We are hiring: Account Manager

We are Black Sheep, a cause-driven creative and brand strategy agency that works with impactful companies and organizations to activate communities around things that matter, and we are recruiting for an Account Manager.

Learn more here: 

• The job description
• Requirements + areas of mastery
• Open-book management + compensation
• Inclusion at Black Sheep
• How to apply

Account Manager Job Description

As an Account Manager, you will predominantly work with the agency's long-term retained clients, serving as a day-to-day partner and producer on ongoing work. You’ll actively deepen engagement with our clients and further the leadership position of Black Sheep within their organization. You’ll be part of a team of enthusiastic problem solvers, inventing and delivering new brand experiences for our clients, and you'll collaborate together to create efficiencies and to inspire our best work every day. In this position you will leverage your love of organization combined with strategic and creative solutions to deliver thorough execution of our ideas. You’ll confidently manage multiple projects for several clients at once while remaining flexible, positive and detail oriented. You are located in Houston (or close to) and will manage a hybrid WFH/in-office work schedule. 

What does that mean for your day-to-day? You will be…

• Executing on visionary strategies by planning large-scale timelines and owning day-to-day next steps to bring big ideas and short- and long-term projects to life 
• Understanding client needs and challenges and orienting the team toward solutions  
• Managing the client experience and nurturing the day-to-day client relationship    
• Ensuring Account Coordinators are armed with the tools, information and resources necessary to make a project successful, mentoring and teaching what you're learning along the way 
• Keeping a close eye on all initiatives running for a client and ensuring no opportunities are missed 
• Drafting content and assisting in research for strategy and creative services 
• Serving as a partner to our clients and developing and implementing creative tactics that deliver on their goals 
• Learning from and executing on Account Director feedback and strategic direction, realizing that the Account Director has been in your shoes and has mastered the role you're challenged with 
• Developing SOWs, project plans and strategic points of view  
• Tracking objectives and ROI for client and agency  
• Communicating learnings, growth and progress to the internal team on projects you're managing as they work beside you 
• Identifying opportunities for new account processes and best practices   

Why is this role important for Black Sheep’s work?

In a nutshell, as Account Manager at Black Sheep, you will be a chief implementor of vision laid out in comprehensive client strategies. Your daily efforts will drive meaningful change for our clients and your actions will ensure we continue to strengthen our relationships and create ongoing opportunities to serve as a creative partner.

Job Requirements

While it’s hard to define the exact experience necessary, we are hoping to find someone that meets the requirements below—or someone who can prove to us that the experiences they’ve had beat what we have outlined.

• 3-5 years of relevant experience in which you have written for brand initiatives, executed strategic marketing initiatives and met aggressive deadlines, preferably at an agency or in another fast-paced environment  
• Understanding of marketing best practices with experience in digital and experiential marketing 
• Experience developing and executing large-scale project plans, budgets and timelines 
• Experience measuring marketing initiatives and reporting on results—Google Analytics, Sprout Social, email or other similar platforms a plus 
• Strong, concise, creative writing skills  
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail  
• Advanced communication skills, including both written (documents and presentations) and interpersonal communication skills  
• Confidence and poise to successfully present strategy or program recommendations to clients  
• Ability to handle managing 3-6 clients simultaneously, while maintaining your cool  

Key Areas of Mastery

• Own the momentum: Drive strategies forward and invest yourself in that momentum. Inspire action among the full team assigned to the project. Nurture ideas until they're executed and returning on the investment. 
• Execute big vision: With a creative plan in place, it's your time to make the plan come to life by executing ideas, timelines, roadmaps and tactics while continuing to poke holes in the plan when necessary and add to the plan in progress when you identify opportunities to make the work work even harder or to delight the client with an added burst of creativity.  
• Master communicating project results and identifying moments to pivot: While every team member has a responsibility for the results of their work, as an Account Manager, you'll be responsible for actively communicating those results to the client in a way that they understand, and in a way that demonstrates a return. Additionally, while you aren't always expected to have the solution, you'll need to know the signs when an initiative isn't working and quickly raise the flag so the team can adjust.  
• Be rooted in financial responsibility: You'll need to master creating efficiencies and understanding how each opportunity you manage fits into the agency's growth plan. You must actively report out on estimate-versus-actual scopes and proactively identify ways to right any ships that have gone off track.

Open-Book Management and Bonus Compensation

From the inception of Black Sheep, we've made a conscious effort to always keep people as the central focus of our growth strategy. As a team we practice open-book management and huddle weekly to discuss our financial trajectory. We pay out quarterly bonuses to the team based on specified quarterly agency targets. Team members are currently averaging 12% of their annual salary in bonus annually with potential to increase based on agency performance. We win and lose as a team and our bonus structure is no different.

Inclusion at The Black Sheep Agency

Yes, we’re a gathering of rebels. We’ve come together to change minds and accelerate impact for organizations and businesses that are leading communities toward a more equitable future. In our field of strategy, marketing and creative ideas, we know the playing field isn’t fair, and getting a dream job is easier for some than others.

We believe our ecosystem is strengthened through perspective and collaboration, and that can only happen when mentorship, leadership and career opportunities are open to all. We’re looking for go-getters and figure-it-outers— people who think beyond the ordinary list of awards and internships and tell the story of how they’ve transformed their professional life through personal initiative and creativity.

We don’t believe talent and expertise should look the same—ever. Tell us how you’ll join us in sparking an empowered and brilliant future for our communities. Be your own agent of change. We want to meet you.