Account Executive

We're hiring an Account Executive to work on incoming sales leads and manage client accounts. Plaudit is a St. Paul web agency with 25+ years of experience in website design, site management, and Internet marketing. This is a full-time hybrid role, with two days each week in our St. Paul office (currently Monday and Wednesday).

If you've been working in the web industry and want to move into sales and account management, or you're already an Account Executive (AE) ready for a seat with real ownership and a strong team behind you, this is built for you. You'll work alongside an experienced AE through the ramp-up period, then take full ownership of your own accounts — around three to six months in, sooner if you're ready.

Responsibilities

During the ramp-up period, you'll work closely with an experienced AE: shadowing client meetings, contributing to proposals and SOWs, helping manage the CRM, and taking on leads as you ramp. Additionally, during this period, you'll handle client service work: managing support questions and smaller requests in Jira, acting as a liaison between clients and our design and development team, and handling small, hands-on tasks within client accounts. This client service work is intentional — it puts you in regular contact with most of the team, builds a working understanding of how our sites are built and how Plaudit operates, and gives you the context you'll lean on when writing proposals and scoping work.

As you gain experience and demonstrate the ability, you'll take on more, leading your own sales process and managing your own accounts. We expect this to take roughly three to six months.

Day to day, the work includes:

• Leading the sales process: meeting with prospects, understanding what they actually need, shaping a solution, and writing and presenting the proposal in a way that makes the value clear.
• Managing client accounts: the day-to-day relationship, active projects, and conversations about new work.
• Triaging incoming requests, setting clear expectations, and keeping clients informed.
• Coordinating work between clients and our internal designers and developers.
• QA on completed work before it goes out the door.
• Occasional travel for in-person meetings and networking.

Requirements

We need a sharp, curious, critical thinker who dives in and genuinely wants to understand what the client is trying to achieve, not just what they're asking for. Most of our proposals are written before a formal planning process exists, so reading between the lines, asking the right questions, and making informed assumptions are core to the job. From there, you'll turn what you've learned into a clear, concise proposal and present it so the client can see exactly what they're getting and where the value lies.

You must have:

• Web industry experience. Hands-on work in web design, development, or marketing, or prior AE experience at a web/marketing agency. This isn't negotiable.
• Solid grounding in UX, design, Internet marketing, and web tech fundamentals. Enough to evaluate options and make a clear recommendation.
• Sound judgment under incomplete information. Curiosity, good questions, and the ability to take a half-formed conversation and turn it into a concrete, credible scope you can defend.
• Exceptional writing. You'll produce multiple proposals a week, on top of regular client communication, and that writing shapes how clients see us.
• AI fluency and a bias toward automation. You use AI in your research, writing, and workflows, and you're always looking for the next thing to automate. We move quickly and want to move quicker, and we're looking for someone who wants to keep compounding that.
• Residence in the Twin Cities.

Competitive Benefits Package

This is a full-time employment opportunity with a competitive benefits package:

• Opportunities for advancement, including becoming a manager or director
• Company-wide option to work remotely
• Free parking and an office on the Green Line
• 401(k) with company match
• Ergonomic workstations with motorized sit-stand desks
• Casual environment with skilled and dedicated co-workers
• Medical and Dental
• Company paid Life Insurance and AD&D
• Company paid Short and Long Term Disability
• Paid time off and holidays

Job Location

We welcome you to work remote, but you must be able to easily meet at the following office address for meetings and other gatherings: Plaudit Design, 2470 University Ave W, St Paul, MN 55114

Committed to an Inclusive Workplace

Plaudit is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing an inclusive workplace free from harassment and discrimination. At Plaudit, we aim to foster a culture where every member feels valued, supported, and inspired to achieve individual and shared goals. This includes providing opportunity and access for all people across differences of race, color, ethnicity, age, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, national origin, disabilities, political affiliation, and socioeconomic background.