Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Digital Account Executive

🎯 Role Definition

The Digital Account Executive is the primary client-facing lead for assigned accounts, accountable for end-to-end campaign management, performance optimization, revenue growth, and cross-functional coordination. This role blends strategic planning and hands-on execution across paid search (Google Ads), paid social (Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok), programmatic display, email, and analytics to achieve client KPIs. The ideal candidate is a consultative seller and campaign optimizer who translates business goals into measurable media plans, uses analytics to guide decisions, and scales client relationships through upsell and retention.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Account Coordinator / Junior Account Executive (Digital)
Digital Marketing Specialist / Paid Media Specialist
Sales Development Representative (with digital advertising interest)

Advancement To:

Senior Account Executive / Account Manager (Digital)
Digital Strategy Lead / Paid Media Manager
Client Services Director / Head of Accounts

Lateral Moves:

Media Planner / Media Buyer (Programmatic)
CRO / UX Analyst
Performance Marketing Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Manage a portfolio of digital accounts end-to-end: own client relationships, set expectations, develop digital roadmaps, and deliver monthly and quarterly business reviews that align campaign outcomes with client objectives and KPIs.
Build comprehensive digital media plans that integrate search (Google Ads), social (Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok), display, programmatic, video, and email channels to meet client acquisition, retention, and revenue goals.
Execute and optimize paid search campaigns: keyword architecture, bidding strategies, ad copy testing, conversion tracking, and quality score improvements to maximize ROI and lower CPA.
Plan and manage paid social campaigns across Meta, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and X: audience segmentation, creative testing, budget pacing, and ROAS optimization.
Lead programmatic and display media buying with partners and DSPs: target strategy, frequency management, viewability, brand safety, and placement optimization.
Monitor campaign performance daily and implement data-driven optimizations including bid adjustments, budget reallocation, creative rotations, A/B tests, and audience refinements to meet or exceed KPIs.
Implement and maintain accurate conversion tracking across platforms using Google Tag Manager, server-side tagging, and pixels to ensure clean measurement and attribution.
Prepare and present client-facing performance reports and insights that combine platform metrics (GA4, Google Ads, Meta Ads) with business outcomes and strategic recommendations.
Drive upsell and cross-sell opportunities by identifying audience expansion, new-channel experimentation, creative refreshes, and advanced measurement solutions that increase client lifetime value.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams—creative, analytics, engineering, and operations—to develop campaign assets, landing pages, and tracking frameworks that support testing and growth.
Lead campaign setup and QA: ad build, tracking URLs, UTM tagging, bid strategies, budget pacing, and pre-launch checks to avoid delivery or tracking errors.
Manage client-facing financials: prepare proposals, quote media budgets, maintain accurate invoicing information, and reconcile monthly billing and agency fees.
Respond to RFPs and contribute to new business pitches by creating compelling campaign strategies, media plans, case studies, and performance forecasts.
Oversee creative brief development and coordinate with in-house or external creative teams to produce data-backed ad creatives, landing pages, and email templates optimized for conversion.
Conduct audience research and segmentation using first- and third-party data, CRM integration, and lookalike modeling to refine targeting and improve campaign efficiency.
Maintain deep familiarity with industry trends, platform updates, privacy changes (cookie deprecation, CCPA, GDPR) and translate implications into client strategy adjustments.
Use analytics tools (GA4, Looker Studio/Data Studio, Tableau) to build dashboards that visualize funnel performance, LTV, CAC, and channel contribution for scalable reporting.
Develop and run CRO experiments on landing pages and funnels—A/B tests, multivariate tests, and UX recommendations—to lift conversion rates and reduce friction.
Mentor junior account staff, provide process documentation, and run post-mortems to scale operational best practices across the account team.
Forecast spend, revenue projections, and campaign performance for internal planning and to set client expectations during quarterly business reviews.
Troubleshoot delivery and performance issues across ad platforms with vendor support and internal tech teams, ensuring fast resolution and minimal impact to budgets.
Maintain competitive and market intelligence, including competitor media activity, creative trends, and audience shifts, to proactively advise clients on tactical pivots.
Coordinate seasonal and product-launch campaigns: timeline creation, cross-channel sequencing, surge budget planning, and post-campaign measurement to maximize spikes in conversion.
Ensure all campaigns comply with platform policies and legal/regulatory requirements for advertising content, privacy, and data usage.
Drive automation and scale: implement scripts, automated rules, or API integrations for routine optimizations and reporting to free time for strategic work.
Act as escalation point for client concerns: own issue resolution, remedial action plans, and follow-through to restore client confidence and preserve account health.

