Creative Development Jobs in Chicago, IL (NOW HIRING)

Associate Account Executive

Purple Group | Chicago, IL | Full-Time
$50,000–$70,000 per year + bonus

Join Purple Group

Purple Group is seeking an Associate Account Executive with 1–2  years of professional experience in an advertising or integrated marketing agency. This is an opportunity for an early-career agency account professional who enjoys working with clients, collaborating with creative teams, and keeping multiple projects moving. We're looking for someone who understands how agency work moves from a client request and brief through creative development, review, revisions, production, and final delivery.

This is a client services position, not a standalone Project Manager role. Strong project management skills are essential, but this position is designed for someone who wants to build a career in advertising agency account management.

About Purple Group

Founded in 2001, Purple Group is an award-winning independent advertising, marketing, and PR agency with consulting roots. We help clients create Marketing for a Better World(R), combining strategic rigor, creative excellence, and deep cultural intelligence to build work that resonates across audiences and drives meaningful impact.

As an independent agency, we value collaboration, curiosity, entrepreneurial thinking, and genuinely good people. Our teams work closely across disciplines, giving employees meaningful responsibility, broad exposure, and the opportunity to contribute to work that matters.

What You'll Do

• Support the day-to-day management of advertising and integrated marketing initiatives across multiple clients and projects.
• Participate in client calls and internal meetings, capturing decisions, action items, and next steps.
• Prepare client presentations, agendas, status reports, meeting recaps, and other communications.
• Build strong working relationships with clients, internal teams, and agency partners.
• Help translate client requests and feedback into clear direction and next steps.
• Help manage projects from briefing through creative development, client review, revisions, approvals, production, and final delivery.
• Maintain project timelines, schedules, deliverable lists, status reports, and documentation.
• Capture project workstreams in Asana and coordinate workflow among account, strategy, creative, production, media, digital, PR, and external partners.
• Route creative work for review and help manage feedback and approvals.
• Track project status and proactively flag potential timeline, scope, resource, or workflow concerns
• Support project scoping, estimate tracking, budget organization, and invoicing workflows.
• Help ensure all deliverables are accurate, polished, and delivered on time.
• Help conduct research related to brands, competitors, audiences, culture, and industry trends..

Required Qualifications

• 1–2 years of professional experience working at an advertising or integrated marketing agency.
• Understanding of agency workflow, including briefing, creative development, internal and client review, revisions, approvals, production, and delivery.
• Experience working directly with clients and collaborating with creative or cross-functional teams.
• Ability to support multiple client accounts simultaneously.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, timelines, and stakeholders in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Proactive orientation with strong follow-through, accountability, and the ability to anticipate what needs to happen next.
• Resourceful, proactive, collaborative, and solutions-oriented.
• Strong organizational and project-management skills.
• Exceptional attention to detail and follow-through.
• Proficiency with Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel.
• Proficiency with Asana, Monday, or similar workflow platforms.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting integrated multicultural advertising and marketing campaigns.
• Bilingual with fluency in English and Spanish

This Role May Be a Great Fit If You Are Currently a:

• Account Coordinator
• Assistant Account Executive
• Junior Account Executive
• Early-career Account Executive

You understand the pace and workflow of an advertising agency environment. You enjoy the client side of the business but are also highly organized and comfortable managing timelines, coordinating teams, tracking details, following up on action items, and helping ensure great work gets out the door.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $50,000–$70,000 per year, based on experience
• Bonus opportunity
• Group health plan
• Health, dental, vision, and life insurance
• Transit benefit program
• Paid time off
• IRA
• Anniversary holiday
• Hybrid work environment for eligible employees

How to Apply

Please submit a resume and cover letter describing your relevant integrated advertising or marketing communications agency experience and your interest in building a career in advertising agency account management with Purple Group.

This is a Chicago-based position.

Purple Group is a 25-year-old independent marketing, advertising, and public relations agency with consulting roots. We leverage our craft to impart a different perspective, dismantle barriers, and help our clients market their services to create a better world.