Tell me about your work experience.
I’m a client focused account management leader with over 10 years of experience in digital marketing and a strong 6 plus year background in partnering with clients and working with Enterprise, Mid-Market and Small Business accounts across B2B, B2C, and D2C spaces. I have hands-on experience working in platforms like Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta, X, LinkedIn - including some other less frequently used platforms like Reddit, Pinterest, TikTok, and Bing. My primary expertise lies in building and growing meaningful relationships with stakeholders, serving as their trusted strategic advisor, and leading omnichannel strategies align marketing with business objectives. I’m equally as passionate about strategy as I am about partnering with clients and I tend to think holistically about organizations—I see marketing as a growth engine that helps fuel and scale a company’s vision so I tend to approach my work with the mindset of a fractional CMO.
At Portent, I led initiatives that cut operational costs by 33% while improving client satisfaction leading to a 24% lift in NPS and 158% relative margin growth.
At Rally Up, I led the team that managed key Enterprise accounts each generating over $1M in Annual Recurring Revenue and partnered cross-functionally to drive a 17% YoY product adoption.
At Automatit, I co-led a company repositioning during an acquisition from a company that solely created websites to a digital marketing agency. We were able to achieve a 106% Net Revenue Retention and 98% account retention across more than 1000 accounts.
I’m known for synthesizing performance data into clear actionable insights that help secure renewals, expansions, and position companies as indispensable partners.
What drew me to this role was Level’s clear trajectory towards growth and the opportunity to leverage AI to elevate account management and strategy.
You mention a reduction in operational costs by 33%, an average increase of 24% in NPS scores, and relative growth increase of 158% during your time at Portent. How did you manage that?
So there were a few things that I did to produce those results. The first thing that I did was audit the accounts - particularly, resource allocation. Where were our dollars being sunk? So 1) how many hours were we devoting to the accounts?; 2) how frequently were they over budget?; and 3) were the clients ultimately satisfied with our work?
Next, I scheduled meetings with our stakeholders - I wanted to have conversations about where whether we were hitting our targets with them. A couple of themes were surfaced as a consequence of those conversations. There was a clear pattern of over-servicing the accounts. As it turned out, the teams were either providing deliverables that could not be implemented or they were not aligned with their goals - so scope creep was often occurring, a lot of ad hoc work and reactive marketing initiatives.
The first thing I did was modify the roadmap so that it had goals and KPI’s visibly attached to any and every deliverable. It made it extremely transparent when we were churning out work that was not addressing goals. I streamlined our biweekly meetings, and, internally, I hosted trainings and coached teams on how to engage clients, identify churn risks, and pick up on areas where we could expand the account.
Ad hoc work and fire drills were significantly reduced so that strategists could focus on the work that really mattered. The clients were pleased to have clear expectations and accountability built in to the process.
Explain an example of relative margin growth increase and operational cost reduction.
The relative margin growth increase and reduction in operational costs was calculated by comparing the new revenue to the overspend we’d been absorbing.
[(New Value - Baseline Value)/Baseline Value] x 100
In this case, we have relative growth = (savings/budget overspend) x 100
Over budget by 20-30% puts us at being around $53,125.
A 33% reduction in operational costs puts us at 35,593.75 so that our savings was $17,531.
Overspend = $10,625
So, we get ($17,531/$10,625) x 100 = ~165%
This represents a ~158% relative growth increase compared to the overspend we’d been absorbing - an efficiency we gained relative to the previous state.
Why did you leave Portent?
Actually, Portent’s book of business was sold by its parent company, Clearlink. To my knowledge, the agency that took it over immediately saw almost 60% attrition - a lot of our clients were advocates of ours and they weren’t pleased by the change.
What happened at Portent?
I think it was a combination of several factors.
1. I don’t think that Portent was staying ahead of trends at a fast enough pace - you need to be able to speak to how you’ll incorporate AI, how you’ll address how AI is impacting organic channels, for example. I didn’t think we had a strong enough voice on that front.
2. I think they also took on sometimes niche industries where we lacked domain strength and put us at a disadvantage.
3. And, I don’t think they leaned enough into their primary distinguishing channel - Portent had developed a closed-loop dashboard. This was something that clients were universally interested in but they didn’t grow the analytics team.
Why did you leave Rally Up?
I left Rally Up primarily because I wanted to move away from roles that were strictly sales-centered. My background in sales is pretty strong - it has always been a core component of my career in some respect. However, I tend to want to think more holistically - most companies think of sales as being apart from the other departments so that it remains more siloed. I enjoy thinking about an organization as a system to optimize and evolve its strategy - I’m very much a fan of thinking along the lines of creating a flywheel effect. And, although I enjoyed mentoring and coaching my team and collaborating with other departments like product and customer success and marketing, I was driving that process and I still felt as though the teams were a bit too siloed to really seal in product-market fit and take the company to its next round of funding from a Series A to a Series B.
