Career guide
Account Manager Job Description: Agency Template and What the Job Involves
An agency account manager runs the relationship between a marketing or advertising agency and its clients. They turn client goals into briefs, keep the work on time, on budget and within the agreed scope, present work and results, and look for ways to grow the account. Below is a job description template and a plain account of the work behind it.
Key takeaways
- An agency account manager runs the day-to-day relationship with a client and makes sure the agency delivers the agreed work on time, on budget and within scope.
- Account managers write the briefs that creative, media and strategy teams work from, so clear writing is one of the core skills of the job.
- Agency account managers are usually judged on client satisfaction, profitable delivery against the scope of work and growth of the account.
- Sales and SaaS account managers have the same title but a different job: they renew and expand software or product customers rather than run marketing work for clients.
- The usual agency ladder runs from account coordinator to account executive, account manager or supervisor, account director and group account director.
This page covers the account manager at a marketing, advertising, PR, media or digital agency. If a posting talks about quotas, renewals and upsells for a software product, it’s a sales or customer success job that shares the title, and our account manager vs account executive guide explains the difference.
What does an agency account manager do?
An agency account manager is the client’s main day-to-day contact and the person inside the agency who makes sure the client gets what they’re paying for. They sit between the client, who wants results and speed, and the agency’s creative, media and strategy teams, who need clear direction and enough time to do good work.
What makes the job different from in-house marketing is the client. You don’t own the brand; you advise the people who do, and the agency is paid for the work you help define. That means a lot of the job is about scope, money and trust:
- Running the relationship. Weekly status calls, quick answers, and knowing what the client’s boss is worried about this quarter.
- Turning requests into briefs. Getting the client’s goal, audience, budget and deadline onto one page the team can work from. Our creative brief template shows the format.
- Managing scope and budget. Agencies are usually paid through a retainer or by project (the 4A’s tracks the common models), and the scope of work says what’s included. Account managers spot work that falls outside it and get it estimated before the team starts.
- Keeping the work moving. Timelines, approvals, feedback rounds and handoffs between departments, often alongside a project manager.
- Presenting. Walking the client through creative, plans and results, and taking their feedback back to the team in a form the team can use.
- Growing the account. Noticing problems the agency could solve next, and helping write the proposal when it can.
Account manager job description template
Copy this and replace the [brackets]. Cut anything that doesn’t apply; a shorter, accurate posting attracts better candidates than a long generic one.
Job title: Account Manager, [Agency type: e.g. Integrated / Social / Media / PR] About [Agency] [Two sentences: what the agency does, the kinds of clients it works with, and what it's known for.] About the role We're hiring an Account Manager to run day-to-day relationships on [number] client accounts in [category: e.g. consumer packaged goods, retail, B2B tech]. You'll report to [Account Director / Account Supervisor], work with our [creative / media / strategy / social] teams, and manage [an Account Executive / Account Coordinator]. What you'll do - Be the client's main day-to-day contact: status calls, recaps, timelines and quick answers. - Turn client requests into clear briefs for [creative / media / strategy] teams. - Manage scopes of work, estimates and budgets, and flag requests that fall outside scope before work starts. - Keep projects on schedule across departments and partners, from kickoff to launch. - Present work, plans and performance reports to clients, and bring their feedback back to the team. - Track account profitability with [Finance / the Account Director], including hours against the estimate. - Spot opportunities to grow the account and help write proposals. - Coach and review the work of [the Account Executive / Coordinator]. What you'll bring - [X]+ years in client service at an agency, or in a client-facing marketing role. - Experience running several projects or accounts at once. - Clear writing: briefs, recaps and presentations. - Comfort with budgets, estimates and timelines. - Calm judgment when a client is unhappy or a deadline moves. - Working knowledge of [channels: e.g. paid social, retail media, content, PR]. Nice to have - Experience in [category or client type]. - Familiarity with [tools: e.g. Workfront, Asana, Smartsheet, Google Workspace]. How we'll measure success - Client satisfaction and retention on your accounts. - Projects delivered on time and within the estimate. - [Account growth / new scopes won / margin target]. Pay and benefits [Salary range], [benefits], [location / hybrid / remote].
Notes for agencies using it:
- Name the clients’ category. Candidates choose agencies by the work and the clients, so “consumer brands in beauty and wellness” is more useful than “Fortune 500 clients”.
