Senior Account Manager (Experiential & Live Events)

Department: Client Services / Project

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Detroit

Description

Imagination is seeking an experienced Experiential & Live Events Senior Account Manager to join our client service team at our Detroit studio.  This is a hybrid role encompassing senior-level account leadership, project oversight, and production. It supports high-profile automotive clients, including senior leadership and executive stakeholders. It is accountable not only for client relationships but also for the overall health, performance and delivery excellence of assigned accounts.

The Senior Account Manager is a project lead who owns the day-to-day success of large-scale experiential and communications programs while also overseeing financial stewardship, administrative responsibilities, and junior team support. This role ensures projects are not only delivered successfully but are strategically aligned, operationally sound, and financially well-managed. This role serves as a trusted, highly responsive day-to-day partner to clients, often operating in fast-moving, high-stakes environments where priorities shift quickly, and attention to detail is critical. Success in this role requires sound judgment, discretion, and a strong understanding of the live-event and production processes, enabling the Senior Account Manager to guide teams confidently, flag risks early, solve complex challenges, and anticipate client and business needs before they arise.

In addition, this role incorporates strong internal executive support and business development components, serving as a strategic and operational extension of the Executive Director. This includes managing executive-level communications, preparing materials, maintaining visibility into key priorities, and identifying opportunities to expand and strengthen client relationships.

Our work follows the heartbeat of major live events and launches. While this occasionally requires evening or weekend support, we prioritize 'flexibility both ways'—ensuring our team can balance these peak moments with dedicated downtime.

Key Responsibilities

• Project Leadership and Delivery:
  • Serve as the day-to-day project lead across multiple workstreams, owning scope, timelines, deliverables, and overall forward progress. Proactively drive projects forward by defining next steps, assigning responsibilities, and holding internal teams accountable.
  • Anticipate challenges, dependencies, and production considerations before they become issues, and propose clear solutions.
  • Translate client goals into actionable plans for creative, production, and logistics teams.
  • Maintain a strong understanding of the event production lifecycle, from concept through on-site execution and wrap.
  • Ensure documentation, workflows and internal systems are consistently maintained at a high standard.

• Client Communication and Relationship Management:
  • Serve as the senior point of contact for clients, providing consistent updates and ensuring their needs are addressed promptly.
  • Provide proactive strategic guidance beyond immediate project needs. 
  • Manage high-touch client relationships with professionalism, discretion, and urgency, responding effectively to time-sensitive requests and evolving priorities.
  • Anticipate client needs and provide thoughtful guidance to help navigate complex decisions and deliverables.
  • Build long-term trust to foster account stability and growth opportunities.
  • Thoughtfully manage client hospitality, including curated gifts, birthdays, milestone recognition, hosted experiences, and personal touches that strengthen relationships beyond active projects and day-to-day deliverables.
  • Coordinate client-facing details, including meeting F&B, parking, and executive-level accommodations, to ensure a polished, seamless experience at every interaction.

• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
  • Lead internal coordination across strategy, creative, production, and external partners.
  • Run internal status meetings, set agendas, document decisions, and ensure alignment across teams.
  • Act as the connective tissue between teams, ensuring clarity, accountability, and momentum.
  • Escalate risks early and align with senior team members on mitigation strategies.

• Event Execution and On-Site Leadership:
  • Provide senior-level support for the execution of live events and moments, including on-site leadership when required.
  • Ensure teams are prepared, timelines are met, and details are managed through show days and beyond.
  • Act as a calm, solutions-focused presence in high-pressure live environments.

• Budget and Resource Management:
  • Lead development of project budgets in partnership with production and finance teams. 
  • Oversee ongoing budget tracking, forecasting, reconciliation, and financial reporting. 
  • Monitor scope changes and manage addenda to protect profit margins. 
  • Provide regular updates on project expenses and inform senior team members of any potential budget deviations.
  • Partner with the Account Director in resource allocation and scheduling.

• Reporting and Performance:
  • In collaboration with the Strategy Director, deliver clear and concise reporting on campaign performance, KPIs, and outcomes.
  • Gather and synthesize client feedback to inform improvements and strengthen future work.
  • Identify opportunities to improve processes, strengthen delivery models, and enhance account performance. 

• Internal Executive Support & Business Development:
  • Act as a strategic partner and operational extension to internal leadership.
  • Prepare executive-ready materials, including presentations, briefing documents, agendas, and summaries for senior leadership meetings.
  • Manage and streamline communications on behalf of senior stakeholders, ensuring consistency, accuracy, and timeliness.
  • Anticipate the needs of executive stakeholders, proactively identifying gaps, risks, or opportunities and addressing them before escalation is required.
  • Own meeting cadences for senior-level engagements, including setting agendas, capturing key decisions, and ensuring follow-through on action items.
  • Maintain a high level of discretion and professionalism when handling sensitive information and executive interactions.
  • Contribute to business development efforts, including proposal development, pitch materials, and opportunity tracking.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• A genuine passion for client service and delivering excellence under pressure.
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Film/Video Production, or a related field.
• 6-8+ years of account management or production experience within an experiential marketing, events, advertising, or communications agency.
• Demonstrated experience supporting senior leaders or executive-level clients in demanding, deadline-driven environments.
• Proven ability to manage complex projects with multiple stakeholders and moving parts.
• Exceptional communication skills, with confidence in presenting to and interacting with high-level audiences.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to remain calm and solutions-focused under pressure.
• Experience managing large-scale budgets across the full project lifecycle.
• Automotive industry experience is a plus.

Benefits

What we can offer you: 

• Work with a state-of-the-art product and deliver it to exciting and innovative brands
• Learning and development opportunities that contribute to professional growth
• A fun, engaging work culture
• Be part of a mission-driven team that values curiosity, rigour, bravery & respect
• Opportunity to contribute to large-scale, high-impact projects from day one

Benefits and perks offered:

• Comprehensive paid time off benefits
• Hybrid work model, where our team comes into the office a minimum of 3 days per week
• Generous parental leave 
• Up to 4% safe harbor company 401k match 
•  Comprehensive, low-cost health benefits