Creative Strategy & Account Lead

Collier.Simon is hiring a Creative Strategy & Account Lead to serve as a senior agency leader within an inter-agency team supporting a major automotive dealership group. This person will report directly to agency leadership and partner closely with the Account Director, Creative Director, and field teams to drive creative strategy, strengthen client relationships, and ensure creative work performs at the highest level across markets.This role requires someone with a strong creative strategy backbone—not a copywriter, but someone with a sharp point of view who can build a brief, shape the narrative, give meaningful creative feedback, and drive a project from strategy through presentation. They need to understand what the client needs, ensure the work delivers on those needs, and tell the right story when it’s time to sell the work in.They also need to be a relationship builder. A significant part of this role is earning trust with dealership marketing directors and general managers, not just servicing them, but becoming the kind of partner they actively seek out. That takes business acumen, creative credibility, and the confidence to lead conversations that go beyond asset requests.This is not a single-lane role. The right person moves fluidly between strategic planning, creative oversight, field support, and client management and knows which mode the moment demands.Core Responsibilities1. Strategic & Creative LeadershipLead creative strategy across brand, campaign, and production initiatives, owning the strategic direction from project brief through final deliveryTranslate project briefs into strong creative briefs, grounding the work in client objectives, audience insight, and a clear strategic narrativeProvide substantive creative feedback that sharpens the work, in close partnership with Creative Director and creative team leadershipEnsure every project has a clear story when it’s time to present, connecting creative rationale to performance data, cultural insights, and business contextDrive projects like brand strategy, campaign concepting, and production from initiation to completion, not by writing the work, but by ensuring it’s strategically sound and client-readyProactively search for insights (category, cultural, etc) to make work betterBuild and refine client-facing presentations that frame creative recommendations within a narrative of insight, strategy, and measurable impact2. Elevate Creative PerformanceEnsure media and creative are working in concert to maximize the efficacy of every campaign, consistently pushing for stronger performance, not just deliveryOversee and inform creative briefs to ensure they are built on strong, actionable insights that elevate the creative output.Read and interpret media performance reports, partnering with media teams to identify performance challenges and solve them through creative strategy adjustmentsChampion a culture of continuous improvement where creative is measured, iterated, and optimized, not just launched and forgotten3. Support Field Teams with Creative ExpertiseBuild strong working relationships with our account leads in the field, becoming a trusted creative resource they can rely onUnderstand the challenges and opportunities across the dealership network and help field reps articulate the value of creative initiatives to general managersArm field teams with the narratives, playbooks, and talking points they need to win buy-in at the store levelBe available and responsive: jumping on calls, building quick-turn materials, and providing the creative air cover field teams need to do their jobs well4. Build Relationships with Marketing Directors & Key General ManagersEarn trust by showing up with insight, preparation, and creative solutions. not just status updatesWork to create client evangelists: marketing directors and GMs who actively advocate for the agency’s work because they’ve experienced its value firsthandEnsure the agency has the right level of relationship depth at the right levels of the client organization5. Co-Manage Key Projects Across the PortfolioYou’ll have an Creative Account & Strategy Director counterpart who you will divide and manage a broad portfolio of concurrent projects, including: partner sponsorships, annual conferences, grand openings, cluster campaigns, and key corporate initiativesOwn assigned projects end-to-end: scoping, cross-functional alignment, timeline management, creative feedback, client presentations, and deliveryMaintain operational clarity across workstreams so nothing falls through the cracks, even when volume is highBring the same strategic rigor to project management that you bring to creative—every workstream should have a clear objective, a plan, and a defined measure of successWhat Success Looks LikeCreative strategy is proactive and sharp. The Creative Team receives clear, well-grounded strategic direction that makes the work betterCreative performance improves measurably over time because strategy,