How to hire an agency director

How to hire an agency director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step agency director hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an agency director job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new agency director
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your agency director job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find an agency director for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them an agency director to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire an agency director that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of agency directors.

   Type of Agency Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Agency Director	Top executives devise strategies and policies to ensure that an organization meets its goals. They plan, direct, and coordinate operational activities of companies and organizations.	$30-100
   Board Member	Board members are fiduciaries of an organization leading it to its sustainable development. They are elected by its board of directors or its supervisory committee... Show more	$12-95
   Operations Vice President	The responsibilities of an operations vice president will revolve around overseeing business operations and ensuring workforce and workflow efficiency through evaluations and providing strategic plans that would drive the company to meet its vision and mission. An operations vice president, in adherence to the company policies and regulations, also has the power to hire and train employees, even to execute disciplinary actions such as termination or suspension when necessary... Show more	$50-119

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Home Health
   • Federal Regulations
   • Patient Care
   • Human Resources
   • Care Services
   • Quality Standards
   • Medicare
   • Medicaid
   • Business Development
   • Direct Reports
   • Administrative Functions
   • Client Service
   • Digital Marketing
   • Revenue Growth

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Establish and develop relationships with ERP and consulting vendors with the goal of maximizing comparative advantage and cost efficient solution development.
   • Implement validation, change control, design control, risk management, and CAPA systems.
   • Task to improve compliance of CAPA system to requirements and internal performance to the requirement.
   • Prepare for and participate in state and federal (Medicare) surveys with a high success rate.
   • Experience in designing, developing and implementing large-scale networking deployments and LAN/WAN infrastructures with special emphasis on compliance with FDA regulations.
   • Perform chart audits, adhering to CMS guidelines.

   More agency director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your agency director job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. An agency director salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, agency directors' average salary in mississippi is 62% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level agency directors earn 69% less than senior-level agency directors.
   • Certifications. An agency director with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in an agency director's salary.

   Average agency director salary

   $115,394yearly

   $55.48 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level agency director salary

   $64,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average agency director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$166,319	$80
   2	New York	$141,512	$68
   3	Florida	$134,641	$65
   4	New Jersey	$132,112	$64
   5	Connecticut	$126,386	$61
   6	Washington	$120,374	$58
   7	Texas	$114,089	$55
   8	New Mexico	$109,849	$53
   9	Illinois	$107,265	$52
   10	Oregon	$102,170	$49
   11	Colorado	$101,397	$49
   12	Alabama	$85,848	$41
   13	Minnesota	$83,196	$40
   14	South Carolina	$81,911	$39
   15	Arkansas	$74,464	$36
   16	Kentucky	$73,227	$35

   Average agency director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$228,803	$110.00	6
   2	Deutsche Bank	$210,122	$101.02	2
   3	The Travelers Companies	$194,104	$93.32
   4	Microsoft	$193,238	$92.90	2
   5	AmerisourceBergen	$186,150	$89.50
   6	Zimmerman Advertising	$159,667	$76.76
   7	Chubb	$157,529	$75.74	4
   8	Icma-rc	$153,235	$73.67	20
   9	SiriusXM	$145,158	$69.79
   10	The Integer Group	$145,017	$69.72
   11	Baptist Health Care	$144,759	$69.60	2
   12	State of Connecticut	$123,252	$59.26	1
   13	SRS Acquiom	$112,549	$54.11
   14	Caring Senior Service	$108,661	$52.24	5
   15	Ventura County Community Foundation	$108,059	$51.95
   16	Comscore	$104,449	$50.22
   17	Highland Capital Holding Corporation	$103,110	$49.57
   18	Ambercare	$98,805	$47.50
   19	iSpot.tv	$98,700	$47.45
   20	California	$98,033	$47.13

4. Writing an agency director job description

   An agency director job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of an agency director job description:

   Agency director job description example

   Our client is a dynamic ad omnichannel solution providing its clients with design display and video ads tools across OTT, CTV, mobile, web, and social aesthetically. They are looking for a bright, energetic, and highly motivated individual who exercises leadership by serving the needs of Advertising Agencies based in the United States.
   
   The role is a team player with SaaS experience who is advertising agency-oriented, client-centric, energetic, and highly motivated to join their Sales Team. The Head of Agency Relations is responsible for cultivating sales and partnership efforts with ad agency holding companies and individual media agencies. The Head of Agency Relations knows how to uncover, develop, and sign agency-wide trading agreements with major holding companies and their subsidiaries and platform adoptions. The ideal candidate will report directly to the Head of Sales and be a key driver of the company's aggressive growth strategy.
   Responsibilities:
   
   Utilize the existing network of high-level agency executives to introduce and evangelize the company as an essential partner.
   
   Engage senior leaders at the Holdcos on how the company can partner with them to grow/enhance their business.
   
   Develop and execute agency trading agreements.
   
   Successfully create key partnerships at holding agencies to influence and motivate advertiser business strategy.
   
   Effectively communicate Holding Company needs, and collaborate with internal Sales teams, Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Ad Ops to introduce relationships at various agency levels to achieve revenue goals.
   
   Identify and lead initiatives with each of the Holdcos for impactful joint opportunities.
   
   Develop Holdco relationship strategy for each Holdco and our client's brand positioning for the Ad Tech marketplace.
   
   Maintain competitor intelligence and develop positioning strategies.
   
   Requirements
   
   A deep Rolodex of senior agency leaders and decision-makers at the major holding companies across the United States.
   
   10+ years of advertising agency experience
   
   Vast knowledge of the competitive landscape in the Ad-tech industry.
   
   Proven track record of closing large deals.
   
   Outstanding persuasive communication and presentation skills in communicating complex solutions.
   
   Possess strong communication skills with excellent presentation skills.
   
   Confident, high energy, self-motivated, and a true team player.
   
   Experience working with senior and executive-level Holdco contacts.
   
   Demonstrated ability and desire to work and excel in a fast-paced environment.
   
   Excellent multitasking and project management skills.
   
   Prior experience in Ad-tech and marketing technologies with a desire to learn new technologies.
   
   Ability to understand and articulate the company's product.
   
   Well-organized, with great attention to detail and the ability to prioritize.
   
   Experience with Ad-tech SaaS, Asana, and Salesforce
   
   Benefits
   
   Compensation commensurate with experience
   
   Unlimited PTO
   
   Medical, Dental, & Vision plans
   
   401K with matching
   
   Stipend reimbursements (mobile phone service, gym membership, and pet insurance)
   
   Flexible work schedule
   
   Team Happy Hours, Outings (virtual and in-person), great office culture, + much more!
   
   Various perks and discounts

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find agency directors for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your agency director job on Zippia to find and recruit agency director candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with agency director candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new agency director

   Once you've selected the best agency director candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new agency director. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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