SVP, Group Account Director

Leo New York; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Leo New York in NYC is seeking a SVP Group Account Director to steer culture-shaping, innovative work on behalf of Walmart. You will lead an integrated team across creative, strategy, production, and project management, guiding opportunities and ensuring client success.

The ideal candidate is a proven client business partner with leadership experience across large portfolios, comfortable with ambiguity, and able to grow the relationship while mentoring a high-performing team.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership on large-scale campaigns with innovative outputs or client partnerships focused on digital transformation.
• Demonstrated ability to drive growth through integrated, cross-functional collaboration.
• Passion for working at the speed of retail and delivering measurable results.

Responsibilities

• Be a thought leader and lead our team by example, directing and inspiring to exceed expectations.
• Act as a brand steward; know the brand and business inside out, guiding opportunities and challenges.
• Be open to ideas from DeptW team and partners with multicultural fluency.
• Have high emotional intelligence and navigate a complex organization, building relationships.
• Nurture and grow the account team, developing junior and mid-level talent.
• Direct internal teams and agency partnerships with clarity, inspiring collaboration.
• Navigate DeptW Power of One team and operations to deliver outstanding creative solutions.
• Guide all stages of the creative process from strategy to production with problem-solving.

Skills

Leadership

Account leadership

Cross-functional leadership

Digital transformation

Brand stewardship

Client partnership

Education

Bachelor's degree or relevant experience

Job description

Company Description

A global creative constellation built for what’s next—uniting the human vision of the Leo Burnett network with the innovation of Publicis Worldwide.

Company Description

A global creative constellation built for what’s next—uniting the human vision of the Leo Burnett network with the innovation of Publicis Worldwide.

Leo is HI × AI: Human Insight, Human Ideas, Human Impact—supercharged by the data and technology to move faster, go further, and deliver everywhere.

Leo brings together 15,000+ people across 90 countries, combining global scale with creative firepower to drive outsized impact for brands.

Overview

We’re looking for a SVP Group Account Director to be the integrated account team leader steering culture-shaping, innovative and effective work on behalf of the world’s largest retailer – Walmart.

The ideal candidate is a proven client business partner, someone with the resourcefulness, flexibility, pro-active curiosity to behave as a leader across a big, complex team. You will need to juggle multiple business priorities simultaneously, and manage up and down the team – and not be opposed to leaning in and getting your hands dirty. You will help lead a large team of driven account managers and integrated team across creative, strategy, production and project management.

You must be equal parts strategic business partner, production and creative pro, and problem solver, comfortable in the ambiguous and able to turn it into clarity to make progress. You will deepen our client relationship and grow their business in a meaningful way. You will need proven agency leadership experience across a large client portfolio, with examples of innovative or transformative creative outputs.

You will work as a leader across DeptW, the Publicis Groupe Walmart Power of One creative agency solution – a collective of agencies and partners working together on behalf of Walmart. This is a big team that spans five+ creative agencies. You will need to be a true collaborator across a myriad of partners, and prioritize the success of our clients and the larger team vs. any individual agency. This is different than a traditional IAT, we all work together and succeed together.

Responsibilities

To be successful in this role, you must:

• Be a thought leader and lead our team by example, you are directing and inspiring your team to meet and exceed all expectations and do their best work every day
• Act as a brand steward – you must know the brand and business inside and out, and you are the one clients will call when things are good and bad, and will help navigate all opportunities and challenges
• Be open to ideas and insight from across the DeptW team and all partners, with multi-cultural fluency
• Have high emotional intelligence and confidence navigating across a complex organization, building strong internal and external relationships
• Have a passion for nurturing and growing the account team and building client management and business partnership as a core competency for junior and mid-level talent
• Manage and direct internal teams (direct reports, agency partnerships, colleagues and seniors) with confidence and clarity, inspiring others to collaborate and solve challenges together
• Navigate DeptW Power of One team and operations, leaning on the internal expertise available to deliver outstanding creative solutions to a range of briefs and asks
• Be fluent in all phases of the creative process from strategy, through creative to production and bring expertise and guidance to each stage, helping problem solve and veer from process when needed
• Be adept at having difficult conversations and reasoning through ambiguous situations – every day iand situation is different, and requires transparency and critical thinking to drive positive outcomes
• Foresee issues before they arise and head them off. They take pressure off the team by tackling the difficult conversations, and knowing when to escalate for support.
• Have an entrepreneurial mindset and keep your eyes out for client needs and are able to quickly translate these needs into a solution to help grow the business.

Qualifications

• At least 15+ years of experience and demonstrated growth as an Account leader on large, complex clients
• Clear examples of leadership on a large-scale campaign with innovative creative outputs and/or client partnership focused on digital transformation
• Passion for working at the speed of retail is a must
• This role will be based out of the NYC area; in office presence is a must
• Bachelor’s degree or relevant experience

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 $180,215.00 - USD $299,637.00/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 9/14/2026.