SENIOR AUTOMOTIVE DIGITAL MARKETING ACCOUNT MANAGER – AI & CREATIVE
Location: South Orange County, California
Work arrangement: Hybrid, with regular travel to Southern California dealerships Job type: Full-time
Pay: $55,000–$75,000 per year, based on experience, plus performance bonus and new-business commission
Schedule: Generally Monday through Friday, with occasional after-hours client or campaign support Reports to: Digital Director
ABOUT OUR COMPANY FOCUS
The Agency is an automotive-focused marketing agency serving franchised dealerships throughout Southern California and other markets. We help dealerships improve sales, service, lead generation and customer retention through digital strategy, paid media, social media, SEO, video, email, SMS, CRM integration, reporting and emerging AI technology.
We are seeking an experienced Automotive Digital Marketing Account Manager who can own client relationships, understand dealership operations, analyze marketing performance and help guide the production of modern AI-assisted creative.
This is a hands-on account-management position. The right candidate will be comfortable meeting with dealer principals, general managers, marketing directors, Internet directors and BDC teams. They must be able to understand dealership performance, identify problems, communicate clearly with clients and coordinate internal and outside teams to get work completed accurately and on time.
The position combines automotive account management, digital strategy, performance analysis, project management and AI-assisted creative production. The level and compensation will be based on the candidate’s directly relevant experience.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Client and Account Management
- Serve as the primary day-to-day contact for an assigned portfolio of automotive dealership clients.
- Build trusted relationships with dealer principals, general managers, marketing directors, Internet directors and BDC managers.
- Maintain proactive communication with clients and identify concerns, opportunities and renewal risks before they become larger problems.
- Understand each dealership’s sales goals, inventory priorities, budget, market position, operational challenges and current offers.
- Lead regular client calls, performance reviews, planning meetings and campaign discussions.
- Convert client requests into clear internal assignments, deadlines and deliverables.
- Track open items and ensure clients receive timely, accurate updates.
- Identify appropriate opportunities to expand services and improve client results.
Automotive Strategy and Performance Analysis
- Review dealership sales, lead, CRM, advertising and campaign-performance reports.
- Analyze lead volume, cost per lead, appointments, appointment shows, sold units, closing ratios, cost per sale, gross and return on investment.
- Identify whether a performance problem originates from marketing, lead quality, lead routing, response time, BDC activity, appointment setting, showroom process or CRM attribution.
- Understand sales, service, new-vehicle, used-vehicle, equity-mining, conquest, bad-credit and customer-retention campaigns.
- Evaluate performance by campaign, audience, language, vehicle, department and lead source.
- Work with dealership leadership to improve speed to lead, live-call activity, appointment setting, confirmation, no-show follow-up and CRM documentation.
- Turn reporting into clear recommendations that clients and internal teams can act upon.
- Connect marketing recommendations to dealership outcomes, including sales, service appointments, gross and customer retention.
Campaign and Budget Management
- Coordinate campaigns across Meta, Google, YouTube, SEO, social media, email, SMS, OTT, display and other digital channels.
- Review campaign objectives, targeting, offers, creative, budgets and lead-delivery requirements before launch.
- Monitor monthly budgets, pacing, management fees, vendor costs and approved media allocations.
- Review cost per lead, cost per sale, conversion rates and projected monthly spend.
- Recommend budget increases, decreases or reallocations based on performance.
- Confirm that campaign changes are communicated internally and accurately reflected in budget and billing records.
- Coordinate English- and Spanish-language campaigns when needed.
- Confirm that leads are routed to the correct CRM, dealership users, BDC team, phone numbers and reporting sources.
- Assist with troubleshooting disrupted campaigns, missing leads, incorrect attribution and advertising-access issues.
- Coordinate closely with internal media buyers and production staff while maintaining account-level responsibility.
Dealership Technology and Marketing Operations
- Coordinate access to Meta Business Manager, Facebook and Instagram pages, Google Ads, Google Analytics, YouTube, Google Business Profile and other marketing properties.
- Work with dealership CRMs, DMS data, ADF lead delivery, inventory feeds and customer lists.
- Help coordinate systems involving vAuto, Podium, JustCall, Zapier, Google Sheets and comparable platforms.
- Manage page-reclamation, advertising-access and platform-support cases when campaigns are affected.
- Confirm that test leads, source names, sub-sources and lead-routing rules work correctly before launch.
- Coordinate website scripts, tracking pixels, conversion events, inventory feeds and vendor installations.
- Maintain documentation of account access, administrators, support cases, integrations and recurring workflows.
- Ensure essential account knowledge is documented so another team member can step in when necessary.
AI Creative Production and Direction
- Use AI tools to create marketing concepts, scripts, images, videos, voiceovers, presentations and campaign variations.
- Produce or direct AI-assisted social videos, display concepts, email creative, promotional videos and presentation materials.
- Develop effective prompts and refine AI output until it is suitable for public-facing client use.
- Work with platforms such as OpenAI, Runway, Genspark and comparable AI image, video and content tools.
- Adapt creative for vertical, horizontal, square, display, social, email and website formats.
- Review assets for visual quality, factual accuracy, brand consistency and dealership-specific requirements.
- Confirm that vehicle images, dealership logos, offers, prices, dates, disclaimers and calls to action are accurate.
- Recognize common AI errors, including distorted vehicles, incorrect logos, unreadable text, invented information and inconsistent branding.
- Coordinate with designers, editors, videographers, talent and social-media staff when conventional production is more appropriate.
- Help improve the agency’s AI creative processes, templates and quality-control standards.
Compliance and Quality Control
- Review automotive advertising for accurate offers, disclaimers, expiration dates and eligibility language.
