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We are hiring: Senior Account Manager (CLOSED)

We are no longer accepting applications!

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. We are recruiting for a Senior Account Manager.

Learn more here: 

Senior Account Manager Job Description

A Senior Account Manager at Black Sheep is a master of project management and client services, leading the agency’s relationships with key clients and owning account planning and project delivery. In this role, you are the dependable figure that clients and the team rely on, steering objectives and plans to meet the clients’ and agency’s needs. You have an advanced understanding of creative and marketing practices and trends to make informed recommendations to clients and the project team and to identify new, expanded opportunities. You are a skilled problem solver, using your strategic experience to foresee challenges, your curiosity to dig deeper and your inclusive leadership style to lead the team to successful outcomes.

Your day might include:

Owning and maintaining account relationships and project logistics with things like:

  • Serving as the primary point of contact for assigned key accounts, nurturing long-term relationships and promoting client satisfaction
  • Gaining a deep understanding of clients' businesses, industries and objectives to effectively align agency services and solutions with their needs.
  • Proactively engaging with clients to measure and track client sentiment with agency services and identify opportunities for improvement or expansion
  • Conducting regular client meetings, presentations and check-ins to provide updates, gather feedback, and address any concerns or issues promptly
  • Overseeing client deliverables to ensure they meet quality standards and adhere to clients’ goals
  • Developing and implementing comprehensive account and project plans
  • Onboarding new clients/teams and getting new projects from new business to activated
  • Onboarding contract and freelance partners and overseeing management of vendor relationships
  • Overseeing end-to-end management and on-time delivery of project work
  • Coordinating and collaborating with cross-functional teams, including creative and strategy, to ensure smooth project execution
  • Monitoring account financials, tracking project costs and addressing any budgetary concerns proactively
  • Compiling and providing status reports to clients on budgets, production schedules and any active metrics the agency is tracking
  • Collaborating with the operations team to ensure accurate and timely billing, invoicing, and financial reporting
  • Overseeing client and project off boarding 

Partnering with the Managing Director to evolve and maintain agency best practices and standard operating procedures for client and account services.

There will be lots of things that come up that aren’t on the list above. At Black Sheep, job descriptions are only written for the sake of organization and efficiency. Because of the ever-changing and ever-challenging nature of our work, you will constantly do things you never imagined doing. That’s the one thing we can say with 100% certainty.

Growth Potential

At Black Sheep, we believe in fostering professional growth and providing opportunities for our employees to advance their careers. We recognize the importance of cultivating leadership skills and empowering our team members to take on new challenges. Therefore, we envision that this role has the potential to expand in the near-term to include management of a team.

While the initial focus of this role is on client relationship management, strategic account planning and project management, as a Senior Account Manager at our agency, you will have the chance to demonstrate your exceptional leadership abilities and contribute to the growth and development of our account department. As our agency continues to expand, there will be an opportunity to step into a managerial position, overseeing a team of dedicated client service professionals.

Desired Competencies

Black Sheep is an agency where it’s clear what it takes to get the job done, we hold each other accountable and we’re rewarded for our improvement and mastery.

As a part of our work to define performance management at the agency, we have developed competencies or established benchmarks that describe levels of performance by team members at Black Sheep. We have two kinds of competencies: 1) core and 2) functional:

  • Core competencies (or company-wide) apply to any person on our team, regardless of their role and are rooted in our values of trust, curiosity and guts.
  • Functional competencies (or job-specific) are narrower in scope and are crafted to the specifics of a particular role.

The Core Competencies

  • Communication: Proactive, clear and collaborative communication cross-functionally
  • Feedback and growth mindset: A willingness to embrace challenges as learning opportunities and generosity to share and receive constructive feedback
  • Problem solving and strategic thinking: Bravery in the face of messy problems with an ability to articulate problems, insights and potential solutions while maintaining or shifting focus to the goals
  • Dependability and autonomy: Ability to be self-directed in work, consistently delivering quality work on time with clear follow through
  • Proficiency with our tools: Consistent modeling of agency-prescribed guidelines/best practices for tools

