Senior Account Director

Role: Senior Account Director

Location: Toronto, Canada

About the role:

As Senior Account Director, you are OLIVER's primary lead for the client in Canada strategic partner to senior client stakeholders, commercial owner and team leader. You will set the direction for an integrated account spanning brand, creative, media, insights and activation, translating business objectives into clear briefs and ensuring every piece of work is delivered to the highest standard.

This is a hands-on senior leadership role. You will shape strategy, manage the P&L, grow the client relationship and lead a cross-functional team all while maintaining the rigour that complex, multi-workstream accounts demand. The role includes occasional travel across Canada for client meetings, events and activations.

What you will be doing:

• Act as the primary strategic partner and senior point of contact for the client in Canada, building deep and lasting relationships with client leadership.
• Define and execute integrated account strategy in collaboration with client stakeholders and internal leads across brand, creative, media, insights and activation.
• Lead, mentor and resource a cross-functional account team; set priorities, support professional development and maintain consistent quality across all output.
• Translate client business objectives into clear agency briefs, creative direction and measurable KPIs; build and sustain robust measurement and reporting frameworks.
• Oversee campaign planning, production timelines and integrated delivery across all workstreams, ensuring work meets the client's brand standards, regulatory requirements and quality expectations.
• Manage escalations proactively; mitigate risk, maintain governance and oversee approval processes across the account.
• Ensure all activity complies with Canadian alcohol marketing regulations and the client's internal brand and safety guidelines.
• Identify and develop new opportunities within the account; contribute to strategic pitches to grow the partnership.
• Represent OLIVER in senior client meetings and at industry events across Canada.
• Partner with finance, legal and production to ensure accurate scoping, invoicing and contract management.
• Own the client's Canada P&L: annual budget planning, revenue forecasting, cost management, margin protection and contractual compliance.
• Present financial performance and budget progress to client and OLIVER senior stakeholders on a regular basis.
• Drive commercial efficiencies across the account without compromising delivery quality or client outcomes.
• Manage scope change processes; ensure changes are documented, approved and accurately reflected in billing.

What you need to be great in this role:

• Significant agency account management experience at senior or director level, leading large, complex, multi-disciplinary accounts.
• A track record of building and sustaining senior client relationships operating as a trusted strategic advisor, not just an operational contact.
• Strong commercial acumen: P&L accountability, revenue forecasting, budget management and margin awareness.
• Experience leading integrated teams across creative, digital, media, PR and shopper or activation disciplines.
• Deep understanding of the CPG, beverage or alcohol category; experience with spirits brands is a strong advantage.
• Knowledge of Canadian regulatory requirements for alcohol marketing, with a track record of ensuring compliance in practice.
• Confident, credible communication, presentation and negotiation skills across all levels of seniority.
• Strong account and project management skills; able to run complex, multi-workstream accounts with rigour and attention to detail.
• Experience owning account-level P&L and presenting financial performance to senior stakeholders.
• Confidence managing scope, cost control and contract compliance on large integrated accounts.
• Track record of identifying and realising commercial growth opportunities within existing client relationships.
• Strategic integration of AI tools to enhance account workflows, including briefing, reporting, campaign planning and operational efficiency.
• Experience setting AI quality standards and governance for a team; guides responsible adoption and critical evaluation of AI outputs.
• Agentic leadership approach: systematic, outcomes-focused problem-solving applied to complex account and business challenges.
• Drives exploration of how AI can improve account performance and client outcomes; contributes to best practice across the OLIVER network.
• Direct experience working with the client's portfolio.
• Familiarity with measurement frameworks, media planning tools and marketing analytics platforms.
• Experience leading new business development and multi-stakeholder pitches.
• Formal qualifications are welcome but not required. Equivalent experience counts. Experience can be gained through work, study, volunteering or self-directed learning.

Req ID: 17949

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