- Understand OEM brand standards, prior-approval and co-op reimbursement requirements.
- Coordinate corrections and resubmissions when an OEM or advertising platform rejects a campaign.
- Help ensure that email and SMS campaigns follow applicable consent, opt-out and DNC requirements.
- Understand the operational importance of A2P 10DLC registration, customer consent language and approved messaging uses.
- Confirm that customer suppression and DNC requests are followed.
- Catch pricing, vehicle, disclaimer, link and formatting errors before content reaches the client or public.
- Maintain a high standard of accuracy across campaigns, reports, presentations and client communication.
Project and Vendor Management
- Use Asana or a comparable platform to document assignments, owners, deadlines, dependencies and status.
- Coordinate internal designers, editors, media buyers, reporting staff, social-media personnel and other contributors.
- Manage outside vendors involving SEO, reporting, email, SMS, data, website technology and creative production.
- Review scopes of work and confirm that vendors have the correct client information, access and deliverables.
- Coordinate dealership content shoots, talent schedules, client approvals and final asset delivery.
- Ensure assets are stored in the correct client folders and associated with the correct dealership.
- Escalate blockers early and provide a recommended solution.
- Maintain written account histories and handoff documentation.
Account Growth and Business Development
- Identify additional services that would address a demonstrated client need.
- Assist with proposals, presentations, pricing discussions and new-client onboarding.
- Participate in prospective-client meetings when automotive or technical expertise is needed.
- Help translate agency capabilities into dealership-specific strategies.
- Develop referral relationships within the automotive industry.
- Generate and close new digital marketing opportunities when appropriate.
- Support account growth without compromising service to existing clients.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- At least three years of relevant automotive retail, dealership, automotive marketing, agency or automotive technology experience.
- Direct experience working with franchised automobile dealerships or dealership groups.
- Experience managing client relationships or communicating with dealership leadership.
- Strong understanding of dealership sales operations, Internet lead handling, BDC activity and CRM reporting.
- Working knowledge of paid social, paid search, SEO, email, SMS, social content and digital reporting.
- Ability to interpret campaign and dealership data and convert it into specific recommendations.
- Demonstrated professional use of AI tools for marketing, design, image generation, video production or content development.
- A portfolio containing AI-generated or AI-assisted creative work.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple accounts, vendors and deadlines.
- High attention to detail, particularly involving offers, budgets, dealership names, logos and disclaimers.
- Ability to communicate performance concerns honestly and constructively.
- Ability to work independently while coordinating with a larger team.
- Comfort learning new platforms and troubleshooting marketing technology.
- Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation for dealership visits and content shoots.
- Ability to work from the Lake Forest office as required and travel throughout Southern California.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Previous experience as an automotive agency account manager, dealership digital marketing manager, Internet director, BDC manager or automotive technology customer-success manager.
- Experience with Meta Business Manager, Google Ads, Google Analytics, YouTube, dealership CRMs, vAuto, Podium, JustCall, Zapier or similar platforms.
- Familiarity with ADF lead delivery, source attribution, inventory feeds and dealership website providers.
- Experience with OEM advertising standards, prior approvals and dealership co-op programs.
- Experience with automotive lead generation, social media and customer-retention campaigns.
- Experience coordinating dealership content shoots and video production.
- Experience creating AI-assisted video, image, social, display or email content.
- Experience developing presentations, proposals and client-facing reports.
- Experience selling or expanding digital marketing services.
- Spanish-language marketing experience or conversational Spanish.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
- Become a trusted strategic contact for assigned dealership clients.
- Understand the goals, budgets, performance and open projects for every assigned account.
- Communicate proactively and respond promptly to client concerns.
- Deliver accurate reports and actionable recommendations.
- Identify account risks before they become cancellation issues.
- Keep campaigns, creative projects and vendor assignments moving on schedule.
- Maintain accurate budget, access, integration and support-case documentation.
- Reduce preventable errors involving offers, disclaimers, logos, links and client instructions.
- Improve the agency’s use of AI without sacrificing accuracy or creative quality.
- Help clients connect marketing activity to appointments, sales, service revenue and customer retention.
- Contribute to client retention, account growth and qualified new business.
FIRST 90 DAYS
- Learn the agency’s client portfolio, services, team structure and operating systems.
- Review the strategy, budget, deliverables, access and open issues for assigned accounts.
- Establish a consistent client-communication and account-review schedule.
- Document account access, contacts, vendors, integrations and recurring responsibilities.
- Review current reporting and identify actionable performance opportunities.
- Demonstrate the ability to create or direct compliant, client-ready AI-assisted creative.
- Take ownership of assigned client meetings, projects and support escalations.
- Build productive working relationships with internal staff, dealership leadership and outside vendors.
COMPENSATION
- Base salary of $55,000–$75,000 per year, based on the candidate’s directly relevant automotive, account-management, digital-marketing and AI-creative experience.
- Performance-based bonus tied to account retention, client service, reporting accuracy, execution and account growth.
- Additional commission on qualifying new digital marketing business personally generated and closed.
HOW TO APPLY
Applicants should submit:
- A résumé.
- A short description of relevant automotive industry experience.
- Two or three examples of AI-generated or AI-assisted marketing work.
- A brief example of a dealership account, campaign or marketing process they helped improve.
- A list of dealership, advertising, CRM, reporting and AI platforms they have used.
Candidates selected for the final stage may be asked to complete a short, anonymized and compensated practical exercise involving dealership performance analysis, client communication and AI-assisted creative development.
The Agency is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, experience, performance and the needs of the position.
Pay: $55,000.00 - $75,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Flexible schedule
- Retirement plan
Work Location: In person