What work are you doing now?
Right now, I currently do consultanting work - my background fairly strong across digital marketing, business development, and sales so much of my work touches on those aspects of my experience.
Lately I’ve been focused on:
* integrated marketing proposals
* performing audits (focus on paid and content strategy)
* competitive analysis
* providing input around KPIs
* building dashboards
I can also provide the sample marketing proposal I initially provide my clients with so they get an idea of how I approach accounts.
How does the work you do incorporate business development and sales?
That work can span identifying new potential markets and segments for their vertical to digging into customer pain points to fine-tuning value propositions.
One client, for example - they’re primarily in the CCaaS industry (so Contact Center as a Service) and they were focused on what they referred to as their brownfield customers - in other words, retaining their existing customer base. They didn’t really have the financial means to pursue greenfield customers since they were going through a bankruptcy. I was able to identify an opportunity that they might pursue and it had a lower barrier of entry - VoIP was not being really being pursued by their competitors but the projected CAGR growth was around 20% from 2024 to 2034. Generative AI, in particular, was going to be a driving factor. While VoIP was on their site, it wasn’t optimized for the term and I felt this was a good testing opportunity to see if there was more demand for it BEFORE that market got too noisy and begin scaling early. I made suggestions around organic content to test for interest and optimizations for discoverability. If they observed interest, I would be collaborating with their Sales Enablement team to create materials that addressed prospect pain points.
CAGR - compound annual growth rate
What’s your leadership style?
I’m a fan of radical candor - that is, proactively leading with empathy. Whether I’m dealing with the stakeholder of an account or providing feedback for a member of my team, I believe in sincerity, specificity, and transparency from both parties.
Have you had a difficult account before? How did you handle it?
I managed an Enterprise SaaS client who had ambitious growth goals but unrealistic expectations around what paid campaigns could deliver in the short term.
My role was to reset expectations while building a relationship of trust with them, ensuring they understood how campaigns were driving real results for them, and developing lines of communication between other departments so we could understand how and where we could plug in and have more impact.
We built a performance dashboard for them that incorporated insights from other departments around SQL’s, SQM’s and closure rates so that they could review leading indicators like CTR, CPC, pipeline velocity, and other revenue indicators since their sales cycle length was around 9 months. We then provided an optimization roadmap that showed where we could test based on performance results so far which we benchmarked against the industry - like creative, refined CTA’s, and audience segmentation. I also reset the cadence of communication to a structured weekly status call paired with written updates to give them consistent visibility into what we were testing, what’s working, and proposed next steps. By being transparent and proactive, we reduced surprises and rebuilt trust.
The client renewed and expanded their budget the next quarter.
What reports do you typically look at?
In GA4, Traffic Acquisition is pretty standard. Of course, you want to be able to view which channels are typically driving engagement and conversions.
But my favorite reports are landing page exploration and path exploration. I love being able to see how users are interacting with landing pages and it’s a great way to identify optimization opportunties. It’s equally as critical to review what page and event sequences users are taking prior to completing conversions or leaving the site.
Give us two examples of how you have used AI in your current or previous role.
I’ve used AI to generate ideas for:
* market position differentiation - I’m looking at things like:
– competitor verbiage
– what value propositions they’re focused on
– pricing models
– what audience signals their landing pages are giving. I use that to zero in on areas of untapped growth and where a business might have a strategic advantage
* Ideal Customer Profiles
* lead generation ideas - scanning for underused lead generation tactics:
– current lead magnets (whitepapers, webinars, free trials)
– target personas
– value props
* auditing an email marketing strategy - in which case, I’m reviewing CRM data and segments and auditing for things like:
– value clarity
– CTA strength
– emotional resonance
–buyer stage alignment
* nurturing campaigns that counter competitors (e.g. personalized content that address objections prospects are likely hearing from competitors)
An example of how I’ve used it in the past was to partner with a client to improve their lead scoring system, based on a full funnel marketing strategy. We refined what we counted as MQL’s based upon input from the client’s teams (primarily sales and customer success). So, we created a baseline around engagement and buyer committee purchase activities and then went about refining our MQL definitions around that. Part of those efforts also involved testing our persona-based campaigns and content variations.
Then, I’ve used it for CTA’s, keyword strategies, ideas to A/B test.
How would you use AI in this role at Level Agency?
Let me divide that answer into two camps because I think there are the applications within the agency itself and then there’s also the applications to client work.
I’ll start the applications that I think it would have within the agency itself.
Some uses that come to mind is using it to generate simulations around client scenarios like renewals, handling push back from a client, or improving client communication.
