Account Director – Hospitality & Restaurant Lead

ON BOARD EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING

On Board Experiential (OBE) is an award-winning, full-service, experience-led agency that creates meaningful brand experiences worldwide. We work out of our homes and physical offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and NYC, or wherever our adventures take us! Our clients include Nike, Meta, JPMorgan Chase, The Infatuation, Stripe, and OpenAI, to name a few. We know, "Cool, cool, but what’s it like to work at OBE?" We thought you'd never ask. Event Marketer has recognized OBE as one of the best places to work in events and well, we couldn't agree more.

The most important part of our business is our people. They are hardworking, brave and make magic happen on the regular. But under each majestic exterior is a human deserving of a healthy work-life balance. That’s why we believe in recovery days, happy hours, friendly but competitive fitness challenges and company offsites.

We conduct open meetings to facilitate discussions that heal, inspire, and bring us closer. We encourage each other to bring our whole selves to work. We want to hear about your lived experiences and unique perspectives. We don't just want you to be unapologetically you: it's part of the job description.

SUMMARY OF POSITION  

The Account Director is a leadership position within the Account Team, delivering an exceptional level of service and execution of programs on behalf of our clients. Positioned as a mentor and manager for team members in the department and agency, the Account Director is responsible for generating and expanding our client accounts and relationships. This position requires a comprehensive understanding of our clients’ business needs and a competitive landscape. They provide end to end project management on high profile large scale complex programs, offering creative and strategic solutions to deliver on program KPIs. This position is accountable for financial and operational performance, managing program budgets and resource utilization. The Account Director ensures that programs and marketing strategies successfully promote client brands, products, and services in accordance with client objectives and initiatives.

In addition, this role carries a specialized focus on building and managing restaurant and hospitality relationships, curating culinary partnerships, and integrating hospitality-driven experiences into client programs.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

• Demonstrate thought leadership with insightful analysis of client objectives and develop innovative solutions that successfully deliver clients’ message and enhance the brand presence.

• Collaborate with creative strategy to conduct research and develop insights for brand and audience analysis, as the foundation to build concept development. 

• Drive and / or supervise client activations to ensure proper planning, development and execution with the utmost professionalism and accountability. 

• Develop and manage program SOWs ensuring resources, budgets, timelines, and deliverables stay aligned with terms of contract and client commitments. 

• Critically evaluate and offer solutions to optimize client budgets and internal resource management.

• Provide ongoing monitoring and guidance of expenses and actual costs for approved program budgets. Lead honest and challenging conversations with clients at times of budget misalignment. 

• Provide ongoing monitoring and guidance of creative deliverables, ensuring client review and approvals as needed in partnership with program Creative lead. Lead honest and challenging conversations with clients at times of creative misalignment.

• Manage multiple projects simultaneously and/or supervise other account personnel, such as Account Managers, Account Coordinators, Interns, and external teams.

• Provide mentorship and candid real time feedback to direct reports, cross functional team members as needed and appropriate. 

• Actively listen and empower others to lead conversations, motivate others and share confidence in others with authenticity. 

• Recognize the audience needs with varying tones and approach, ability to read the room and address immediately and honestly. 

• Ability to self-navigate through conflict resolution, and the ability to recognize when to seek support, strong self-awareness of own energy and contribution. 

• In collaboration with Leadership and Executive team, guide teams through conflict resolution, and the ability to recognize when to seek support.

• Drive new business development, including identifying new opportunities with new and existing clients. Lead RFPs process with cross functional team. 

• Continually strive to identify new opportunities to enhance the agency’s services and lines of business.

• Remain current in industry trends, competitive landscapes, creative technology innovations.

Additional Hospitality-Focused Functions:

• Build and maintain trusted relationships with restaurants, chefs, and hospitality groups across key markets, with a focus on New York City and East Coast regions.

• Curate and manage restaurant partnerships and activations for experiential programs, ensuring seamless integration into client initiatives.

• Serve as an advisor on restaurant operations and industry trends, collaborating closely with creative and experiential teams to deliver elevated guest experiences.

• Oversee restaurant partner communications, from prospecting through onboarding and execution.

• Track partnership satisfaction post-activation and identify opportunities for long-term growth.

• Maintain a pulse on hospitality industry news, trends, and emerging talent to inform client and agency strategies.

DESIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE 

EDUCATION / EXPERIENCE

• Minimum 5 years of experience in marketing, promotions, and events within a marketing agency, preferably experiential marketing

• Must have significant client service with on-site and/or virtual event experience.

• Digital, interactive, and/or online branding and program experience

• Brand management experience a plus.  

• BA/BS in marketing, business administration, communications, or related field; MBA degree is a plus.

• 3+ years of experience in hospitality, food & beverage, or restaurant relationship management strongly preferred.

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Strong communication skills with ability to connect with others authentically while equally honoring and respecting diverse perspectives.   

• Ability to build trust and respect through active coaching, communication, and listening.

• Exceptional track record growing and managing client relationships with key stakeholders, and executive decision makers.  

• Demonstrated track record of developing and mentoring account team personnel.

• Forward thinking and excellent problem-solving skills, with the ability to pro-actively anticipate obstacles and issues, properly communicate to appropriate parties, and create solutions on a timely basis.

• Ability to continuously seek and identify areas of organic growth and expansion of services offered to clients.

• Must have experience managing financials and forecasts.

• Established network within the restaurant and hospitality community, particularly in NYC and East Coast markets.

• Understanding of both front-of-house and back-of-house operations, with the ability to bridge partner needs with program activations.

OTHER QUALITIES AND SKILLS

• Natural curiosity—the drive to always be learning and growing, professionally and personally.

• High energy and flexibility in working non-traditional hours as needed (some nights and weekends as deadlines dictate).

• Ability to lift up to 25 pounds and stay on your feet for extended periods of time.

• Willingness to work a hybrid schedule (up to 4 days in office) and travel up to 50% of the time.

• Comfortable attending industry events, dining out as part of relationship development, and representing the agency at high-profile hospitality experiences

Compensation Range: $100,000 - $150,000 annually. This is the pay range OBE believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on level of experience, relevant skills, professional certifications, market pay, and demand for the role. OBE reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. For this role, Benefits include: medical/dental/vision insurance, employer paid basic life and personal accident insurance. Also included: Annual Profit Sharing/Bonus Plan based on the company’s performance and your individual performance, 401(k), Healthcare Flexible Spending Account, Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account, PTO, STD/LTD insurance benefits.

On Board Experiential is An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.