Are you ready to embark on an exciting journey where your talents are valued, and your potential is limitless? At Deerfield, we believe in fostering a culture of excellence, where every team member is empowered to make a difference and contribute to our collective success.
Deerfield is the marketing and communications partner of choice. Purpose-built to scale with our clients, our specialist teams craft stories that matter and bridge meaningful connections to advance healthcare products to the people who need them most. Our full-service capabilities are rooted in storytelling and powered by technology to deliver focused strategy, optimized execution, and tangible outcomes. Further, our flexible working model allows us to scale and grow alongside our clients – whether providing expert consultation, serving as a strategic executional partner, or acting as full agency of record.
We are built to serve and designed to deliver.
Position Summary
The Account Director (AOR) - Creative is responsible for the growth and management of client relationships. As a senior point of contact for the agency’s clients, the Account Director builds strategic marketing plans and exceeds clients’ expectations with excellent creative work. Display steady leadership, closely partner with our client, and ensure the smooth production of campaigns, from briefing to managing budgets and directing a strong, dedicated account and project management team Immersed in the strategic direction of one or more brands and invested in growing the top talent of tomorrow. Regarded as the conductor of the orchestra, with a strong voice and a clear sense of direction. Knows exactly who to bring in, when, and for what—understanding that harmony and collaboration are key to success for both the brand, clients, and agency
Responsibilities
Client Interaction
- Serve as the go-to expert on the client’s business, deeply understanding their goals, challenges, and industry landscape.
- Responsible for brand planning, strategic and tactical deliverables, and profitability of all assigned brands
- Leads meetings and contributes strategically not only in tactics but also brand positioning and brand plans
- Proactively seeks out ways to solicit customer satisfaction feedback and recommend action plans based on data insights
- Able to balance the big-picture strategy with the finer details of execution
- Takes full ownership of the workstream with autonomy, staying mindful of cross-functional complexities and delivering quick, effective solutions to client feedback. Builds trust through a collaborative approach and a proven ability to deliver results.
- Proactively supports the Account team in developing and presenting new business proposals, offering guidance and integrating Deerfield’s services into client recommendations when appropriate. Starts to anticipate client needs and mobilizes the team to address them with thoughtful, strategic solutions.
Business Development
- Aligns with Deerfield's strategic vision while strengthening client relationships to ensure the agency stays informed about business opportunities or significant changes in the client’s organization
- Takes an active role in creating and delivering presentations to effectively sell recommendations to clients, with a focus on driving organic business growth. May also contribute to new business pitches.
Execution
- Grasps the reasoning behind strategic and tactical recommendations/POVs and confidently discusses them with clients
- Supports KPI development, analyzes performance metrics, and provides actionable recommendations for optimization
- Proactively explores emerging and unfamiliar media opportunities, applying insights to propose innovative initiatives
Knowledge
- Analyzes market research, clinical trial data, and industry trends, effectively connecting business insights to brand implications and proactively sharing findings and points of view with clients and teams
- Experienced in brand planning, crafting Project Briefs, reviewing Creative Briefs, and facilitating tactical brainstorming sessions with expertise
- Demonstrated effectiveness in managing multiple clients and account teams
- Leads the annual SOW from an account perspective to ensure it is based on client strategic and tactical plan approval, and overall budget expectations
- Communicates client expectations to the project management team, enabling them to assess agency resource requirements and develop accurate estimates and timing
- Maintains a clear understanding of agency contractual obligations, fee structure, and annual budget, as well as knowledge of the current financial health of the brand
- Client and Internal budget reconciliations
- Ownership of all internal systems
- Knowledgeable around workflow and processes for all types of projects (Print, digital, media, social)
Team Leadership
- Is a role model for leadership skills
- First line manager responsible for direct management of account staff and for leading the agency team and partners through diplomacy and influencing skills
- Provide performance reviews and feedback to team members
- Appropriately identify and delegate tasks/projects to account team
- Leads the charge in achieving client and agency objectives, setting the tone, pace, and standard for the daily operations of the team. Recognized as a reliable and trusted partner by colleagues at all levels
- Serves as a representative of Deerfield, fostering strong relationships with clients, external partners, and stakeholders
- Leverages growing experience to coach and mentor both direct reports and adjacent junior staff. Meets with direct report(s) weekly to focus on engagement, development, and growth. Writes and conducts appraisals for direct reports and focuses on goal setting.
- Teach through modeling maturity and proactivity. Teaches junior staff the protocol for business writing.
Communication
- Clearly communicates strategy and brand objectives to internal teams, including contractors and/or freelancers
- Holds thoughtful conversations with clients regarding their business establishing an open line of communication and trust in doing what is best for the brand while still selling the vision and work of the agency
- Demonstrates exceptional written and verbal communication skills—clear, concise, and actionable
- Maintains a confident and commanding presence both externally and internally, whether in person or virtual, during major presentations, project reviews, or just everyday meetings
- Leads the creation of the agency’s recommendations, POVs, and strategic documents presented to the client
- Strong presentation skills
Collaboration
- Leads the agency team to deliver exceptional results for clients, ensuring all work aligns with strategy, meets deadlines, and stays within budget
- Fosters trusting relationships across client functions and with external partners, promoting collaboration through solution-focused problem-solving
- Demonstrates passion and motivation to achieve success through teamwork and shared goals
- Ensures all agency departments (e.g., Digital, Media, Analytics, Print Production) are effectively utilized to meet client needs and proactively deliver added value
- Works seamlessly across disciplines, teams, and agencies, collaborating at all levels to drive success
- Anticipates challenges and reframes them as opportunities for improvement, bringing a calm and steady presence to the team, even in high-pressure situations
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree
- 5-7 years of agency experience
- 3+ years of experience in pharma and/or healthcare
- 1-2 years of experience leading a team preferred
- Strong communicator and collaborator
- Excellent organizational skills with great attention to detail and the ability to effectively multitask
- Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office/Google Suite
- Creative and innovative thinking
- Displays sound judgement and reasoning abilities
- Excellent working knowledge of pharma/healthcare industry operations
- Strong leadership with proficiency in building and leading a productive and effective team
At Deerfield, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic work environment, so if this role and our culture excite you, we encourage you to apply even if you do not have the exact experience or meet all requirements outlined in this job posting. Our HR team will review your resume and experience to see if you align at a different level or possibly better align to other open positions.
Deerfield is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
