Account Manager; Hospitality NY

OBE is a global marketing agency that brings brands to life through culture-shaping experiences. For more than 30 years,we'vepartnered with iconic brands — including Nike, the NFL,JPMorgan

Chase, Meta, Sephora, Starbucks, and Converse — to build community, create cultural relevance, and drive measurable business impact. With offices in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and London, we activate globally. OBE is also a founding member of The ADD Collective, extending our reach and resources while staying true to our core capabilities.

We'vebeen recognized by Event Marketer as one of the best places to work in events — and wecouldn'tagree more.

The most important part of our business is our people. They are hardworking, imaginative, and make genuinely remarkable things happen. But behind every great activation is a human who deserves rest, connection, and a life outside of work.

That'swhy we invest in recovery days, company offsites, happy hours, and the kind of friendly-but-competitive fitness challenges that bond teams for life.

We show up for each other — in open conversations that heal, inspire, and bring us closer. We want to hear about your lived experiences, your unconventional ideas, and theperspectives onlyyou can bring. Being unapologetically yourselfisn'tjust welcome here.

It'spart of the job.

The Account Manager (Account Lead) is an integral part of the Account Team, delivering an exceptional level of service, strategic vision, and flawless execution of experiential programs on behalf of our clients. Responsible for cultivating and expanding client accounts, this position requires a comprehensive understanding of our clients’ business needs, industry trends, and specialized experiential environments.

• Strategic Client Partnership: Partner with client and brand teams to understand business objectives, identifying opportunities to offer innovative experiential solutions. Specifically leveraging F&B, culinary integration, and hospitality-driven touchpoints to drive measurable results.
• Large-Scale Hospitality Partner Management: Direct vendor relationships and operational onboarding for complex, multi-vendor culinary activations, managing up to 30 individual restaurant, chef, or hospitality partners per event.
• FOH & BOH Operations Integration: Bridge Front of House service standards (guest flow, table service, VIP hospitality, bar pacing) with Back of House kitchen realities (staging areas, prep timelines, cold storage, equipment load-in, waste management, and chef coordination) with a primary emphasis on dining excellence.
• Experiential & F&B Program Planning: Guide and coordinate the development of Experiential tactical plans for live, hybrid, and culinary-focused activations in partnership with Strategy/Creative, Production, Tech, Digital, Social, and Culinary Operations teams.
• Regulatory & Permitting Oversight: Serve as the primary Account Lead for venue buyouts, restaurant partnerships, bar program builds, menu development, staffing protocols, and temporary health/liquor permitting compliance across all participating culinary partners.
• Day-to-Day Account
  
  Skills:
  
  Manage day-to-day project activities, providing clear direction and seamless execution across internal cross-functional teams, external vendors, master mixologists, Executive Chefs, FOH leads, and venue owners.
• Communication & Meeting Facilitation: Lead weekly client status meetings, deep dives, and post-event debriefs. Direct the proper distribution of all project communications, timelines, run-of-shows (ROS), Banquet Event Orders (BEOs), and kitchen load-in schedules throughout the engagement.
• Financial Management & Budgeting: Provide ongoing monitoring of expenses, vendor contracts, culinary talent fees, and actual costs for approved program budgets. Obtain client approvals, manage scope changes, and reconcile all project expenses in partnership with the Program Producer.
• Performance Feedback & Quality Control: Provide timely performance feedback on all activations, catering partners, and internal team members to senior management, maintaining white-glove dining standards across all touchpoints.

• 3+ years of experience in marketing, promotions, live events, or experiential marketing (agency experience strongly preferred).
• Minimum 2 years of experience as an Account Lead
  , acting as the primary point of client contact.
• Demonstrated experience in hospitality and dining operations
  , including direct experience managing both Front of House service and Back of House kitchen logistics.
• Proven track record of managing large-scale culinary activations
  , specifically coordinating multi-vendor footprints featuring up to 30 distinct restaurant, chef, or bar partners simultaneously.
• Experience managing live events, hospitality suites, food festivals, pop-up dining concepts, and high-volume experiential activations.
• BA/BS in marketing, hospitality management, business…