Marketing Sustainability Account Director (Principal Level)

Account Directors at ERM Shelton are a hybrid – part business management consultant, part communications director – advising clients in real time about how to leverage sustainability as a business strategy and directing creative and digital team members to craft compelling stories.

The Account Director takes the lead in determining the problems clients need to solve and the opportunities they can leverage, and partners with internal resources in creating and proposing solutions. This requires maintaining deep, consultative relationships with senior-level client and agency contacts; maintaining a deep understanding of the client’s business, market situation, products and competitive set as well as an understanding of our latest market insights and the marketing industry; and becoming both a trusted advisor to clients and to the broader project and account teams. It also requires an ability to ask insightful questions, connect disparate dots, apply research insights and marketing industry knowledge, and think on your feet. This role is about creating a vision for clients AND the hands-on creation of solutions for clients – and about driving revenue for the firm in the process. Additionally, this role oversees client projects, ensuring deliverables are completed in an efficient manner – on time and on budget. And this role involves leading one or more large accounts and/or several small-to-large accounts.

Accountabilities:

Create and manage strategy for assigned accounts, generate results that meet client expectations/achieve stated goals, grow AGI of client base year-over-year.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Client Experience

• Leads senior-level relationships with clients and key Shelton Group players. Establishes trusted advisor relationships in which clients and colleagues seek out advice and counsel and in which you identify and offer up opportunities and ideas.
• Is a strategic partner to assigned clients by demonstrating a deep understanding of their market and business sectors and their specific challenges and opportunities.
• Provides thought leadership, insights, and perspectives that support client initiatives and align services and solutions with client needs.
• Is a true marketing and business consultant, able to recommend strategic ideas that connect to a client’s business strategy and position the client for market success; able to write and articulate marketing communications plans that allow a client to fully leverage their sustainability commitments and actions to build their brand and/or sell products.
• Maintains existing business relationship with assigned clients by staying closely connected to internal project teams, monitoring progress of ongoing client projects, as needed, and helping to address and resolve promptly, accurately, effectively, and to the client’s satisfaction, any issues or problems that may arise.
• Presents ideas and recommendations effectively, in an engaging, confidence-building manner – both in prepared presentations and extemporaneously in client meetings.
• Identifies new challenges and opportunities for clients and helps to sell those through.

Operational Excellence

• Defining the ambiguous for clients and internal teams and helping to resolve any conflicts both internally and externally.
• Regularly analyzes the profitability and growth of assigned client accounts through KPIs and other metrics; utilizes data in decision-making to maintain or improve account portfolio performance.
• Creates strong and effective internal partnerships with Research and Insights, Creative, Digital, and Client Management teams; collaborates across the business to ensure client needs are met and projects stay within scope, budget, timeline, quality, and other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
• Participates in Quarterly Sr. Director agency meetings as a senior leader within the agency.

Approach

• Maintains and utilizes a long-term, holistic view of the business.
• Takes ownership of personal actions and outcomes and encourages and empowers others to do the same.
• Focuses own and the team’s efforts on achieving SMART objectives aligned to the Company’s Strategic Imperatives; acknowledges employees’ efforts and rewards results.
• Thinks strategically as well as tactically and takes a “big picture" perspective of the company.
• Sets high and clearly defined standards for direct reports; provides current, objective, and complete positive and constructive feedback and addresses performance concerns directly, fairly, and in a timely manner.
• Serves as a coach and mentor; provides coaching and feedback on specific skill development and encourages employees to pursue upward and lateral growth opportunities to enhance expertise and drive career development.
• Provides specific, objective feedback to direct reports through written performance reviews as part of the Performance Management program.
• Creates strong and effective internal partnerships and collaborates across the Company; listens and values the opinions of others.
• Is an effective team member; supports the team by pitching in at any level and effectively working across the organization to meet the needs of the business.

• Proactively seeks to increase revenue by translating assigned client's challenges into opportunities to sell additional products and services across the Shelton Group portfolio and drive revenue growth.
• Develops and executes targeted “white space” opportunities for greater penetration of the client’s marketing spend through selling adjacent services or expanding into new client product lines.
• Leads the development and delivery of innovative proposals.
• Ensures client retention is maximized by facilitating the delivery of custom-tailored solutions to meet clients’ objectives and expectations.
• All other duties assigned by supervisor or otherwise directed by the Company Knowledge and Skill:
• Requires a 4-year degree (e.g., Bachelor of Arts) or equivalent degree within appropriate discipline such as Business, Marketing, or Communications.
• 8-10 years of experience managing clients.
• Previous experience supervising others.
• Proven experience successfully managing and advising clients in a Creative, Public Relations, or Consulting firm.
• Proven experience meeting or exceeding sales targets with new and existing clients.
• Proven experience leading relationships and helping clients develop and deploy marketing communications within one or more industries.

Strong strategic, big-picture thinking:

• See patterns indicating issues to solve and future scenarios/opportunities and be able to articulate them and plan to solve or leverage them.

Excellent attention to detail:

• Be able to immediately see the path for implementing bigger picture ideas.
• See problems coming, think ahead, ask questions, put action plans in place quickly.
• Display a high degree of personal accountability for accuracy and timeliness.
• Maintain excellent computer skills; quickly master any new software. Self-assurance without arrogance or defensiveness.
• Speak your mind/say what you think, especially if your opinion differs from the rest of the group.
• Be comfortable playing the devil’s advocate.
• Exhibit strong leadership and earn respect. Creative Problem Solving:
• Identify problems, seek out help and advice from others and create solutions.
• Be willing to try new approaches as the agency grows. Strong interpersonal skills/good read of people.
• Successfully manage people so that they feel supported and perform at their best.
• Successfully manage outside resources and build relationships with key partners/vendors so that they enjoy doing business with Shelton and the agency is provided the best possible terms/work from them.
• Be self-aware; put differing opinions forward in a way that they can be heard.

Location/Physical Demands.

• Preferred hybrid- work to be performed in the Knoxville, TN office at second floor location with no elevator access. Other ERM office locations throughout North America.
• Requires sitting for long periods of time.
• Requires frequent alpha/numeric keyboarding and navigation of basic software programs Requires effective and professional communications over the phone and in person.
• Specific vision abilities required include close vision, including but not limited to a computer screen, and the ability to adjust focus.