On the hunt for an

Senior Account Manager

Operations

We're a small brand and marketing agency based in Kansas City. We've been at this since 2015. When you join this team, our clients won't get handed off to someone junior and forgotten about. They'll know your name, see your face, and actually hear from you.

We're hiring a Senior Account Manager. It's the most day-to-day client-facing role on our team, and we need someone who's been doing this long enough to handle it without a safety net.

This is a full-time, hybrid position. We're in the office Mondays and Thursdays. This role is built around being present with your team and your clients, not just available on Slack. We offer remote arrangements for other roles at Hello Big Idea, and we love the flexibility that comes with that. This one is different. The relationship-building, the real-time team alignment, the client trust that comes from showing up in person: it all matters here. Kansas City-based candidates only.

What the Job Actually Is

You are the person our clients hear from most. You keep the work moving, hold the relationship together, and know when to push back and when to listen.

You'll also work alongside our Director of Operations to use and improve the AI systems we've built to run accounts more efficiently. You're not building these from scratch on your own. Your job is to use them well, review every output before it touches a client, and help make them better over time.

On any given week, you're leading client meetings, approving AI-drafted client updates, facilitating two recurring team meetings, and serving as the link between clients and the creative team so nothing gets lost and nobody misses a deadline. It's a full plate. That's the point.

What You'll Own

Client relationships across your assigned accounts and projects. You're the person they trust. You respond quickly, communicate proactively, and bring strategic thinking to every conversation.

Weekly client updates. Every Monday, each client gets a written update covering what we're working on, what we need from them, and what's coming next. AI drafts it; you make it sound like someone who actually knows their business.

Two recurring team meetings. You lead our weekly account check-in (Mondays at 9:30 AM) and our weekly project status and risk review (Thursdays at 9:30 AM). These two meetings are how the whole agency stays aligned, and you run them.

Client onboarding. When a new client signs, you take the baton from sales, set up the internal systems and timeline, and run the kickoff meeting that gets everyone aligned from day one.

Deliverable oversight. Work goes out on time, in scope, and at the right quality level. You are the last set of eyes before anything reaches a client.

Timeline and feedback management. When timelines shift, client feedback comes in, or priorities change mid-week, you catch it, organize it, and communicate it to the team in time for them to adjust. Keeping the creative team informed and on track is a big part of this job.

Monthly strategy sessions. Every month you pull performance data, prep a priorities presentation with each assigned client, and lead the conversation: what's working, what's next, where we should focus.

What We're Looking For

8+ years in account management, brand strategy, or marketing. This is a real floor, not a suggestion.

Agency experience is required. Small agency experience is a genuine advantage.

You understand brand and marketing at a strategic level, not just a project management level.

You're curious about AI, comfortable using it, and ready to build it into how you work every day.

You write well. Really well. Client communication is a big part of this job.

You're proactive. You see what needs to happen and you handle it.

You can operate without someone handing you a plan.

You're a people person, genuinely. You can talk to clients and teammates alike, bring warmth to every interaction, and make people feel like someone's actually paying attention. The reason we still need a human in this role is because AI can't replicate that investment. That's what you bring.

Bonus points if you already know your way around Notion and Claude. Not a requirement, but it tells us you're already working the way we work.

Life at Hello Big Idea

We're a team of under 10 people, which means what we do together actually matters.

Every month, one team member gets to plan something for the group. No rules, no agenda, just something worth doing. We've been to Royals games, happy hours on the Plaza, Nelson-Atkins, a golf tournament, and yes, we've decorated pumpkins and watched a Halloween movie in the middle of a Thursday afternoon. This year we're bowling together for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City.

We give back to our community regularly and genuinely. It's not a line item on a values slide. It's just part of how we operate.

One more thing worth saying. We attract a lot of applicants who love what Hello Big Idea looks like from the outside: the creative work, the brands, the vibe. That means a lot to us. But that work didn't happen by accident or without real effort. The polished output is the product of grit, ownership, hard conversations, and people who genuinely care about getting it right. This role sits right in the middle of all of that. The right person for this seat doesn't just love the aesthetic. They understand and respect what it takes to make it happen.

Small agency life is not for everyone, and we mean that genuinely. There's nothing wrong with corporate America. But the people who love it here love it because the work is theirs, the wins are real, and nobody's hiding behind a title. If big impact and real ownership sound exciting, you're in the right place. If you'd rather have more layers between you and the work, there's plenty of room for that elsewhere.

This Isn't for You If

You're still building toward senior-level work.
You've only worked at large agencies with full support teams around you.
You need someone else to hand you a task list before you can get started.
You're not genuinely interested in AI as part of how you work.
You need a fully remote position.

Compensation and Benefits

Full-time, 40 hours per week.

Salary: $65,000 to $85,000, based on experience.
Health insurance: Hello Big Idea covers 75% of your individual health care plan. Coverage can be extended to your family, but the cost of a spouse or dependents is the employee's responsibility.
401k: Up to 4% company match.
Schedule: Hybrid. In-office Mondays and Thursdays. Flexible the rest of the week.
PTO: 10 days in your first year. After that, we operate on a flexible, trust-based policy. Get your work done, give us notice, and we can make a lot happen.
Paid holidays: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas every year. On top of that, we add 5 to 10 extra days annually, decided at the start of each year. In practice that usually means the Friday after Thanksgiving, a bridge day when a holiday falls on a weekend, and several days around the holiday season. We're generous with it.

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