Vice President, Account Director

Vice President, Account DirectorCompany description Heartbeat is a full-service agency for healthcare Challenger Brands. Challengers are playing a high-stakes game—they must battle behemoth market leaders, upend ingrained treatment habits, or transform a "me-too" product into "yes-please." The agency is known for serving up distinctive strategies and differentiating approaches, ensuring clients' market positions are uniquely owned. Heartbeat designs their organization around a 100% integration model, housing media, strategy, med comms, creative, technology, and even point of care/population health under the same roof for the tightest, most integrated campaigns possible. They price work based on outcomes, not outputs. Their innovative model delivers not only alignment, but powerful orchestration, greater efficiency, and maximum impact for every dollar spent—all the necessary elements for Challengers to triumph.Overview The Vice President, Account Director serves as the senior strategic lead across one or more brands, driving excellence in media planning, client partnership, and integrated team performance. Reporting to the EVP, Media Lead, this role is responsible for ensuring the delivery of high-quality work across cross-functional teams, fostering trusted client relationships, and finding opportunities to drive organic growth. The VP, Account Director acts as a key advisor to clients and internal collaborators, championing critical thinking, operational excellence, and business results while helping to shape the future growth of the agency's media practice.Responsibilities Knowledge Pharma media experience across a diverse set of conditions, disease states, and audiences (DTC, HCP, Payer, etc.) Perspective beyond Pharma to bring guidelines for media across audiences and channels (e.g. CPG, retail) Understands the total marketing process and the strategic role of media Provides insights on industry trends and client's business Contributes to thought leadership in the form of POV's and articles Managing and Leading Others Builds trust, models inclusion, and shows respect for all employees Exerts some lateral influence to manage cross-functional employees Provides clear communication on business initiatives and client requests Ensures teams are properly trained on tools and processes Drives adherence processes and guidelines Participates in formal development process, including performance management, goal-setting, mid- and yearly reviews Nurtures and develops mid-level and lower-level talent Participates in Heartbeat's interviewing efforts Contributes to the agency culture Strategy & Account Management Drives the planning process Responsible for the overall approach, and plan on each account Collaborates with internal cross-functional leaders to ensure strategic alignment of deliverables with client needs Pushes for continuous improvement of self, team, and client deliverables Provides a point of escalation Organic Growth and New Business Assists EVP in setting organic growth goals Helps EVP drive adherence to organic growth roadmaps and business plans Encourages team to incorporate new agency initiatives into recommendations Assists EVP in finding opportunities to upsell and cross-sell to existing clients Scopes client work with Project or Business Management partner Client Service Responsible for relationships with clients and agency partners Conveys passion for clients and their businesses Works with clients to shape their marketing priorities and new client relationships Drives professional, impactful standards within team for all written and verbal contact with clients; 'gold-standard' writer and presenter Serves as point of escalation for client concernsQualifications Requirements Proven ability to lead people (mentoring and developing) and projects Proven ability to develop talent Proven ability to earn the respect of clients, internal partners, and peers Strong innovation and creativity skills Education and Experience 10+ years of media experience 6+ years management experience preferred Deep cross-channel media knowledge and experience Pharmaceutical industry preferred BA/BS; advanced degree a plus