- Say who they’ll manage. It tells a candidate whether this is their first time leading someone.
- Include the pay range. Some US states and cities require it in postings (Cooley’s summary of state pay transparency laws), so check the rules where you’re hiring.
What are account management duties at each level?
Account management duties grow from tracking the work to owning the relationship, then the business. Titles vary by agency, but the pattern is consistent.
| Level | Main duties | Judged on |
|---|---|---|
| Account coordinator | Notes, recaps, trackers, scheduling, gathering assets and approvals | Accuracy, speed, nothing dropped |
| Account executive | First drafts of briefs and status reports, day-to-day coordination with the team | Organization, clear writing, client trust in small things |
| Account manager | The client relationship, briefs, scope and budget on one or more accounts | Client satisfaction, on-time delivery within scope |
| Account supervisor | Several accounts or a large one, managing account managers and executives | Account health, team development, profitability |
| Account director | Strategy, senior client relationships, account profit and growth | Revenue, margin, retention, new scopes |
| Group account director | A group of accounts or a whole client business, and the people on it | Group revenue and margin, leadership |
The account executive job description covers the level below in detail.
What does an account manager do day to day?
Day to day, an agency account manager moves between client calls, internal check-ins and the paperwork that keeps a project honest. A typical week on two or three accounts might look like this:
| When | What’s happening |
|---|---|
| Monday | Internal status meeting across all accounts; update timelines; send the client a weekly status note |
| Tuesday | Client call on a new request; write the brief; ask the producer for an estimate |
| Wednesday | Creative review with the team before it goes to the client; check hours against the estimate |
| Thursday | Present work to the client; take feedback; send a recap the same day |
| Friday | Monthly performance report draft; one-to-one with your account executive; plan next week |
At a small agency the same person may also do the project management and some strategy. At a large network agency there’s usually a separate project management or production team, and the account manager spends more time on the relationship and the business.
How is an agency account manager different from an in-house role?
The biggest difference is who you answer to. In-house, you’re accountable to your own leadership for the brand’s results; at an agency, you’re accountable to a client for service and to your agency for profit, on several brands at once. Our in-house vs agency marketing guide covers the trade-off in full.
| Agency account manager | In-house marketing manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Who you serve | Clients who pay the agency | Your own company and its leaders |
| What you own | The relationship and the delivery of agreed work | A program, channel or product and its results |
| Money you manage | Scope, estimates, hours and the account’s profit | A marketing budget spent on vendors and media |
| Variety | Several brands and categories | One brand, in depth |
| Where it leads | Account leadership, or a move in-house to brand or marketing management | Senior marketing roles in the company |
What skills does an account manager need?
An agency account manager needs to keep clients confident and teams clear, often on the same afternoon. The skills that show up in almost every posting:
- Writing. Briefs, recaps and emails that leave nothing open to guesswork.
- Organization. Many deadlines, many people, all visible in one tracker.
- Commercial sense. Reading a scope of work, knowing what an extra round of edits costs, and raising it kindly but early.
- Presence with clients. Presenting work with conviction and taking criticism without getting defensive.
- Translation. Turning “make it pop” into direction a designer can use, and turning a strategist’s thinking into a client-ready story.
- Basic marketing knowledge. Enough about media, social, creative and measurement to ask good questions. Our marketing skills guide lists the core ones.
FAQ
Is an account manager a sales job?
At an agency, no: the account manager runs client service and delivery, though growing existing accounts is part of the job. At software and product companies, account managers usually sit in sales or customer success and are measured on renewals and expansion revenue.
What’s the difference between an account manager and a project manager at an agency?
The account manager owns the client relationship and what the client is promised; the project manager owns how the work gets done inside the agency, from schedules to resourcing. At smaller agencies one person often does both. Our marketing project manager guide covers that side.
How many accounts does an agency account manager handle?
It depends on the size of the accounts. One large client can be a full-time job, while at a small agency you might handle several smaller ones. Ask in the interview how many accounts the role covers and how big the team is on each.
What do you need to become an agency account manager?
Most agency account managers start as account coordinators or account executives and are promoted after a few years of client work. Others move over from client-facing marketing or project roles. Experience managing several deadlines and clear written communication matter more than any one degree.
What should an account manager resume highlight?
Lead with the accounts you’ve run, the scope or budget, and what you delivered for the client: launches, results and retained or grown business. Our account manager resume guide has bullet templates for each.