I think you could also use it to analyze client meetings and target concerns that got surfaced during surveys.
It could also be used for RFPs, QBRs, and pitch decks for account expansion.
For clients, I could see creating a tool that scans reputation management sites like TrustRadius, G2, and Capterra for B2B and SaaS companies to identify customer pain points and feature requests, mentions of competitors, keywords that reflect buyer langauge (how they’re describing problems) – even clues about ICP fit and value perception.
I also know that one of the sectors you focus on is fintech and it’s pretty competitive - AI could probably be used to find high-ROI topics and emerging pain points by, for example, monitoring fintech publications, competitors, and regulatory feeds and detect semantic white space.
Share two examples of how you’ve innovated in your current or most recent role?
In a previous role, I adopted a client from another client partner where the account was continuously underwater with regard to budget, often going 20-30% over budget. We were repeatedly over-servicing the account while their NPS scores remained relatively flat, hovering between passive and detractor. I reviewed the account, evaluated the approach we were taking with meetings, and how the strategists were engaging with the stakeholders. I developed a new approach to meetings that streamlined how & when deliverables were provided and created a schedule for revisiting goals and KPIs on a quarterly basis to ensure our deliverables and communications were aligned with the company’s overall goals. I also refined the roadmap so that it tied activities directly to goals and KPIs in a visible and transparent manner in order to reduce the amount of work not tied to established goals and KPIs. This resulted in a 33% cost reduction, a massive 158% margin growth, and a 24-point NPS lift.
I created a training program that coached IC’s on how to recognize deepening of engagement that was modeled after a marketing funnel.
And then, prior to Portent’s closing, I was actually working on a Go-to-Market plan that would reposition the company less as an agency and more as a partner.
What trainings did you perform with your team?
During my tenure at Portent, I developed a training around stakeholder engagement that was mirrored after the marketing funnel.
I’ve coached teams on how to recognize churn and develop strategies to nip it in the bud before it becomes problematic.
I’ve coached strategists on how to be more confidence in client communications, presentations, and just client-facing, in general.
Describe your experience managing campaign budgets and pacing.
In my account management experience, I’ve overseen a typical multi-channel budget of $150-$200/month.
Where I start is by building pacing plans that map spend to monthly and quarterly targets and then I monitor on a weekly basis or so to ensure that we’re aligned. I work with the strategists to redistribute spend if a channel is running too hot or lagging and I partner with analysts to understand which channels are delivering the most upshot.
With the client, I’ll communicate pacing updates to share whether we’re on buddget and, if reallocations were made, what results are surfacing.
If search is overdelivering but paid social is lagging, I might recommend shifting dollars accordingly. In that same vein, I ensure that fresh assets are ready if a channel requires more fuel.
Overall, I see budget and pacing management as growth levers that make sure dollars are working as hard as possible across channels.
How do you tailor performance marketing strategies for different industries or verticals (e.g., eCommerce vs. B2B)?
I start by looking at the business goals and customer journey.
For eCommerce, for example, the strategy would be driven by more immediate conversions with channels like Meta, Google Shopping, and dynamic retargeting, measuring success with ROAS, AOV, and repeat purchase. B2B though, would focus on generating qualified leads and moving them through a longer sales cycle. So, that would mean more emphasis on LinkedIn Ads, gated content, webinars, and nurture sequences, and KPIs like CPL, SQL conversion, and pipeline influence would be more critical.
The tactics are different, but the framework is the same:
map goals → understand the customer journey → select the right channels and creative → test and optimize.
How do you define and track key metrics (ROAS, CPA, CTR, CPM)?
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Revenue generated for every $1 spent on ads. Revenue/Ad Spend
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): Cost required to gain a customer or lead. Total Spend/Number of Conversions
CTR (Click-Through Rate): Ratio of Clicks to impressions. (Clicks/Impressions) x 100
CPM (Cost Per Mille): Cost per 1,000 impressions. (Spend/Impressions) x 1000
Tracking: Use GA4, Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, Looker dashboards to track performance. Set benchmarks based on historical performance or industry standards, then monitor against those.
Segmentation: Break down metrics by channel, campaign, audience, device, and creative to diagnose where performance is strongest or weakness.
Using metrics together: ROAS vs. CPA. ROAS shows efficiency of revenue generation; CPA clarifies acquisition cost. I look at both of these together - a campaign might have great CPA but low ROAS if customers aren’t spending much after acquisition.
CTR as a leading indicator - I use this as an early signal of creative and audience resonance.
CRM for efficiency & scale: CPM helps me understand if I’m paying too much just to get in front of audiences, which can signal competitiveness in the auction or issues with targeting.
