Who Does What in an Agency: Roles, Responsibilities and Hand-offs
In an agency meeting there are usually more people around the table than you expected, with titles that sound alike. If you are a client, you wonder whom to call. If you are starting a career in marketing, you wonder which role fits you. If you run an agency, you need every person to know where their job ends and the next one begins.
Here is a practical guide to the core agency roles, what each one is accountable for, and how work moves between them.
| Role | Owns | Key question |
|---|---|---|
| Account manager | Client relationship, scope, budget, approvals | What does the client need, and by when? |
| Strategist | Audience insight and the creative brief | What must we say, and to whom? |
| Copywriter | Words and, with the art director, the idea | How do we say it so people remember? |
| Art director | The visual idea and style | How should it look? |
| Designer | Layouts and adaptations across formats | Does every format work and fit the brand? |
| Media planner | Channels, timing and budget split | Where and when will the audience see it? |
| Producer | Shoots, suppliers and production budget | How do we make it on time and on budget? |
| Project manager | Internal schedule and workload | Who does what, and is it on track? |
Account manager
The account manager (account executive or client service director, depending on seniority) owns the client relationship. They take the brief, agree timelines and budgets, collect feedback and make sure the agency delivers what it promised.
A good account manager does more than pass messages. They push back on unrealistic deadlines, explain the reasoning behind the work and tell the internal team honestly what the client needs. Key skills: organisation, clear writing, negotiation and calm under pressure.
Strategist (planner)
The strategist works out what the campaign should say and to whom. They study the audience, the category and competitors, look for an insight and write the creative brief that the creative team works from.
Strategists are judged by the quality of their thinking, not the length of their presentations. A strong creative brief fits on one page. Key skills: research, curiosity, synthesis and the ability to argue a point simply.
Copywriter
The copywriter is responsible for the words and, together with the art director, for the idea: headlines, scripts, social posts, slogans, website copy. In multilingual markets, a copywriter also needs to judge when an idea works across languages and when it must be rewritten from scratch rather than translated.
Art director
The art director is responsible for how the idea looks: composition, visual style, photo and video direction, typography. Copywriter and art director traditionally work as a pair and share ownership of the concept.
Designer
Designers build and adapt the visual work: layouts, social media formats, packaging files, presentations. The difference from an art director is mainly scope. The art director defines the visual idea; designers carry it across every format and keep it consistent with the brand guidelines.
Creative director
The creative director leads the creative department, sets the standard and decides which ideas reach the client. They protect the quality of the work and are often the agency's face in pitches.
Media planner and buyer
The media planner decides where and when the audience will see the message: channels, formats, budget split and timing. The buyer negotiates and books the placements. In digital-heavy teams these roles merge with paid social and search specialists, who also optimise campaigns while they run.
Producer
The producer turns an approved idea into a finished film, photo shoot or digital build. They find directors, photographers and studios, collect quotes, manage the budget and are on set to solve problems. When a shoot starts to go over budget, the producer is usually the first to know and the one who has to fix it.
Project manager
The project manager (in some agencies called traffic manager) manages time and workload inside the agency. They plan who works on what, track deadlines and make sure tasks do not stall between departments. Account managers look outward to the client; project managers look inward to the team.
How they work together
A typical job moves like this:
- The account manager receives the client brief and agrees the timeline.
- The strategist writes the creative brief.
- The creative director briefs a copywriter and art director pair.
- Designers and the producer take the approved concept into production.
- The media planner puts the work in front of the audience.
- The project manager keeps the whole chain on schedule, and the account manager reports back to the client.
Most problems happen at the hand-offs: a brief that loses detail between account and strategy, a concept that changes after the producer has booked the crew, feedback that reaches the designer but not the copywriter. Agencies that write short hand-off notes and hold a quick kick-off at each stage lose far less time.
Small teams, combined roles
Many agencies, especially in smaller markets, are compact teams where roles are combined: the founder is also the strategist, the account manager also runs projects, a senior designer also acts as art director. That can work well. The risk is not the combination itself but the gaps: tasks that belong to no one. If you run a small agency, write down which of the roles above each person covers, and look for the ones nobody owns.
From what I have seen, the most underrated role in a small agency is project management. Work is rarely lost because of weak ideas; it is lost at missed hand-offs.
For clients and for job seekers
If you are a client, ask the agency to name who will fill each of these roles on your account and how much of their time you will get. Changes in the team should be announced to you, not discovered.
If you are building a career, notice which part of the chain energises you: the relationship, the thinking, the idea, the craft or the logistics. That is a better guide than any job title, because titles vary between agencies while responsibilities do not. When you hire, the same logic applies: describe the responsibility and the hand-offs in the job description, not just the title. You can browse freelancers and specialists by role on the platform.
The takeaway
Map every person on your project to one responsibility: relationship, strategy, idea, visual craft, media, production or time. Make sure each responsibility has exactly one owner, and that every hand-off between them is written down.
