Account Director

About the role

This role will sit at the center of the program, connecting the client, agency leadership, national field leadership, and market-level teams to ensure the program is strategically sound, operationally efficient, and consistently executed across the country. The Account Director will directly oversee and manage a National Field Director with high-level management and oversight to regional and market managers, providing leadership, direction, and accountability across a complex national program spanning both on-premise and off-premise sampling environments. This is a senior client leadership role requiring someone who can operate comfortably at both the 30,000-foot strategic level and in the details of a large-scale field program. The ideal candidate is highly organized, solutions-oriented, confident with clients, and experienced managing teams and programs across multiple markets.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a senior day-to-day agency contact for the client, building a trusted and strategic client relationship.
• Lead recurring client status meetings, business reviews, and program planning sessions.
• Translate client objectives into clear strategies, priorities, and actionable plans for the field organization.
• Proactively identify challenges, risks, and opportunities and develop solutions before they become issues.
• Manage client expectations around program scope, timing, budgets, staffing, deliverables, and performance.
• Partner with agency leadership on strategic planning, account growth, and future program opportunities.
• Oversee the execution of a complex, nationwide field sampling program across both on-premise and off-premise channels.
• Provide leadership and direction to National Field Directors responsible for market-level execution.
• Establish clear operating rhythms, communication protocols, escalation paths, and accountability across the field organization.
• Ensure consistent execution of national strategy while allowing for appropriate market-level flexibility.
• Oversee program timelines, staffing plans, training, field communications, reporting, and overall operational readiness.
• Partner with internal teams to ensure creative, production, staffing, logistics, compliance, and reporting are aligned with program requirements.
• Monitor program performance and make recommendations to improve execution, efficiency, and consumer impact.
• Anticipate operational challenges across markets and ensure appropriate contingency plans are in place.
• Directly manage and develop National Field Directors, providing clear expectations, coaching, feedback, and performance management.
• Ensure National Field Directors have the resources, information, and support required to successfully lead their respective markets.
• Build a strong culture of accountability, collaboration, and problem-solving across the national field organization.
• Delegate effectively and ensure the appropriate level of ownership exists at each level of the organization.
• Identify resource gaps and work with agency leadership to address staffing and capacity needs.
• Own program-level operational planning and oversight, including budgets, staffing, timelines, and deliverables.
• Partner with finance and internal agency teams to monitor budgets, forecasting, invoicing, and overall account health.
• Ensure field activity is delivered within approved scope and budget.
• Identify efficiencies and opportunities to improve program profitability without compromising client objectives or execution quality.
• Oversee vendor and partner relationships as needed to support national program delivery.
• Ensure all field sampling activity follows applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and client requirements related to adult beverage sampling and promotions.
• Partner with legal, compliance, and client teams to establish appropriate guardrails for field execution.
• Ensure teams are properly trained on program requirements, responsible sampling practices, brand standards, and escalation procedures.
• Proactively identify and mitigate operational, reputational, and compliance risks.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in experiential marketing, field marketing, brand activation, account management, or a related discipline.
• Proven experience leading large-scale, multi-market or national field programs.
• Experience managing and developing senior-level teams and/or field leadership.
• Strong client relationship and account management skills, with the ability to confidently lead senior client conversations.
• Experience working across both on-premise and off-premise environments is strongly preferred.
• Experience within the adult beverage, CPG, beverage alcohol, or regulated consumer products space preferred.
• Strong understanding of field staffing, sampling, training, market execution, reporting, and operational logistics.
• Exceptional organizational and project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Strong financial acumen and experience managing program budgets.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment with evolving priorities and complex stakeholder groups.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• A proactive, solutions-oriented leadership style with the ability to make decisions and drive