Account Director

The Account Director is a strategic leader responsible for developing, managing, and executing client accounts within a sports marketing and creative agency. The role involves leading key client relationships and project execution, providing strategic direction, and delivering best-in-class campaigns to ensure long-term client growth and satisfaction for global clients focused on key APAC regions. The Account Director will oversee sub-regions within APAC for a major global client that is strategically critical to Octagon and has a vast global sponsorship portfolio.

• Act as a key lead on day-to-day work across accounts, building trusted, long-term relationships with clients and stakeholders.
• Develop a deep understanding of local market teams' needs and objectives and provide strategic counsel on sponsorship, brand positioning, and campaign effectiveness.
• Lead regular client meetings, reporting, and performance reviews.
• Oversee day-to-day account team operations with a proactive 'can do' attitude and ownership of projects and process, upholding the highest quality standards, including leading client status meetings, managing programming tracking documents, developing thoughtful POVs And crafting insightful wrap-up reports.
• Manage multiple projects concurrently with a proactive approach, covering events, activations, campaign support, and new opportunity assessment.
• Conduct pre-planning, management, and implementation, including vendor vetting, contract review and negotiation, and event activation plans and supporting communication documents.
• Actively identify, create, and pursue new opportunities with existing clients and participate in new business development efforts to identify new clients to the agency.
• Generate forward-thinking, creative ideas to improve sponsorship-led programs and develop differentiated use of existing partnerships.
• Oversee and drive the financial health of accounts, reviewing actual versus SOW fees and timesheet tracking on a continual basis to ensure the agency's fees and time billed are on track.
• Lead and manage a team of reports, providing regular feedback, supporting career progression, and instilling confidence, motivation, and empowerment.

• 6–8+ years' experience working in account management, project management, or client service with a brand, agency, and/or team or sports or entertainment property.
• Extensive experience of owning and growing positive and effective relationships with senior client stakeholders, resulting in account growth and evolution; ability to cultivate strong relationships with staff, other internal stakeholders, vendors and partners.
• Exceptional attention to detail, alongside organizational, time and project management skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Software, specifically PowerPoint, Excel and Word.
• Strong Chinese language ability.
• Experience working with complex organisations and sponsorship portfolios requiring consultative guidance in fast-paced scenarios.
• Passion and/or interest in the power of sports and/or entertainment, gaming, music, and/or celebrity & lifestyle culture.
• Willingness and flexibility to travel and work weekends/holidays as needed.

• Extensive experiential, sponsorship activation, event experience is desirable.