Account Director

Job Description
The AD has overall responsibility for managing and maintaining client relationships, potentially on multiple accounts, through focused attention to detail, team leadership, clear and concise communications and a sense of urgency. Responsible for maintaining client satisfaction with a focus on execution and identifying opportunities for efficiencies. This role will have direct reports, including Program Planner, Team Lead, and Account Manager roles.

Responsibilities
The primary responsibility of this position is to partner with assigned clients to oversee all client deliverables, ensuring client objectives are met and projects are on time, within budget, and successfully executed. The AD serves as the main point of contact for clients of all levels within the organization, including commercial, medical affairs, compliance, and regulatory teams. The AD is responsible for identifying and developing opportunities within the current accounts and generating organic growth.

This position manages direct reports and team members in the day‑to‑day execution of work, maintains communication with supervisor(s) on performance and/or areas of concern, provides mentorship and coaching, and creates and implements plans for their professional skill development.

Core areas of responsibility include:

Client Focus & Service

Serves as a point of contact for client/brand team

Attends client strategy and launch meetings with AVP or senior leadership

Provides clear direction to team and cross functional departments and the resources in planning of initiatives

Qualifies client needs and requests to ensure a clear understanding of the goals and objectives of a project

Oversees the implementation of projects and services, ensuring adherence to scope of work as defined

Ensures communication to the client is early and accurate if project is tracking late or over budget, or if scope of work has changed

Provides clear and timely communication of client direction to entire team, outlining required next steps and/or deliverables based on the conversation

Thinks broadly and globally to foresee any potential challenges and issues; provide recommendations and resolution to these issues before they become a crisis

Proactively proposes concepts and ideas that will support the client’s core business objectives

Thoroughly understands and enforces each client’s specified compliance and regulatory requirements; ensures that the Operations Manager, Account Manager, Team Lead, Program Planner(s) also understand and have a working knowledge, if applicable

Maintains client relationships through frequent correspondence and meetings

Final sign off and approval of all materials before delivery to the client

Be available and accessible

Supports team in management of client by offering communication strategies for difficult situations and suggestions for proactive management of projects

Ensures all services are delivered per contractual agreement

Alerts supervisor(s) of any issues that may affect client relationships, deliverables, or budgets

Thoroughly understands client processes and key stakeholders for each process

Creates and delivers training presentations to client representatives and physicians

Ensures client’s key performance metrics, service‑level agreements, and general expectations are met or exceeded

Submit documents to Medical, Legal and Regulatory review and participate in review sessions, as needed

Ensure standard operating procedures (SOPs) are created, updated, and followed to maximize service levels and minimize risk

Create and present quarterly/annual business review to key client stakeholders

Organic Growth / Business Development

Identifies new business opportunities outside of current account through p-value current relationships or companies with pipeline products within p-value areas of expertise

Develops proposals and budgets based on opportunities and/or as outcomes from new business pitches

Works collaboratively with supervisor(s) and senior leadership on identifying new opportunities for expanding current business

Stays informed on industry trends by actively reading industry media; proactively send new and interesting information to client

Be fully knowledgeable about client‑specific compliance guidelines and offer recommendation and insight with regard to project‑specific gaps in adherence

Participate in brainstorming sessions for pitch development, assist with presentation development as well as present during pitch presentations

Team Leadership

Acts with highest level of integrity and accountability and instills these values within the team and peers

Lead and motivates team members so tasks are completed with the highest level of quality

Includes team members in problem‑solving and triaging issues to enforce commitment and accountability of each team member

Provides mentorship and coaching to direct reports and creates and implements plans for their professional skill development

Defines and documents performance goals for the upcoming year

Engages direct reports throughout the development process, including regular coaching activities

Writes and delivers annual performance evaluation for direct reports, reflecting employee progress and contributions throughout the year

Engages in quarterly touch points with team to assess progress of development plan and provides summary report to supervisor(s)

Works with supervisor(s) to develop management skill set and leadership style

Defines onboarding plan for new hires before they arrive on the job and manages new hires based on the plan

Ensures all team members understand the goals and objectives of a project

Encourages and supports team members to move outside of their comfort zone by providing additional and varying levels of responsibility and tasks, while balancing guidance and autonomy

Directs, mentors, and develops a team consisting of an Operations Manager, Account Manager, Team Lead and Program Planners

Ensures all team members are fully versed on client compliance and regulatory requirements; ensures knowledge and compliance with industry guidelines

Identifies gaps in team resources early and makes recommendations to their manager to meet program deliverables

Demonstrates leadership through discussions and presentations to colleagues on relevant subjects

Be available and accountable; takes responsibility for the team and projects

Sets an example for willingness to pitch in and help the team; demonstrates a collaborative team dynamic and ability to gap fill as needed

Manages and mentors direct reports in the day‑to‑day execution of work as well as professional growth within the organization

Be available and accessible to internal team members and direct reports, including monthly/bi‑weekly check‑ins

Maintains open lines of communication with other members of the Account Team and Operations Team to ensure Team Lead and Program Planner growth and success

Ensures full understanding of the company and the services we offer

Ensures full understanding of medical education guidelines and requirements and standard drug life cycle

Ensures project kick‑off meeting and subsequent status meetings are productive and concluded with a recap of next steps, due dates, and assigned team responsibilities

Ensures timelines are developed and followed

Identifies and makes recommendations for process improvements; identifies areas to improve efficiency with the goal of gaining incremental profit

Participates in internal “brainstorming sessions” of tactics, platforms, and solutions across agency account teams

Shares best practices for account/project teams via meetings and presentations

Follows agency standard operating procedures

Develops relationship with outside vendors and ensures adherence to SOPs

Completes basic portal management and has a general understanding of portal functions

Financial Accountability

Responsible for the financial health of an account

Develops scopes of work and budgets as required; ensures budgets are in line with scope of services throughout the project’s life cycle

Manages the overall budgets for each project and advises client of any potential increases or overages in a timely manner; reviews periodic program expense reports for each client

Documents change in scope or added services and provides the client with an addendum/amendment; obtains client and management approval before proceeding with additional work

Understands the payment provisions of each client and communicates to finance team during regular financial meetings

Promptly communicates sold and proposed business opportunities to manager

Attends client finance meetings with finance department

Qualifications

A minimum of 5 years agency experience, with a minimum of 2 years of progressive account management experience in Speakers Bureau

Strong comfort level of verbal, written, and presentation skills

Travel as business requires

Experience managing direct reports

Bachelor’s degree

Additional Information
Our Publicis Groupe motto “Viva La Différence” means we’re better together, and we believe that our differences make us stronger. It means we honor and celebrate all identities, across all facets of intersectionality, and it underpins all that we do as an organization. We are focused on fostering belonging and creating equitable & inclusive experiences for all talent.

Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off.

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact USMSTACompliance@publicis.com. All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Compensation Range: $121,315 - $166,000 annual

ly. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third‑party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 06/04/2026.

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