performance.

Technical Competencies

• Serve as the senior point of contact and trusted advisor for assigned strategic accounts, owning relationship health, client satisfaction, and renewal.
• Own account growth targets. Identify, shape, and close expansion opportunities that unlock new stakeholders, business units, and capability areas within existing client footprints.
• Build and maintain multi-year digital roadmaps that connect client business and mission objectives to platform, content, data and AI initiatives.
• Define KPIs and success measures with client stakeholders, instrument them, and report performance honestly in recurring business reviews, including what is not working.
• Establish and run an executive cadence, including quarterly business reviews, steering committees, and annual planning sessions.
• Navigate complex stakeholder groups and drive alignment, surfacing competing priorities early and pushing toward decisions rather than around them.
• Partner with project management and delivery leadership to ensure assigned work lands on time, on budget, and within AgencyQ's high-quality standards. Step directly into scoping, timelines, workflow, and risk management when the account requires it.
• Lead scoping, estimating, proposal, and change order development for account work in coordination with practice leads.
• Monitor account financials, including revenue forecast, staffing plan, and gross profit margin performance against targets defined by Management.
• Review, analyze, and evaluate client business systems and user needs, and help formulate solutions aligned to the client's overall business strategy.
• Translate client needs into credible solution direction across platforms (e.g. Sitecore, Acquia, Contentful, Optimizely, and others), analytics, and AgencyQ's AiQ Cortex solution.
• Bring proactive points of view, benchmarks, and competitive insight to clients rather than waiting to be asked.
• Advocate for the best interests and needs of the client internally, and for AgencyQ's standards externally.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and mentorship to project teams and junior strategists.

Behavioral Competencies

• Is passionate about human-centered design, with a fascination for understanding the human experience.
• Unwavering commitment to and ownership of solving customer problems. Loves to delight a customer.
• Constructively advocates for client and user needs and does not easily back down on important issues. Advocates for accessible and inclusive design.
• A team player, open to critiques from all disciplines, and not afraid to share ideas. Understands that critique is part of the process, seeks feedback from colleagues and clients, and can both give and receive constructive feedback to create stronger solutions.
• Strong sense of empathy for internal and external audiences and their needs.
• Understands the importance of rolling up one's sleeves to achieve customer goals and consistently hit results, while also championing the vision.
• Credible and composed with executive audiences. Able to deliver difficult news, hold a position under pressure, and keep the relationship intact.
• Commercially minded. Sees the growth opportunity inside good delivery work and acts on it without becoming a salesperson the client stops trusting.
• Continuous self-learner, constantly seeking opportunities to experiment, fail fast, optimize and improve workflows, and foster open communication. Curious and critical thinker with an ability to articulate complex ideas with humility.
• Energized by solving problems and putting structure around ambiguity.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• 7 to 10 years of client-facing experience in a digital agency, consultancy, or in-house digital organization, including direct account leadership or engagement management responsibility.
• Demonstrated record of growing existing accounts, with specific examples of expanding scope, reaching new stakeholders or business units, and increasing annual revenue.
• Experience owning executive-level relationships, including presenting to and aligning C-suite or equivalent senior stakeholders.
• Experience defining KPIs and measurement frameworks and reporting digital performance to business stakeholders.
• Three (3) or more instances of on time, on budget, on scope delivery for projects with over 5 team members and budgets over $250,000, as the lead or accountable owner.
• Fluent understanding of the unique characteristics of digital, including CMS and DXP implementations, design systems, content operations, and analytics.
• Experience using Jira, Github, or comparable project management tools, and Salesforce for pipeline/account tracking.
• Experience working in an agile environment.
• PMP and/or Scrum Master certification a plus.
• Extremely detail oriented and organized, with the ability to prioritize across multiple accounts and competing deadlines.
• Ability to collaborate with both external and internal team members and stakeholders.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and follow-up skills, both written and verbal.
• US Citizenship required to support certain government client engagements.

Equal Opportunity Employer

AgencyQ is an Equal Opportunity / Aff All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or protected Veteran status.