At Pencil, we are driving innovation in advertising technology through our state-of-the-art SaaS product, which harnesses Generative AI to redefine content creation. Our mission is to make AI the default in advertising without replacing creative people. To achieve this, we need to make sure that our technology isn't just in the hands of big brands - we need to try to help small businesses and creative individuals too.

Must be based in New York and available to work from the client's office at least two days per week.

The role

You'll own one of the world's leading beauty clients as we move them from a traditional in-house studio to agentic services. AI agents will do the high-volume production work, skilled people will own the judgement and the craft, and the client will pay for outcomes rather than hours. You'll be accountable for how that change lands: the results, the relationship, and the team doing the work. You'll be the person the client trusts while it happens, and the person who proves the model works so we can repeat it elsewhere.

Key responsibilities

Own the client, end to end: Be the senior point of contact for the client's leadership. Set operating objectives for the account and be accountable for its budget, schedule and performance.

Lead the move from hours to outcomes: Shape and negotiate a commercial model based on finished work and results, with clear measurement behind every number.

Run the change on live work: Work with Pencil's product and engineering teams and the client's teams to build agent-first ways of working, prove them on real briefs, and make them the default. Decide what agents do and what people do.

Lead the team and its leaders: Set direction, hire, develop and manage performance for the people delivering the work, and build a culture where a small team runs a large fleet of agents.

Protect quality and raise bad news early: Set the quality measures, hold the line on them, and tell the client and our leadership quickly when something isn't working.

Shape what comes next: Find new areas of work with the client, and share what you learn with Pencil's leadership so we can offer agentic services to other clients.

Your background

You've led a large, complex client account or in-house studio and been accountable for its budget and results, at director level or above.

You have experience working in an agency environment, managing between 1–5 enterprise-level clients.

You've led a change in a live client environment, such as a new operating model or new tools, and not only run steady-state operations.

You must have used AI or automation in real production work, and you know how to measure the quality of what it produces.

You've held the confidence of senior client stakeholders, including through commercial negotiations and pricing changes.

You've managed and developed other team leaders.

Experience in beauty, personal care or another regulated content category.

You'll Thrive Here If You...

Owners: You take total ownership of the result, including when it goes wrong, and you say so early.

Fast: You would rather prove an idea on real work in weeks than plan it for months, then stop and look at where you are.

Simple: You see a task done twice and ask what can be taken away, then automate it.

Human: You believe agents should run the volume and people should own the judgement. You never automate to 100%.

Surprising: You bring clients ideas and new scopes of work they didn't ask for.

KPIs & Success Measures

Share of the client's briefs handled by agents first, growing over time.

Quality pass rate of agent-produced work, checked by people on live briefs.

Gross margin on the account against plan.

Growth in client revenue and scope of work.

Client relationship health, from senior stakeholder feedback.

Milestones for the move to agentic services reached on time.

Benefits

25 days PTO plus public holidays, although we operate a Flexible Time Off scheme.

Health insurance / private medical cover.

Monthly stipend towards wellness, fitness, and learning and development