VP, Client Leadership

Darkroom Studios, LLC; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Health & Wellness benefits

401(k) with company match

Parental Leave

Onsite in Bay Area

Job summary

Darkroom is seeking a VP, Client Business Lead to be the senior client liaison, embedding with the client most of the week and aligning founders with Darkroom’s multi-disciplinary teams in a fast-moving environment.

You will translate founder direction into actionable plans, maintain the operating rhythm, and protect the client relationship while guiding a cross-functional team through priorities and tradeoffs.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in growth marketing or client leadership for marketing services.
• Experience leading a large, fast-moving account for a founder-led or venture-backed consumer company.
• Media fluency deep enough to defend a plan line by line and read platform data.

Responsibilities

• Be Darkroom's senior leader embedded with the client most of the week, owning the relationship with the founders and product leadership.
• Translate client priorities into clear briefs for the Darkroom teams to execute.
• Run the operating rhythm: weekly onsite plans and a single set of priorities for the team.
• Own escalations end to end and close the loop with both sides.
• Make calls in the room on budget, pacing, and channel mix with senior leaders.

Skills

Growth marketing

Client leadership

Media fluency

Executive presence

Cross-functional

Onsite in San José

Job description

About Darkroom

Founded in 2017, we set out to redefine what a modern agency could be, by replacing the inertia of legacy advertising behemoths with a model built for speed, intelligence, and measurable impact.

At our core, Darkroom is a human services company powered by Shadow, a universal AI commerce layer that integrates executive-level strategy with proprietary agentic technology. This fusion enables our teams to deliver outsized returns by enhancing creative output, operational efficiency, and revenue generation across every stage of the customer journey.

Our track record speaks for itself: billions in attributable revenue driven across e-commerce marketplaces, media networks, DTC ecosystems, and social commerce platforms. Every engagement feeds into our proprietary data infrastructure, enabling a continuous feedback loop that accelerates growth, improves margins, and compounds results across our client portfolio.

What began as a boutique design studio has evolved into one of the fastest-growing private companies in America (Inc. 5000) and among the most effective performance media agencies of the 2020s (Varos). Our founders were recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 for advancing the intersection of technology, marketing, and advertising, cementing Darkroom's role as a defining player in the future of media innovation.

About the Role

Darkroom is the growth partner for a category-defining consumer technology company scaling paid media into eight figures a year, with an aggressive product roadmap behind it. We're hiring a VP, Client Business Lead to be our senior leader on the ground with that client: based in their San Francisco office four to five days a week, working directly with the founders and product team, and acting as the person in the room who can make a call.

This is a client leadership role for someone fluent in media. You'll own the client's day-to-day experience at Darkroom, turn fast-moving founder direction into clear priorities for a large cross-functional team, and keep the engagement steady as it scales. You'll work alongside our Director of Growth, who runs account strategy, and our VP of Paid Media, who is the executive sponsor of the account. This is Darkroom's most strategic client.

What You'll Own

• Be Darkroom's senior leader embedded with the client most of the week, owning the relationship with the founders and product leadership and how they experience Darkroom every day




• Act as the voice of the client inside Darkroom, so their priorities, feedback, and frustrations reach our leadership and shape how the team works, before they become escalations




• Run the operating rhythm: weekly onsite plans, structured decision windows with the founders, and a single set of priorities that the full Darkroom team works from




• Translate founder instinct and shifting product priorities into clear briefs and tradeoffs that our media, creative, creator, social, and lifecycle teams can execute without whiplash




• Own escalations end to end, resolving them with speed and directness and closing the loop on both sides




• Hold scope and expectation conversations directly and constructively, so the client gets what they need and the team isn't absorbing work nobody agreed to




• Spot where Darkroom can do more for the client as their roadmap grows, and shape that into scoped work rather than scope creep




• Make calls in the room on budget, pacing, channel mix, and priorities, and know when to bring in the SVP of Strategy or VP of Paid Media




• Diagnose performance and delivery issues in real time, from a campaign that isn't serving to a creative pipeline that's slipping, and drive the fix across teams




• Pressure-test the client's measurement setup with their engineers and keep both sides clear on who owns what




• Bring a point of view on what wins in consumer tech growth and set the agenda rather than waiting to be briefed




• Tell the client no when it protects performance, and tell Darkroom no when it protects the client

Must Have

• 10+ years in growth marketing or client leadership for marketing services




• Experience leading a large, fast-moving account for a founder-led or venture-backed consumer company, in-house or at an agency




• Media fluency deep enough to defend a plan line by line, read platform data without a translator, and push back on a media team when something's off




• Working knowledge of mobile app growth and app measurement (MMPs, SKAN, event tracking), with the confidence to hold your own with engineers




• Executive presence with founders: you can disagree, say no, and still be the person they want in the room




• Proven ability to run a cross-functional team's priorities through a demanding client without burning out the team or the relationship




• Ability to work onsite at the client's office in San José four to five days a week

Nice to Have

• A career that started in media planning or performance media and grew into client or account leadership




• Growth experience in consumer AI, consumer subscription, or another high-velocity consumer tech product




• Experience scaling an app through a major launch or hypergrowth period




• Direct ownership of paid media budgets at eight-figure annual scale




• Exposure to incrementality testing or MMM




• Experience working across creative, creator, organic social, and lifecycle programs, not just media

Culture Fit

• You like being close to the product and want a seat at the table where decisions get made




• You move quickly and don't need a process for everything to get things done




• You have opinions and bring them, backed by data and experience




• You stay calm and steady when the stakes and the budgets are high




• You lead through credibility in the work, not through title

Not the bar: Pure relationship managers who can't read a media plan in the numbers, pure media operators who haven't led a client relationship, or anyone who can't commit to being onsite in the Bay Area four to five days a week.

What It's Like to Work at Darkroom

Darkroom is not a typical agency. We are looking for A players who want to build something great. We move fast, think deeply, and expect every team member to bring insight and rigor to everything they touch. We hold a high bar for performance, creativity, and ownership, but we also support each other relentlessly. No egos, no red tape. Just world-class talent building something remarkable.

We believe in autonomy with accountability, truth over comfort, and outcomes over optics.

• Unlimited PTO + US holidays: Rebooting is part of the work. Take the time you need to stay sharp.




• Embedded with the client: This role is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and works from the client's office four to five days a week, as part of a 150-person independent agency.




• Health & Wellness: Company-sponsored medical, dental, and vision coverage.




• Finances, growth, and retirement: Darkroom offers a robust 401(k) program with company match and profit-sharing opportunities to help you save and grow as the company grows.




• Parental Leave: Flexible parental leave to support new parents during this important transition.




• Growth: Our interdisciplinary model gives every Darkroomer exposure far beyond their core role. Grow your skills, expand your influence, and stay at the forefront of the industry.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Darkroom is an equal opportunity workplace. We are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.