Account Director, Influencer Strategy

Account Director, Influencer Strategy

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Weber Shandwick is more than a leading global PR agency – we're an engagement agency and we're working in and around the cutting edge of the new media landscape. We're storytellers, content creators, and we engage people IN the story. Our success is built on a deep commitment to client service and to our people. We embrace creativity and collaboration, and we engage stakeholders in new and creative ways to build brands and reputations.

Account Director, Influence

The Account Director, Influencer Strategy is responsible for providing strategic, integrated direction for influencer & creator marketing initiatives. This role engages in high-level discussions with clients, ensuring that influencer efforts align with brand goals and drive measurable business outcomes. The ideal candidate will lead cross-functional collaboration, contribute to industry thought leadership, and advocate for innovation in influencer marketing.

Key Responsibilities

• Provides strategic direction for influencer marketing, ensuring alignment with brand objectives and business KPIs for some of our top lifestyle and CPG clients.
• Partners with cross-functional leads—including Creative, Analytics, Paid Media, and CX teams—and the IAT to ensure full campaign integration and stay at the forefront of agency capabilities, social trends, and digital innovations.
• Drives communications in tactical planning, acting as a representative for influencer marketing capabilities.
• Champions innovative approaches, leveraging emerging platforms, AI-driven insights, and trend forecasting to future-proof strategies.
• Builds and maintains strong relationships with talent and management agencies to ensure reliability, quality partnerships, and the ability to execute quick-turn activations.
• Acts as a trusted advisor, guiding clients through social, digital, and influencer best practices while identifying opportunities for strategic growth. Drives client engagements to uncover incremental revenue opportunities and foster long-term partnerships.
• Reviews campaign briefs, align teams, and coordinate strategic staffing needs with Sr. Influencer Strategy Leads & Resource Management to optimize execution.
• Mentor internal team, sharing best practices and emerging trends to elevate influencer marketing expertise.
• Collaborate with the Sr. Influencer Strategy Leads to develop case studies that highlight successful influencer marketing initiatives.

Qualifications & Experience

• 8+ years of experience in influencer marketing, digital strategy, or a related discipline.
• Proven experience in high-level client engagement, strategic consulting, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong understanding of influencer marketing trends, emerging platforms, and measurement frameworks.
• Ability to drive measurable results and demonstrate the business impact of influencer campaigns.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Experience mentoring and developing teams, fostering a culture of growth and innovation.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with multiple stakeholders.
• Strong analytical mindset with proficiency in data-driven decision-making.
• Familiarity with influencer marketing platforms, CRM tools (CIQ), and industry-standard analytics solutions.
• Nice to Have: Proven ability to navigate complex celebrity relations and talent negotiations, coupled with familiarity with SAG-AFTRA compliance and union procedures.

Why Join Us?

• Work with leading global brands on innovative and high-impact influencer marketing strategies.
• Be part of a forward-thinking agency that prioritizes integration, innovation, and measurable results.
• Collaborate with top-tier talent across multiple disciplines, including creative, analytics, and media.
• Enjoy opportunities for professional growth, mentorship, and leadership development.
• Competitive salary, benefits, and career advancement opportunities.

Is this you?

Be a driver of culture: Must have true passion and understanding of pop culture and are part of the community (be it music, gaming, fashion, food, internet culture, etc.) This job is the intersection of creative, strategy, marketing, technology, content creation and production; your energy must be driven by your lifestyle. You must influence creative ideations: from the ideas presented, to the influencers selected, to the content created, all the way down to the language used in post copy.

Have high cultural competencies: Understand the role and importance of diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) You must be culturally vigilant with the ability to understand, communicate with and effectively interact with people across cultures.

Have "Gravitas" in the influencer space and skin-in-the-game: Deep understanding of the influencer landscape is required. Proven ability to build, speak and grow relationships with change agents and cultural makers (celebrities, influencers, artists, thought leaders) directly or via their agents. You must be open to a public-facing role; willingness to speak publicly about influencer trends when opportunities present itself to the WS Influencer Team.

Know how to identify and manage diverse vendors and partners: In an industry where technologies (SaaS platforms, AI, managed services, etc.) are popping on the daily, at high volume, no less, you must have experience working with RFPs and meeting with leading tech companies to understand their services and identify their uniqueness (and keep up with their ongoing changes in our WS influencer database)

Be ready to lead at any moment: Working with your leads, you will learn to "step up to the plate" and lead effectively in the client's and agency's best interests while also helping to cultivate, mentor and coach mid to junior staff members on the influencer team.

Hustle: Identify influencer opportunities (organic or new) to ensure influencer marketing continues to be a strong marketing discipline and revenue driver on your assigned account or at Weber Shandwick.

Think like a lawyer: You understand how important it is to be in compliance with best practices (FTC updates, platform requirements), continuously build our excellence by partnering with DXTRA legal and finance to ensure risk and liabilities are reduced and tamed for every campaign you touch.

Have experience building engaged audiences: On YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and other digital & social platforms.

Know how to build a story: You will build client presentations that tell smart, compelling stories, never "rinse and repeat" which requires you to be highly motivated, energetically charged and always inspired.

Be curious, always: You are willing to learn a little bit of everything, and open to take on anything.

Salary Range: $95,000 USD – $125,000 USD

Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employee's/applicant's background, pertinent experience, and qualifications.

Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.