Associate Director, Client Management (m/f/d)

About Interbrand

Interbrand understands what it takes today to build the world’s most iconic brands.

To support our clients in an ever more complex and fascinating world, we have renewed our commitment to both common global standards and greater empowerment, experimentation and entrepreneurialism.

Interbrand is its people. We are a global team of highly diverse thinkers, makers and collaborators. We are proud of our heritage and often regarded as the university of branding. Over the past four decades, we have pioneered iconic work and invented many of the brand building tools that are now commonplace.

In collaboration with many of the world’s leading brands, we are pioneering the future of brand building. In a world where people’s expectations are moving faster than businesses, we give our clients the confidence to make Iconic Moves that create desire and utility, reshape the competitive landscape and drive extraordinary results.

The Interbrand Best Global Brands study/rankings are resources to our clients and the industry, providing proprietary data and insight for our role as client partner and commentator. We have published 18 books on brands and are often the reference point for university curriculum and professional associations. Today, through our own Academy, we aim to be the most impactful learning environment in the marketing world.

Our Behaviours

Our culture is informed by a set of behaviours we co-created as a business. Our behaviours give us space to experiment, permission to speak out, and a model of leadership that anyone in the business can adopt. Our behaviours are Lead with love, Be Brave, Listen First and Make it happen. We are proud of our behaviours. They make us, us.

LOCATION: Cologne, Germany

POSITION: Full time

FLEXIBILITY: Hybrid (3 days office attendance per week)

DEPARTMENT: Client Management

START DATE: April/May 2026

The opportunity
You lead client engagements across medium and large-scale projects, locally and globally. You set a clear account plan, manage commercial performance, and create conditions for great work to land by mentoring the team and strengthening senior client trust.

What you’ll be doing

• Own numerous client accounts end to end, setting plan for growth and profitability, directing team members and managing resource allocation

• Develop and lead account plans that balance year on year growth on existing business with new opportunity identification

• Lead senior client relationships at multiple levels, navigating organisational dynamics and building trust across stakeholder group

• Build and develop a team, setting standards for work quality, client relationships, and career progression

• Work with New Business and Delivery Management to translate inbound opportunities into viable workstreams that fit our capacity and margin expectations

• Define how work gets done on your accounts, setting rituals, governance, and decision making so delivery is consistent and excellent

• Interrogate briefs and reframe through strategic lenses, pushing back where needed and shaping what success looks like

• Manage account profitability actively, working with Delivery Management on resourcing, scheduling, and spend control

• Partner with Brand Economics and other specialists to build impact cases that justify investment and drive client confidence

• Represent account needs at global level, coordinating with other regions where required and ensuring consistent approach

What we’re looking for

Experience - Proven track record of leading and growing client accounts with measurable commercial outcomes and strong client endorsements.

Relationships - You build genuine partnerships with senior client leaders across different functions. You understand their business ambitions and advocate for how we can help achieve them. You manage peer relationships within Interbrand to get what your client’s need.

Curiosity - You stay alert to what's shifting in your clients' worlds and the broader market. You use these insights to shape our approach and identify where we can expand our work.

Commerciality - You think like a business leader about account health and trajectory. You make smart decisions about investment, pricing, and resource allocation. You balance ambition with profitability and know when to push and when to be pragmatic.

Communication - You're a confident storyteller who adapts to different audiences. You move senior leaders to decision and inspire your team to raise their game.

Team Leadership - You build and develop people. You set clear standards, give candid feedback, and create an environment where your team can do their best work and grow.

Why Interbrand

For over 50 years, we’ve been shaping the world’s most iconic brands. We solve brand challenges through our Thinking & Making approach, combining Human Truth, Brand Economics, and Experience to help our clients make the moves that unlock growth and define what’s next.

We nurture a global community of thinkers and makers with the curiosity and confidence to create iconic work. Here, you’ll find transparent career pathways, on-demand learning, honest feedback, real collaboration across borders, and a culture that champions difference and wellbeing.

We don’t do ordinary. And we don’t expect you to either.

We are working through access barriers across our job site, so if you run into any issues and would like this information in an alternative format, or would prefer to apply via email, please send us a message at [email protected].