Account Executive Museum & Permanent Environments

The Account Executive (AE) serves as the primary relationship builder and business development lead for museum and permanent environment exhibit projects. This role is responsible for developing qualified opportunities and managing strategic client relationships by bridging the gap between client vision and creative execution. The AE partners with museums, cultural institutions, science and nature centers, visitor centers, and other organizations to understand their storytelling goals and translate them into compelling, fabricated exhibit experiences. For existing clients, the AE remains responsible for maintaining the ongoing relationship, identifying emerging needs, and communicating requirements across the organization; this role does not have direct supervisory responsibility.

Supervisory Responsibilities: None

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Business Development & Prospecting
• Develop and manage a nationwide pipeline of new and existing client relationships across museums, cultural institutions, visitor centers, science and nature centers, and other permanent environment clients.
• Identify and develop new business through relationship-based prospecting, networking, pursuing and following up on leads, responding to inquiries and RFPs, social selling, and leveraging personal contacts.
• Serve as the first point of qualification for opportunities before engaging ECI's resources, evaluating strategic fit, scope, budget, timeline, and competitive positioning while positioning ECI as a trusted and capable partner.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with external partners such as design firms to strengthen ECI's competitive positioning

Consultative Sales & Client Relationships

• Lead consultative sales conversations that uncover client needs, project goals, timelines, and budgets
• Deliver professional and effective sales presentations to senior-level decision makers and key stakeholders
• Present viable opportunities to the PE Business Leader, Sales Director, and ECI Vetting Committee with suggested win strategies, documented on the Vetting Form
• Contribute to annual revenue goals and long-term pipeline development while maintaining strong client satisfaction, repeat business, and active stewardship of opportunities that may have multi-year sales cycles

Project & Internal Collaboration

• Collaborate with internal marketing, design, project management, and fabrication teams to develop competitive proposals and presentations
• Remain actively engaged throughout the project lifecycle, serving as a knowledgeable resource to the Project Management team and a familiar point of contact for the client. The AE helps maintain continuity from pre-sale through delivery while partnering closely with the Project Manager as the day-to-day project lead.

Industry Engagement & Professional Development

• Represent ECI at industry conferences, trade shows, and professional organizations including AAM and regional museum events
• Stay current on trends in exhibit design, museum best practices, interpretive planning, and fabrication techniques

Administration & Operations

• Maintain ECI's CRM system, currently HubSpot, with consistently updated prospects, leads, relationship notes, and pipeline information.
• Travel periodically to client sites and industry events (estimated 30–35% of the year)
• Work in a hybrid model, ideally within reasonable driving distance of ECI's facility and key regional client relationships, while also supporting national client opportunities and travel as needed.
• Perform other duties as assigned by management

Qualifications:

• Preferred: 5+ years of experience in consultative sales, business development, or client services. Candidates with fewer years may be considered when they bring directly relevant museum, cultural institution, science/nature, interpretive planning, exhibit, environmental design, fabrication, or experiential industry experience.
• A genuine passion for museums, storytelling, visitor experience, and relationship-driven client engagement.
• Familiarity with exhibit design, interpretive planning, museum operations, fabrication processes, or adjacent creative/technical project environments is a strong plus.

• Strong ability to listen, ask the right questions, and translate client needs into creative solutions
• Comfort working with and presenting to senior-level decision makers
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and relationship management skills
• Proficiency with Microsoft Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, and other business tools needed for communication, reporting, presentations, and client relationship management
• Familiarity with HubSpot CRM, Salesforce, Canva, or similar CRM/presentation tools is a plus; willingness to maintain accurate CRM documentation is required.
• Strong consultative business development, relationship-based prospecting, and long-cycle pipeline management skills.
• Ability to assess opportunities strategically, including client fit, scope, budget, timeline, competitive positioning, and whether the opportunity aligns with ECI's wheelhouse.
• Strong collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively across sales, design, project management, marketing, fabrication, and PE business leadership, including working with direct and candid stakeholder styles.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple opportunities, priorities, and follow-up activities effectively
• Adaptability, sound judgment, professional discretion, and professionalism in a variety of client, office, production, and project environments.

Physical Demands: This position requires the ability to sit for extended periods, work at a computer, participate in virtual and in-person meetings, and communicate effectively by phone and in person. The role also requires the ability to travel to client and company sites, move between meeting locations, and work in a variety of office, production, and customer environments that may vary based on travel and site conditions. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

Please note that this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of duties and responsibilities that are required of the employee for this position. Duties and responsibilities may change at any time with or without notice.