Account Director, Business Development

Account Director, Business Development Location: Chicago, Illinois – Job Category: Client Growth & Sales Management – Business Unit: Betty – Date posted: 05/29/2026 – Job ID: 40762 Betty is a fully integrated creative agency devoted to building better. You name it, we probably want to improve it. And we want to work with someone who feels the same way. We're looking for an energetic, inclusive, fun-loving person who’d rather lead than follow. Someone who prioritizes creating remarkable work, strengthening client relationships, contributing to agency growth, and building consumer experiences for an increasingly multicultural and global world. GENERAL PURPOSE OF THE JOB The Account Director, Business Development will support Betty’s new business activity as a strategic pitch lead, helping to quickly understand prospective clients in order to lead RFI and RFP activity that results in great strategic and creative work, and ultimately new Betty clients. This person will focus heavily on opportunities for our Favorite Child design offering, but support across all Betty business development efforts (AOR, studio, etc.). The Account Director, Business Development will build, lead, and manage cross-organizational teams, ensuring a strong, profitable, and vibrant business development function consistent with our mission and values. Additionally, this person could – as personal capacity and agency workload permits/requires – run select accounts, ensuring that once a “new logo” is won the work is supported by a strong client-relationship, strategic business insight and high-quality creative output. The ideal person for this role will be the ultimate collaborator – tenacious about soliciting thinking across strategy, creative, production and more. They should have strong writing and presenting skills, and not be afraid of a tight timeline or an incomplete brief. This person must be fluent in both campaign creative and foundational brand creative (design systems, packaging design, etc.). And finally, they need to have excellent project management skills. This includes working with our project management team to establish and hold people accountable for adhering to certain milestones and a certain quality of work. We work hard. We think hard. And we have a ton of fun. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Actively contributes to building win strategies and pitch themes/narratives Leads pitch activity, including establishing a vision for the process, working across the agency to establish the right team, and ensuring that final presentation and proposal materials are inspirational and client-focused Works collaboratively with the pitch team to assist in developing RFIs, RFPs and pitch presentations; this is inclusive of strong writing and presentation skills to draft RFI/RFP copy and edit content contributions to align to an established narrative Quarterback new business team meeting logistics, in collaboration with project management and other new business support, for active pitches, including internal meetings and virtual and in-person client meetings Work with discipline leads to manage cross-agency resources that are assisting on new business efforts, coordinating with team members and their managers regarding workload and job expectations Work with the VP, Business development to provide regular pipeline and win rate reporting and analysis of performance to senior management Oversee administrative activities related to new business research and record-keeping, including: Entry and maintenance of Salesforce data to facilitate accurate pipeline conversations Research prospective businesses for correct names, titles, advertising budgets, geography, agency of record, sales data, etc. Organize and maintain agency depository of new business materials – boilerplate credentials, case studies, bios, client references, impact statements Assist in client acceptance activities, including working with our legal team to facilitate the review and approval of legal documents, like NDAs and MSAs, and working with our account and project management teams to develop strategic, thorough and profitable scopes of work Play a prominent role in guiding Betty and Favorite Child marketing activities, including planning and executing thought leadership pieces, social content, consultant decks event collateral, and anything that helps spread the good word about our agency Maintain excellent relationships: With key leaders and partners across Betty, Favorite Child and Quad With clients in the context of new business activity and possibly new client work; includes strategic client communication regarding process, creative feedback, etc. Exercise excellent problem-solving skills, taking many inputs and quickly strategizing the right path forward Perform other duties from time to time to meet the changing needs of the agency JOB REQUIREMENTS Education: Bachelor’s degree in advertising, communication, marketing or related field preferred Experience: Minimum 6 years in creative agency account service, pitch/new business experience preferred Certificates, Licenses, Registrations: NA Knowledge, Skills & Abilities: Strong Microsoft Office skills, including PowerPoint, Word and Excel Proficiency with digital collaboration tools like Teams A proven understanding of how an agency business works, including both campaign/AOR relationships and design-focused relationship Strategic communication skills that allow you to speak and write convincingly on various topics A confident, outgoing personality, both in terms of navigating complex internal and client conversations, and effectively managing/motivating teams A proactive passion for keeping up on news, current events, emerging trends, etc. Ability to handle high-stress situations with effective results Ability to organize and prioritize, managing multiple time-sensitive projects at the same time We offer comprehensive benefits for eligible employees including medical, prescription, dental and vision insurance, 401(k) retirement savings, paid time off, holidays and additional benefits. Betty and Quad are proud to be equal opportunity employers. We are committed to creating a place of belonging — a space where employees do not need to sacrifice who they are to exist and grow in our workplace. Betty and Quad do not discriminate on any unlawful basis including race, religion, color, national origin, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis prohibited by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Betty and Quad also prohibit harassment of applicants and employees based on any of these protected categories. Drug-Free Workplace #J-18808-Ljbffr