Account Director

About Paradowski

Paradowski Creative is an independent, full-service creative agency based in St. Louis. We bring strategy, creativity, technology, and craft together to create experiences that spark curiosity, invite participation, and help brands build meaningful connections with people. Our teams work collaboratively across disciplines to solve complex business challenges and produce work that is thoughtful, effective, and made with care. We value creative play, clear thinking, accountability, strong relationships, and people who care about both the quality of the work and how it gets made.

Role Overview

Paradowski Creative is seeking an experienced, strategic Account Director to lead client relationships, shape campaign development, and drive the delivery of exceptional creative work. This role exists to provide senior, steady leadership across a complex, high-volume portfolio spanning 25 client codes within one of our largest organizational relationships, work that requires exceptional organizational leadership, proactive communication, and the ability to deliver consistently excellent work at scale.

As Account Director, you'll serve as a senior strategic advisor to clients, own the health and growth of key partnerships, and help develop a strong account team. You'll partner closely with Group Account Directors to support portfolio success, working across Creative, Strategy, and Specialty disciplines to keep collaboration strong, accountability clear, and opportunities for client and agency growth in view.

What You'll Do

Client Leadership

• Serve as a senior strategic advisor and trusted partner, helping clients navigate business challenges and translating goals into effective marketing and communications strategies
• Own the overall health of key client relationships, including satisfaction, delivery quality, profitability, and growth, ensuring work aligns with business objectives, brand strategy, and audience needs
• Cultivate deep, trust-based relationships at multiple levels within client organizations, and maintain a professional network that strengthens the agency's presence and reputation in the market
• Proactively identify new and organic growth opportunities within existing client relationships, bringing forward relevant ideas, capabilities, and solutions before clients ask
• Lead client presentations, campaign briefings, and feedback sessions, advocating for the integrity and effectiveness of the work
• Resolve challenges proactively and maintain open, productive communication across teams and stakeholders

Portfolio & Financial Management

• Manage a large, complex account portfolio spanning 25 client codes under a single organizational relationship, maintaining clarity, prioritization, and consistent quality across all workstreams
• Manage account finances, including budgeting, forecasting, profitability, and resource planning
• Monitor campaign performance and guide recommendations that improve effectiveness and business impact

Creative & Strategic Leadership

• Guide the development and execution of integrated campaigns across digital, social, experiential, content, and traditional channels
• Set a high creative and strategic bar across the portfolio, contributing to conditions that produce award-worthy, portfolio-defining work
• Partner with Creative, Strategy, Specialty department leads, and other discipline heads to align on account direction, uphold delivery standards, and drive integrated collaboration
• Stay current on marketing trends, cultural shifts, emerging technologies, and platform opportunities to keep client strategies relevant and competitive

Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop account team members, establishing clear expectations, fostering accountability, and supporting professional growth
• Partner with Group Account Directors to support portfolio objectives and identify opportunities for long-term client and agency growth

Business Development

• Contribute to agency growth through new business development, pitches, proposals, and relationship building

Operations

• Champion agency processes and ways of working, helping ensure strong collaboration, communication, and delivery across teams

What You Bring

Required Qualifications

• 8 years of account management experience in a creative or integrated agency environment
• Proven experience leading client relationships and delivering integrated, cross-channel marketing programs at a senior level
• Strong understanding of brand strategy, marketing communications, and campaign development across digital, social, content, and experiential channels
• Financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, profitability management, and scope development
• Experience leading and developing teams, and managing multiple concurrent engagements
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, facilitation, and presentation skills
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace
• Bachelor's degree in Advertising, Marketing, Communications, or a related field
• Experience managing large brands or complex, multi-stakeholder client relationships, including high-volume portfolios with multiple concurrent workstreams or client codes
• Demonstrated success growing client relationships and expanding scopes of work
• Familiarity with AI-enabled platforms and workflows (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, or similar tools), and comfort working alongside teams that use them; fluency in AI creative tools is not required

To Apply

To apply, email your resume to jobs@paradowski.com using the subject line: Account Director – [First Name] [Last Name]

Why Paradowski

At Paradowski, craft and curiosity drive the work. You'll collaborate across disciplines with people who care as much about how the work gets made as the final result, with room to grow, contribute a point of view, and build a career alongside people who take the work seriously without taking themselves too seriously. 

Paradowski is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy-related conditions, and lactation), gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, military service or veteran status, physical or mental disability, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Benefits

Paradowski offers a comprehensive benefits package for eligible full-time employees, including multiple medical plan options, dental and vision coverage, a 401(k) with company match, paid time off, paid holidays and floating holidays, paid parental and birth recovery leave, employer-paid basic life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, and employee wellbeing and professional-development resources. Eligibility and coverage are subject to the applicable plan terms.

Work Authorization

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. As a condition of employment, all new employees are required to complete the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) and provide documentation establishing identity and work authorization.

To Apply

To apply, email your resume to jobs@paradowski.com using the subject line: Account Director – [First Name] [Last Name]