Secondary Functions

Support pre-sales activities by contributing data-backed case studies, modeling forecasted outcomes, and customizing media plans to prospective clients.
Assist with quarterly strategic planning sessions: synthesize performance data, translate insights into recommended strategies, and align on priority initiatives.
Coordinate with finance and operations teams to ensure campaign budgets are provisioned, invoiced, and reconciled on schedule.
Contribute to the development of internal playbooks and SOPs for campaign setup, optimization, creative testing, and reporting.
Participate in product and tool evaluations to recommend vendor solutions for tracking, attribution, reporting, or creative automation.
Provide training and enablement sessions for clients and internal teams on platform features, reporting dashboards, and analytics literacy.
Help maintain the account CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot) with accurate pipeline updates, client notes, opportunity stages, and renewal forecasts.
Manage ad creative libraries and asset repositories, ensuring proper version control, naming conventions, and archive processes.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Paid Search (Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising) — campaign setup, keyword strategy, bid management, and conversion optimization.
Paid Social (Meta Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, TikTok Ads) — audience targeting, creative testing, and budget pacing.
Programmatic and Display Buying — familiarity with DSPs (The Trade Desk, DV360) and PMP/private marketplace workflows.
Analytics & Reporting — Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Looker Studio (Data Studio), Tableau or similar for dashboarding and measurement.
Tagging & Tracking — Google Tag Manager, pixel implementation, UTM conventions, and server-side tracking basics.
CRO & A/B Testing — experience with experimentation platforms (Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize) and conversion funnel optimization.
CRM & Marketing Automation — experience integrating campaigns with Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, or similar systems.
Attribution & Measurement — understanding of last-click, data-driven, and multi-touch attribution models and measurement frameworks.
Basic SQL and data literacy — ability to query datasets or collaborate with analysts to extract campaign insights.
Reporting Automation & APIs — familiarity with exporting data via APIs, using scripts or connectors to automate routine reports.
Budgeting & Forecasting — build and present media budget plans, pacing, and ROI projections.
Microsoft Excel / Google Sheets — advanced skills for modeling, pivot tables, and performance analysis.

Soft Skills

Client Relationship Management — consultative, proactive, and trusted advisor approach to client communication.
Strategic Thinking — translate business goals into channel strategies and measurable tactics.
Presentation & Communication — clear, executive-level presentation of performance, strategy, and recommendations.
Negotiation & Upselling — sell new services, negotiate scope, and grow account revenue.
Problem Solving — critical thinking to troubleshoot platform, tracking, or performance issues quickly.
Time & Project Management — manage multiple concurrent campaigns, deadlines, and stakeholders.
Collaboration — strong ability to work with creative, technical, and analytics teams to deliver integrated solutions.
Attention to Detail — meticulous QA of campaign setup, tracking tags, and reporting accuracy.
Adaptability — comfortable with rapid platform changes, shifting priorities, and fast-paced environments.
Data-Driven Mindset — consistently uses data to inform decisions, tests hypotheses, and iterates based on results.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications, Digital Media, Advertising, Data Analytics, or equivalent experience.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor's degree plus certifications (Google Ads Certification, Google Analytics/GA4 Certification, Meta Blueprint) or a Master’s in Marketing/Analytics.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Marketing
Business Administration
Communications
Digital Media / Advertising
Data Analytics / Statistics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2–5 years of hands-on experience in digital account management, paid media, or performance marketing roles.

Preferred:

3–6+ years managing client accounts and digital campaigns across multiple channels with demonstrable results in CPC/CPA/ROAS improvements, experience with enterprise or mid-market clients, and a proven track record of upselling and retention.
Experience using enterprise tools (GA4, Looker Studio, The Trade Desk, Salesforce) and holding platform certifications (Google, Meta).