[Hiring] Associate Director, Client Partnership - Creative + Media @Dept

Role Description

We expect an Associate Director, Client Partnership to develop a deep understanding of the clients in their portfolio—their business, challenges, goals, competitive landscape, and opportunities for growth. You'll represent DEPT® as a trusted client partner, helping connect business priorities to media strategy and execution while driving alignment across teams and workstreams. This role will work closely across Media (Paid Search, Paid Social, Programmatic etc.) and Creative, and other cross-functional teams. The ideal candidate combines strong client partnership skills with deep media expertise and the ability to connect the dots across channels, ensuring our work is cohesive, high-quality, and moving our clients' businesses forward. This is a remote, US-based role. Candidates located in the Pacific or Mountain time zones are preferred.

Qualifications

• 5–7+ years of experience in client partnership, account management, media, or related roles within an agency environment, with demonstrated experience operating at a Senior Manager or equivalent level.
• B2B and Enterprise experience is a MUST.
• Experience with media planning, campaign execution, budget management, forecasting, pacing, reporting, and performance analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and coordinate across media, strategy, analytics/data, creative, and other disciplines.
• Strong client relationship skills, including experience communicating with senior stakeholders and contributing to strategic planning.
• Experience translating complex media performance into clear, actionable client narratives and recommendations.
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills with the ability to lead multiple complex workstreams simultaneously.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and demonstrated judgment in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
• Experience mentoring or developing junior team members; direct people management experience is a plus.

Requirements

• Partner with senior clients and internal teams to develop annual media strategies aligned with broader business objectives.
• Lead and participate in recurring meetings with client-side leadership focused on business performance, macro goals, industry trends, strategic opportunities, and opportunities to drive growth.
• Build strong relationships with key client stakeholders, developing a deep understanding of their business and serving as a trusted day-to-day partner.
• Drive client satisfaction, retention, and organic growth by proactively identifying needs, risks, and opportunities.
• Navigate and resolve issues that arise across accounts, exercising sound judgment on when to solve independently and when to escalate.
• Represent Client Partnership across client, vendor, and internal conversations and provide continuity across workstreams.
• Partner with media teams to drive integrated strategies and work that moves clients' businesses forward.
• Serve as connective tissue across Paid Search, Paid Social, Programmatic, Strategy, Analytics, Data Science, Data Tech, Creative, and other relevant workstreams.
• Ensure teams are operating as one integrated media organization rather than independent channel teams, identifying dependencies, opportunities, and risks across channels.
• Lead and contribute to strategic responses to briefs and develop strong POVs across media, data, technology, and emerging industry opportunities.
• Connect performance across channels, drawing conclusions and translating analysis into actionable insights and recommendations.
• Review cross-channel reporting and client-facing deliverables to ensure the work tells a cohesive story, answers the right business questions, and meets a consistently high quality bar.
• Challenge teams constructively when recommendations, reporting, or deliverables do not meet client or DEPT® standards.
• Proactively identify opportunities to improve collaboration, workflows, reporting, and operational consistency across teams.
• Contribute ideas and experience to the broader strategic process.
• Support employee retention, mentor junior team members, and contribute to direct reports' development, where applicable.

Benefits

• Healthcare, Dental, and Vision coverage
• 401k plan, plus matching
• PTO
• Paid Company Holidays
• Parental Leave