Job Description

About Elmwood & MSQ

MSQ Asia & Elmwood Singapore is our hybrid hub for Southeast Asia, where brand distinctiveness meets joined-up activation for greater impact.

MSQ is the world's most AI-enabled challenger group, with AI-powered human creativity at the heart of everything we do. We fuse the right mix of capabilities to unlock momentum for brands, connecting creative performance to business outcomes in real time. We have global specialists across creative, social and influencer, media and commerce, strategy & insights, CX & creative, tech, sports & entertainment, and AI products & data. This is MSQ's Joined-Up Thinking: the scale of a holding company with the agility of an independent.

Elmwood is our global brand and design capability, with almost 50 years of experience as one of the world's most effective brand and design agencies. With studios in London, New York, Singapore and Shanghai, we create brands that are more meaningful, more memorable and built to move faster than the market. Our work covers brand strategy and identity, packaging and experience design for clients across global personal care, food and beverage, financial services and technology. Elmwood is proud of its long track record at the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, the longest-running awards for design that delivers measurable business results.

The Client Director is a pivotal senior leadership role - the bridge between leading client accounts directly and building the commercial and people infrastructure that powers elmwood's growth. You are the person clients want in the room for the big conversations, and the leader your team turns to for direction, clarity and advocacy. Overseeing a portfolio of complex, high-value accounts and beginning to lead a team of Account Directors, you will drive client partnerships, commercial performance and agency reputation with authority, entrepreneurial energy and a genuine passion for exceptional work.

What you will be doing.

People & Team accountabilities:

Lead and develop team members on your accounts - coaching, mentoring and investing in the growth of individuals to build a high-performing client services team.
Begin to take an active role in team design and resource planning - working with the client and creative team to ensure the right people are in place to deliver exceptional outcomes.
Create a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous learning across your accounts - setting clear expectations and leading by example.
Participate in the recruitment and onboarding of client services talent, helping to attract strong candidates and set new team members up for success.
Lead your team through complexity and change with composure - maintaining clarity, momentum and standards even in high-pressure situations.

Work/offer accountabilities:

Provide strategic and creative stewardship across your portfolio - partnering with senior creatives and strategists to ensure all work is on-strategy, ambitious and delivered to the highest quality.
Oversee end-to-end delivery across multiple complex, concurrent accounts - ensuring projects are on brief, on time, within scope and to a consistently excellent standard.
Lead high-value pitch development and new business acquisition for your accounts - directing the team to deliver compelling, commercially rigorous and winning proposals.
Set the standard for how complex client challenges are reframed as brand and design opportunities, directing strategic problem-solving at a senior level.
Champion and model the effective use of agency tools and platforms and actively drive adoption of AI tools across your team to improve ways of working and client output.
Serve as a point of escalation on your accounts - resolving issues with commercial awareness, strategic clarity and confidence.

Client accountabilities:

Own and lead relationships across multiple client accounts - serving as the senior strategic partner and primary point of contact at senior stakeholder level.
Develop long-term client strategies that deepen partnerships, expand portfolios and generate significant revenue growth beyond initial engagements.
Build a strong and growing senior client network - identifying, developing and converting new opportunities through trust, commercial acumen and strategic insight.
Lead negotiations on contracts, rate cards and scope changes for your accounts, ensuring commercially sound and strategically aligned outcomes.
Proactively anticipate client needs - using your industry expertise and market awareness to keep elmwood positioned as a trusted, forward-thinking creative partner.

Business accountabilities

Hold account-level P&L responsibility across your portfolio - owning revenue forecasting, budget adherence, gross margin and profitability, and proactively managing risks.
Take a critical role in contributing to the annual Studio Business Plan and Strategic Account Plans, managing your accounts revenue, EBITDA and recoverability targets.
Build and maintain a healthy, visible pipeline - farming existing accounts and identifying new opportunities to ensure 95% recoverability and strong commercial performance.
Collaborate with the client leaders as an active contributor to studio commercial strategy and new business efforts.
Lead strategic trend analysis for your accounts - using industry knowledge to inform client strategies and feed insights back to leadership and marketing teams.
Drive award entries, case studies and thought leadership initiatives that build elmwood's fame and reputation across the region.
Represent elmwood at major industry events and begin to act as a prominent, credible spokesperson for the agency.

What you know and bring.

The knowledge you'll need:

8-10 years of progressive experience in account management, ideally within a brand, design, advertising or creative agency, with a proven track record at senior client director level.
Deep expertise in packaging design (2D graphics and 3D structural) with demonstrated experience leading complex, high-profile brand and design accounts.
Deep expertise in integrated brand communications (campaign development, content, and multi-channel activation across digital, social, and traditional media) with demonstrated experience leading complex, high-profile brand and advertising accounts.
Proven ability to manage account-level P&L with full commercial ownership - including revenue forecasting, margin management and profitability.
Strong understanding of brand strategy, design processes and integrated agency offerings, from insight and briefing through to delivery and measurement.
Experience in contract and scope negotiation, with growing confidence in senior procurement engagement.
Strong proficiency in project management, collaboration and CRM tools
Champions the use of AI tools across the team to drive innovation, efficiency and better client outcomes.
A Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications or a related field.

The skills that'll set you apart

A confident, compelling communicator - able to present persuasively, influence at senior levels and build lasting confidence with clients and colleagues.
A strategic thinker and natural relationship builder, with the ability to immerse yourself in clients businesses and deliver genuinely valuable commercial and creative insight.
Proven track record of growing accounts significantly - farming pipeline, identifying new opportunities and converting them through trust, creativity and strategic partnership.
Strong leadership capability - able to inspire, develop and hold accountable a team of Account Directors and senior client services professionals.
Commercially astute, with the ability to translate strategy into revenue and profit outcomes across a demanding, multi-account portfolio.
A compelling storyteller - able to influence, engage and lead through clear, persuasive narratives in pitches, proposals and senior client communications.
Entrepreneurial mindset and drive - self-motivated, commercially focused and genuinely excited by the opportunity to grow the agency.