Account Director/Project Manager

Are you creative? Do you love figuring out what clients really want? Does pulling a team together and managing every detail make you want to come to work every day? Can you write really great copy in a pinch? Do you enjoy diving into the analytics to figure out what works, and what doesn’t? Are you amazed by the power of social to drive awareness and adoption?

We’re looking for a seasoned account director/project manager and client advocate who loves the creative process as much as order and structure. We need someone who can keep the team in line with clients, and vice versa. You need to be opinionated and diplomatic, so that when there’s an issue you can resolve it to everyone’s satisfaction.

That means you’ve probably worked at an agency as a creative and a suit, because you wanted to find out what it was like to create and manage. And while you proved that you CAN bang out pretty good copy all day, you’re really pretty dang crazy awesome at setting strategy as the project lead (and prefer it!).

Frankly, you make Patton look unorganized. (By the way, if you don’t understand that reference, you’re not watching enough old movies and didn’t pay attention in high school history.)

But what’s more important to us than agency experience is that you are insanely curious about our clients’ businesses. You can and should offer valuable perspective based on your fascinating life experience and top-flight professional background.

So who are we?

We’re August Partners, a strategic marketing partnership that specializes in residential real estate in North America. We work with start-ups that want to enter the real estate vertical, established technology companies, and top multiple listing services and associations.

We help clients launch, get financing, sell product and succeed in real estate. For this role, you’ll be a jack of all trades and in multiple mediums to tell our clients’ stories.

Here are your responsibilities:

Client management: Be nice, work hard, meet often, deliver more and never whine. Look for opportunities to do more business with clients you enjoy working with. Make everyone you work with — clients and teammates alike — ridiculously happy. Avoid scope creep because it makes people mad. Call up clients because they want to hear from you, and accept client calls even when you know there’s an issue in play. Always be fair and transparent. Don’t pass the buck. Make clients happy.

Internal project reporting and administration: Manage team to deadlines, even when deadlines are outrageous and hard but we all agree it’s for the greater good. Create insightful and useful creative briefs that teach us a few things and serve as the bible of the project. Secure useable, quality creative assets from the client, so our creative director will worship you. Ensure that everyone who needs to know something about your project actually knows it, so there can be no confusion. Avoid political baloney at all costs. Get things done.

Resource management: Determine project roles of team members based on project requirements, timeframes and budget. Pull in additional outside resources as necessary. Spend exactly the right amount of time and money to get things done, on schedule and within budget. Be responsible.

Project accounting and finance: Learn how we price projects so you’re always in a position to provide accurate information to clients. Manage project budgets and deliverables. Never give the store away, but don’t charge too much because it’s annoying and makes clients mad. Keep an eye on the bottom line.

You’ll also need a few specific skills, since that will make things easier for all of us:

• A university degree and an interesting college experience (Study abroad? Bartender? Pet llama? Tell us about it.)
• 8-10 years in account management, preferably with a sprinkling of creative work (is that a copy or creative position we spy on your resume?)
• An eye on what's going on in the industry, and a set of relationships with the key players that make things happen
• Ability to work independently under your own steam, until you crave a little camaraderie and/or need direction
• Ability to take direction, talk it out with your colleagues, and come up with the best damn strategic brief anyone has ever seen
• Fantastic and impressive facility with details (no detail left behind!)
• Ability to tell a joke and take one too
• Demonstrated expertise in working in small teams with clients over the long term
• Ability to work on all types of computers and all the usual software packages, with a special emphasis on making really, really nice presentations in PowerPoint for clients without resorting to a graphic designer — yes, you're senior, but you're able to roll your sleeves up and get **** done when necessary
• Understanding of, and expertise in, web and social analytics
• Understanding of, and expertise in, web development, email marketing, organic search, PPC, social marketing/influence building and emerging marketing mediums
• A desire to travel to big cities and little ones too, at least once or twice a month, for as long as you work with us

What counts is your ability to understand the people, politics and technologies that make real estate run. And, if you have technology experience, August Partners could be the right fit for you.