At Pencil, we are driving innovation in advertising technology through our state-of-the-art SaaS product, which harnesses Generative AI to redefine content creation. Our mission is to make AI the default in advertising without replacing creative people. To achieve this, we need to make sure that our technology isn't just in the hands of big brands - we need to try to help small businesses and creative individuals too.
Must be based in New York and available to work from the client's office at least two days per week.
The role
You'll own one of the world's leading beauty clients as we move them from a traditional in-house studio to agentic services. AI agents will do the high-volume production work, skilled people will own the judgement and the craft, and the client will pay for outcomes rather than hours. You'll be accountable for how that change lands: the results, the relationship, and the team doing the work. You'll be the person the client trusts while it happens, and the person who proves the model works so we can repeat it elsewhere.
Key responsibilities
Own the client, end to end: Be the senior point of contact for the client's leadership. Set operating objectives for the account and be accountable for its budget, schedule and performance.
Lead the move from hours to outcomes: Shape and negotiate a commercial model based on finished work and results, with clear measurement behind every number.
Run the change on live work: Work with Pencil's product and engineering teams and the client's teams to build agent-first ways of working, prove them on real briefs, and make them the default. Decide what agents do and what people do.
Lead the team and its leaders: Set direction, hire, develop and manage performance for the people delivering the work, and build a culture where a small team runs a large fleet of agents.
Protect quality and raise bad news early: Set the quality measures, hold the line on them, and tell the client and our leadership quickly when something isn't working.
Shape what comes next: Find new areas of work with the client, and share what you learn with Pencil's leadership so we can offer agentic services to other clients.
Your background
You've led a large, complex client account or in-house studio and been accountable for its budget and results, at director level or above.
You have experience working in an agency environment, managing between 1–5 enterprise-level clients.
You've led a change in a live client environment, such as a new operating model or new tools, and not only run steady-state operations.
You must have used AI or automation in real production work, and you know how to measure the quality of what it produces.
You've held the confidence of senior client stakeholders, including through commercial negotiations and pricing changes.
You've managed and developed other team leaders.
Experience in beauty, personal care or another regulated content category.
You'll Thrive Here If You...
Owners: You take total ownership of the result, including when it goes wrong, and you say so early.
Fast: You would rather prove an idea on real work in weeks than plan it for months, then stop and look at where you are.
Simple: You see a task done twice and ask what can be taken away, then automate it.
Human: You believe agents should run the volume and people should own the judgement. You never automate to 100%.
Surprising: You bring clients ideas and new scopes of work they didn't ask for.
KPIs & Success Measures
Share of the client's briefs handled by agents first, growing over time.
Quality pass rate of agent-produced work, checked by people on live briefs.
Gross margin on the account against plan.
Growth in client revenue and scope of work.
Client relationship health, from senior stakeholder feedback.
Milestones for the move to agentic services reached on time.
Benefits
25 days PTO plus public holidays, although we operate a Flexible Time Off scheme.
Health insurance / private medical cover.
Monthly stipend towards wellness, fitness, and learning and development
You will be eligible to enrol in Pencil's 401(k) retirement savings plan after completing two months of employment.
Enhanced parental leave policies, whether you become a parent through birth, adoption or surrogacy.
Access to the client's office in New York.
Flexible working hours.
Deep Dive About Pencil
Pencil uses AI to make ads. Our mission is to make marketing effective and effortless. We want to become the default way ads get made - because AI ads are 10x faster and cheaper to make, and 2x better performing, than making them without AI.
We're called Pencil because we believe AI will be a tool for creative people, not a replacement - it may even be as fundamental a tool in the future as the pencil was in the past.
Pencil was founded in 2018 with a team from Google, Facebook and Uber with backing from Sequoia and Entrepreneur First. We were acquired by The Brandtech Group in 2023 to pursue a shared vision of bringing GenAI to the Fortune 500.
https://www.trypencil.com
Skills Required
- Based in New York and available to work from the client’s office at least two days per week
- Director-level or above experience leading a large, complex client account or in-house studio with budget and results accountability
- Experience working in an agency environment with one to five enterprise-level clients
- Experience leading change in a live client environment, such as a new operating model or tools
- Experience using AI or automation in real production work and measuring output quality
- Experience managing commercial negotiations and pricing changes with senior client stakeholders
- Experience managing and developing team leaders
- Experience in beauty, personal care, or another regulated content category
What We Do
We believe that AI will be as fundamental to creativity in the future as the pencil was in the past. We've built the world's most powerful Creative AI platform to help you generate better, faster and more affordable ads.
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