Managing Director (Advertising Agency)

** This role is based in Jacksonville, FL / Base $130K - $165K, plus bonus / Ideal candidates are regional, or willing to relocate, for team collaboration. **

Our client - a profitable, established marketing agency trusted by top regional and national brands for two decades - is undergoing a significant evolution. We are seeking a Managing Director to architect a modern, scalable operating system and inject a fresh, national perspective into our growth strategy. This is an opportunity to directly shape the future of a successful firm committed to clarity, creativity, and measurable performance.

The Opportunity: A Modernization Role

This is a transformation role, not maintenance, based on a clear mandate: Stabilize Systemize Modernize.

You will join a stable agency with established clients and leadership momentum to:

1. Stabilize delivery and bring immediate predictability.
2. Design scalable operational systems.
3. Modernize workflows for an AI-enabled, data-driven environment.

This is your canvas to build the next version of the agency's operational backbone.

What You'll Lead

• Stabilize Delivery: Establish predictability, clarity, and confidence in work flow.
• Build Scalable Systems: Create frameworks for delivery, reporting, capacity planning, SLAs, QA, and client success.
• Modernize with Data & AI: Integrate modern tools and workflows to enhance visibility, speed, and insight.
• Elevate Client Value: Ensure every engagement delivers measurable ROI, supporting strong retention.
• Develop and Align the Team: Set clear expectations, improve team performance, and cultivate accountability.
• Partner with Leadership: Collaborate directly on operational strategy, growth, and margin excellence.

Who You Are

You are a proven transformation leader with systems thinking and operational rigor, adept at turning creative organizations into high-performing delivery engines.

• 7-12 years in delivery, operations, or client success leadership within a creative or digital agency.
• Experience stabilizing and modernizing a 20-100 person team or function.
• Ability to design scalable processes (reporting, capacity planning, workflow, governance).
• Comfort integrating AI, automation, and analytics into operational workflows.
• Leadership Presence: Calm, structured, communicative, and accountable.
• Fluency in connecting creative, digital, and media work to business outcomes.
• A Builder's Mindset: You create clarity and elevate performance through structure.

Bonus Points:

• Experience transforming or scaling an independent or regional agency.
• Success introducing outside-market ideas into an established organization.

How You'll Know You're Making Impact

Success will be defined by:

• Predictable, Visible, and On-Time Delivery.
• Upward Trend in client satisfaction and retention.
• Improved team confidence and performance.
• Clear, Consistent, Data-Driven Reporting.
• Significant Decrease in leadership firefighting/interventions.
• The operating system you build becoming the client's scalable foundation.
• Functional AI- and data-enabled workflows in daily delivery.

Why Join Our Client

• Established Stability: Profitable agency with deep client relationships.
• Clear Mandate: Full leadership alignment behind modernization.
• Transformation Moment: An opportunity to build what comes next, not maintain what exists.
• Creative-Meets-Operational Environment: Systems are designed to elevate craft.

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