Account Director Join our accomplished and growing team of exceptional marketers! Ignite a rewarding career in a fast-paced and exciting industry! Sparks has locations in St. Jacobs and London, Ontario as well as Vancouver, British Columbia and we are seeking a talented and driven individual to join our Accounts team!
The Account Director is a member of the client services team and as such has overall responsibility in 4 key areas of the business; building client relationships, managing and mentoring a team, generating organic client growth and new business opportunities, and operational and financial oversight of a successful client portfolio. The ideal candidate has a strong understanding of Digital Marketing and has 7+ years experience growing a portfolio of predominantly digitally progressive clients.
Duties & Responsibilities Client Service & Relationships

• Senior experience in proactive management, anticipating client needs and persuasively selling concepts and ideas to clients.
• Ability to maintain a deep understanding of your client\xe2\x80\x99s overall business, what\xe2\x80\x99s happening in the marketplace, ability to gather information from various stakeholders and develop comprehensive strategies for them.
• Exceptional communication skills \xe2\x80\x93 proactively communicate with your client(s), deliver beyond their request and offer up useful insights and ideas.
• Ability to anticipate potential challenges for your clients before they happen and have solutions at the ready.
• Ability to think strategically, and oversee client strategy for your portfolio, using your comprehensive understanding of marketing tactics and platforms.

Team Leadership & Development

• Coach and collaborate with your team through active listening, responsiveness to questions and identification of issues, challenges and successes.
• Succession planning \xe2\x80\x93 work with your direct reports to manage their future goals and progression.
• Accountable for hiring and long term planning of resources within your business portfolio - with a high standard of expectation/excellence.
• Commitment to learning & development of the team despite day to day distractions.

Business Development

• Proactively sell by seeking out opportunities as well as networking with clients and contacts in the marketplace.
• Self-directed and independent while knowing when to leverage senior support.
• In most cases, lead new business pitches for existing clients and as required with new clients.
• Make sure the entire account team goes "above and beyond" to develop clients\' business, provide service, promote/develop Sparks and its position in the market.

Portfolio Operations & Financial Oversight

• Ownership of Master Service Agreements and Statements of Work for your portfolio.
• Responsible for delivery of program objectives from your team.
• Determine the appropriate resourcing required to deliver the business by balancing your resource requirements and effectively deploy talent at the right moment. Ability to delegate so you can focus on high value tasks.
• Direct multiple projects in different stages of the project lifecycle.
• Understand how to use internal systems effectively and be willing to get involved if required.
• Ensuring business forecasts are updated regularly with the support of the Account Management Team.
• Oversee the monthly WIP and billing process to ensure we are billing according to schedule.
• Annual Delivery of Revenue targets as set out by executive and business forecasts.
• Oversee client estimating process alongside the New Business team and consult the appropriate team members to ensure accuracy.
• Strong cash flow management \xe2\x80\x93 clients paying based on agreed to terms. Competent in working with client procurement departments as required.

Qualifications & Skills

• 7+ years of experience in a similar Account Director role or digital marketing capacity.
• College or University-level education in commerce, marketing, communications or a relevant field, or equivalent experience.
• A strong understanding of digital marketing tactics, both application and theory.
• Ability to deeply understand KPIs for both our business and your client\xe2\x80\x99s business and report on/present results to key stakeholders in both instances.
• Demonstrated emotional control and intelligence and ability to navigate multiple challenges at once.
• Experience leading cross-functional digital marketing campaigns/projects.
• Strong team-player, able to work with diverse groups and skill sets.
• Google Ads Certified \xe2\x80\x94 knowledge of Google Analytics and best practices for digital marketing campaigns.

About Sparks We are obsessed with consumer experience.
From the beginning, Sparks has had a burning passion for creating and executing exceptional XM campaigns and after 30 celebrated years of partnerships with a robust roster of well-respected brands, it\xe2\x80\x99s safe to say we\xe2\x80\x99re good at it. But the modern advertising space is changing and Sparks is embracing its evolution into a cutting-edge, consumer experience agency. Rapidly developing technology and the adoption of digital consumption in our everyday lives, has changed consumer behavior, brand connection, and the concept of \xe2\x80\x9cretail\xe2\x80\x9d like never before. Sparks (and our clients) have been building towards this fundamental shift for many years - the power of connection is invaluable and must be extended across realms (irl & url).
We\xe2\x80\x99ve evolved to be digitally progressive and creatively driven. For us and our clients, this means industry-leading team members, strategic partnerships with cutting-edge ad platforms, and deeper tactical capabilities that perfectly compliment our XM prowess.
Sparks is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, record, record of offenses, marital status, family status or disability. This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits and training. Should you require any special accommodations to apply for this job, please reach out to us at careers@sparksmc.com and we would be happy to accommodate.
We would like to thank all applicants for their interest in this position, however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.