Acting on the Insights:
CTR is low -> refresh creative or adjust targeting
CPA is high -> refine bidding strategies, landing pages, or funnel alignment
ROAS decreasing -> evaluate lifetime value
CPM high -> broaden targeting or experiment with new placements.
Any experience looking at a P & L report?
I would say that I’m familiar with P & L reports but not fluent in them. So, I have exposure to top line revenue metrics like net revenue, revenue mixture (retainers vs project based), and new client acquisition revenue.
I would also say employee utilization rates, client concentration risk, average project profitability…things like that.
I would love to get more exposure to metrics tied more to revenue stability, margins by service line, and labor efficiency, for example.
What level of account management would you be interested in?
I’d be interested in understand how your account management structure is defined. For example, what separates a junior vs mid vs senior in this role?
Why are you interested in Level Agency / this role?
Level Agency was ranked 36 in the Fortune Best Workplaces in Advertising & Marketing 2025 - also in 2023 and 2022. Some of the feedback from employees that piqued my interest was related to meaningful training and development and the fact that the agency tends to celebrate new ideas.
You’ve also aquired other entities like Becker Media and WebMechanix that suggests growth. And, within the last year, it would appear as though you’re growing your sales and business development teams.
So, there are a lot of signals of growth - as you can imagine, after my time at Portent, this is a critical point of interest. I also like that Level describes itself as an AI-powered agency. An agency that’s not pursuing this line of strategy is more at risk now than ever.
What questions do you have for me?
- How would you describe the culture?
- Which performance marketing channels (Google, Meta, programmatic, etc.) does this role tend to focus on most?
- What type of clients or verticals does the agency currently serve (or hope to grow into)?
- What kind of mentorship, training, or professional development do you offer for people stepping into this role?
- If I move forward in the process, who will I be speaking with next? (Great! What do you recommend I focus on with Sarah? What’s she looking for in a great candidate?)
- How is your level structure defined? For example, what separates a junior vs mid vs senior in this role?
- Has Level developed any propreitary AI tools? NoGood agency, for example, has a propreitary AI tool - Goodie AI - that enables them to scan for AI visibility and optimize websites for ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. They’re trying to innovate around the zero-click landscape. They haven’t yet included Copilor or Gemini but they probably will soon, given the market penetration of those tools (14% and 13.4% respectively). If not, are there any plans to?
- Can you add context around how Level is utilizing AI? I was attempting to look for case studies around AI uplift attribution or whitepapers/content around model training or prompt engineering and I couldn’t locate any.
- Do you have a CRO team?
List KPIs for different channels
Technical SEO - Generative Answer Inclusion Rates (SE Ranking), Structured Data Coverage (manual), Featured Snippet Presence (SEMRush, Ahrefs), Crawl budget utilization, Keyword Rankings, Core Web Vitals & Page Load Time
Content Strategy - Share of Voice in Generative Answers, Topic Authority Growth, Zero-Click Visibility Score, Conversion Rates by Content Type, Lead Quality of MQLs to SQLs, Dwell Time
Paid & Paid Social - ROAS, CPM, CPA, Video Views/View-Through-Rate, ThruPlay (signals content resonance), Pipeline Contribution
So what are you counting as your account management experience? How is it adding up to 6+ years?
Worked at Portent as a Senior Client Partner where I managed the multi-channel strategy (2 years)
Prior to that, I worked as the SaaS Sales Consultant Manager for Rally Up where I led the team that managed key Enterprise accounts, generating more than $1M ARR. (.5 years)
As the Director of Sales for Focus Hospitality, I managed the local and global accounts running through there. I was also responsible for acquiring new accounts and driving revenue from existing accounts. (1 year)
During my time at Automatit, we handled more than 1050 accounts at a single time. I helped lead the strategy that repositioned the company from being just a website company to being a digital marketing agency. (1.5 years)
And, at Seven Cups, I worked with the Business Development Manager, taking care of our local accounts.
That would be my remote client-facing account management experience but I also have prior account management experience - when I worked at Enterprise Rent-a-Car as a Branch Manager, I was in charge of corporate and local accounts and when I worked at FedEx Kinko’s, I served as the Regional Business Development Manager where I also took care of local and corporate accounts in need of our services, making sure we were hitting our goals and remaining profitable, and, of course, taking care of our clients.
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Core Web Vitals8
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GA412
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GRE Deck - A96
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GRE Deck - B37
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Google Analytics3
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Vocab43
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How a Browser Works14
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Data Layer5
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Elevate words37
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Client Management7
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Product Marketing2
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KPI development16
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ChatGPT / Claude / Pi Vocab List152
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Customer Success Interview Questions2
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Interview Questions24
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Phase 1 Interview Questions (Level Agency) - short deck15
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Chat GPT39
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Language Fit2
