Vice President, Accounts

About the role

The Vice President, Accounts will lead high-stakes client conversations, cultivate cabinet-level relationships, and manage one to two major accounts directly. This leader will also serve as the area's senior client relationship leader and growth driver.

Responsibilities

• Lead high-stakes client conversations — strategic pivots, contract renewals, scope expansions, and executive escalations — with confidence and care.
• Cultivate cabinet-level relationships that make cross-service growth possible, mapping each institution's power structure and building the senior access needed to expand the agency's footprint beyond the marketing office into enrollment and advancement.
• Anticipate client concerns and inflection points before they surface — maintaining a current view of relationship health across the portfolio, flagging at-risk accounts early, and owning escalation resolution at the senior level.
• Personally conduct or oversee business reviews and regular check-ins to assess satisfaction directly and surface concerns before they harden.
• Translate institutional priorities into new scopes of work, tracking expansion goals by client and service area, and partner with Business Development on major renewals, expansions, and new business pursuits.
• Own defined annual revenue targets for the accounts division with clear year-over-year growth expectations, maintaining full pipeline visibility across renewals, expansions, and at-risk accounts.
• Lead, coach, and develop the accounts team — setting high standards for client experience and strategic thinking, and supporting hiring and team structure decisions aligned with the division's growth trajectory.
• Carry direct responsibility for one to two major accounts, modeling the standard of partnership the agency aspires to across the portfolio.
• Contribute an accounts-side perspective to how SimpsonScarborough's products and services are positioned, priced, and brought to market.

Requirements

• 10+ years of senior leadership experience in higher education, agency environments, or both, with a demonstrated track record of operating at the executive level.
• Deep credibility with senior institutional leaders — presidents, provosts, boards of trustees, and cabinet members — and the ability to earn and sustain their trust.
• A proactive, anticipatory approach to client relationships with a track record of turning early intervention into growth.
• Proven experience building peer-level relationships with presidents, provosts, and chiefs of staff, and using that access to expand engagements beyond the marketing office.
• Demonstrated success growing client revenue through strategic relationship management, upsell, and scope expansion.
• Experience leading and developing high-performing account or client service teams in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Strong fluency in enrollment strategy and the institutional dynamics that drive enrollment-related decisions; advancement experience a plus.
• Experience managing division-level pipeline and revenue forecasting, with the analytical discipline to translate data into action.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the executive presence to command high-stakes conversations.
• High emotional intelligence and the ability to build trust across diverse teams, client organizations, and leadership contexts.
• Experience in agency leadership, with an understanding of how professional services firms grow, scale, and retain clients over time.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and/or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience; advanced degree preferred.

Skills

• Strategic thinking
• Client relationship management
• Account management
• Revenue growth
• Team leadership
• Enrollment strategy
• Advancement experience

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits package including nationwide health, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) with employer contribution, employer-paid life insurance and short-term disability, flexible time off (FTO) with additional time-off options, including sick, volunteer & bereavement leave, paid parental leave, a day off on your birthday PLUS two agency-wide closures in the summer and winter, and a monthly lifestyle stipend to supplement your routine wellness costs like streaming subscriptions, gym, or phone/internet costs.

Pay

Salary starts at $175,000.00 and will be commensurate with experience.

Schedule

Full-time, remote position.