The Functional Competencies for a Senior Account Manager

  • Strategic account planning: Synthesize incoming information and connect it to the client/project and agency goals, identifying areas of opportunity, developing plans and proposing creative solutions to address clients' needs and achieve desired outcomes.
  • Customer service and relationship building: Model excellent customer service/support to provide high customer satisfaction and retention + proactively find ways to build trust, rapport and business with clients
  • Project Management: Advanced demonstration of strong project management skills/principles in order to mentor account managers, manage multiple relationships simultaneously and coordinate the efforts of the agency team and other stakeholders to ensure that all aspects of the projects are running smoothly
  • Business acumen: Good understanding of business and financial principles and and effective use of that knowledge to manage the agency's relationships with key clients
  • Knowledge of advertising, creative and marketing principles: Advanced understanding of creative and marketing practices and trends to make informed recommendations to clients and project team and to identify new opportunities
  • Confident communication: Ability to effectively communicate with clients and high-level stakeholders in order to understand their needs, instill confidence and present solutions, strategies and deliverables to clients and the agency team, building buy-in and momentum for the way forward
Job Requirements

Below is a description of the experience we believe can lead to strength in this role. Please, share your experience with us and tell us why you believe you'd be a strong candidate for this project management-centric role.

Your previous roles might resemble: Account Manager, Client Services Manager, Project Manager, Account Executive, Associate Marketing Director, etc.

  • 5-8 years of relevant experience in which you have managed multiple projects, strategized for marketing/brand initiatives, executed strategic marketing initiatives and met deadlines promptly (at an agency or in another dynamic environment)
  • A Bachelors or Masters degree in a related field of study is not required, however, we would like to know if you've worked toward any relevant degrees, certifications or designations related to project management
  • 5+ years of experience working with project management systems like Wrike, Asana, Trello, Basecamp
  • Experience developing and executing large-scale project plans, budgets and timelines
  • High proficiency in using spreadsheet, word processing, presentation, calendar and file storage software programs (Excel, Google Sheets, MS Word, Google Drive, Powerpoint or Keynote, Dropbox, etc.)
  • Experience measuring marketing initiatives and reporting on results—Google Analytics, Sprout Social, email or other similar platforms  
  • Experience creating and managing expenses, budgets and time reports
  • Strong, concise, creative and technical writing skills  
  • 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 confidently manage 4-8 clients simultaneously 
  • Experience successfully performing in a remote-first environment
  • Desire to evolve into a management role with direct reports
  • Bachelors and/or Masters degrees in relevant fields are not required but will be considered
  • Location: Remote, but located within the United States
Open-Book Management and 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.

The pay range for this role is $75,000 to $95,000. This takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to experience and training; skill sets; degrees and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

As a team we practice open-book management and huddle weekly to discuss our financial trajectory. In addition to base pay (when we are performing well financially) we pay out quarterly bonuses to the team based on specified quarterly targets. Team members have, in the past, averaged 10-12% 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.

Additionally, we offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical/dental/vision coverage, short-term disability/new parent/bereavement leave, 401k with matching, wellness stipends, unlimited time off (with great data to show we mean it), all-team retreats and growth plans with a stipend.

In addition, we are experimenting with four-day work weeks between July and September with the hope of instituting it full-time shortly thereafter. Our four-day work week will consist of four (4) 8-hour days Monday through Thursday—ie. 32-hour weeks.

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.

How to Apply

Applications are closed

You can expect the following in this recruiting process:

  1. Completion of the application above
  2. Upon review of applications, some candidates will move on to an additional screening survey
  3. After grading screening submissions, some candidates will move on to a first-round interview with our Managing Director [1 hr]
  4. After the Director qualifies interviewed candidates, some will move on to a panel interview with two-to-three other Director level team members. This panel interview will include the presentation of your own project planning work from your previous work experience. [1.5 hr]
  5. After the panel qualifies the interviewed candidates, some will move on to a final interview with, again, our Managing Director. This interview will have two parts: 1) a 'reverse interview' where the candidates show off their project planning and client service skills by guiding a conversation to learn about a fake client project. Following the interview, we'll ask candidates to send a project brief to summarize what they learned. [45 min] + 2) a conversation to go over additional important factors of the job and work life at Black Sheep. It's our intention to make sure every candidate has access to the same important information about what it's like to work at the agency. [45 min]
  6. At this time, we will also make requests to reach out to 3-4 references you provide. For this process, we ask that your references be a mix of clients and managers or dotted line managers who can speak to your performance and experience on accounts. We will need their emails and telephone numbers and will be requesting 30-45 minutes of their time. We will not reach out to references without your consent. If you would also like to include notes of recommendation from colleagues like fellow account managers/creatives/strategists you've worked with, we welcome those, but they are not required. Its our preference to speak with leaders you have worked with.
  7. After steps five and six, candidates will be qualified and we'll make a decision about who will be receiving an offer.
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