Lead the relationship and lift the team
We’re looking for an experienced Client Partner to lead complex, high-value client relationships and help strengthen our Client Experience team in Melbourne. You’ll move comfortably between the detail of delivery and the bigger commercial picture: resolving a difficult brief or workflow issue one moment, then shaping a growth strategy or negotiating with a C-suite stakeholder the next.
You’ll own a portfolio of clients, lead the people working across it and be a trusted partner to the Director of Client Experience and the wider leadership team. Alongside our other two Client Partners, you’ll help set a positive, accountable tone in the Melbourne office. Our work brings together performance marketing, creative, content, strategy and technology. You’ll know how to bring specialists together, make sound calls under pressure and turn strong delivery into lasting client growth.
You MUST have agency experience!
The role
Reporting to the Director of Client Experience, you’ll be accountable for client outcomes, portfolio performance, team leadership and the discipline of day-to-day delivery. You’ll lead through experience, particularly when a client relationship is under strain or ready to grow.
You’ll be responsible for:
- Own senior relationships across a portfolio of complex clients, building trust with day-to-day contacts, decision-makers and executive stakeholders.
- Lead annual and quarterly planning, develop growth roadmaps and connect the details of campaign performance to a clear client strategy.
- Move into the weeds when needed to unblock briefs, delivery, quality or stakeholder issues, then step back to make the right strategic and commercial call.
- Lead challenging client conversations, resolve escalations and negotiate scope, investment, priorities and renewals with senior and C-suite stakeholders.
- Take ownership of revenue, margin, retention and organic growth across your portfolio; identify opportunities to expand the value we create for clients.
- Guide large, multi-channel campaigns and retainers, bringing together strategy, media, creative, content and technology specialists.
- Set clear briefs, roles, milestones and decision points so internal teams and clients understand what is being delivered and when.
- Keep Asana accurate and useful as the source of truth for work across your portfolio; monitor capacity, dependencies, deadlines and risks, and intervene early.
- Turn performance data and client feedback into practical recommendations, persuasive business cases and decisions that improve outcomes.
- Lead and develop Client Executives and Client Managers through clear expectations, regular coaching, useful feedback and hands-on support.
- Work with the other two Client Partners to support leadership, share context and capacity, lift delivery standards and contribute to team morale in the Melbourne office.
- Model calm, accountable leadership through pressure and change, helping the team work through difficult client situations without losing momentum.
- Use AI and other tools thoughtfully to improve scoping, documentation, analysis and delivery without compromising quality or judgment.
About you
You’ve led demanding client portfolios and teams in an agency, and you know how to create confidence for clients and colleagues when the work gets complex. You combine excellent stakeholder judgment with structured execution.
You’ll bring:
- Substantial agency client leadership experience, including ownership of high-value, multi-channel accounts and a proven record of retaining and growing them.
- Exceptional stakeholder management: you can build credibility across a client organisation, read competing priorities and navigate difficult conversations constructively.
- Confidence engaging and negotiating with C-suite stakeholders on strategy, outcomes, investment and commercial trade-offs.
- Proven leadership of client service team members, with evidence of coaching, developing capability, managing performance and sustaining morale.
- The range to inspect the detail of a brief, campaign or workflow, solve the immediate problem and elevate the discussion to strategy and long-term value.
- Experience leading both challenging client relationships and growth clients, using sound judgment to restore confidence or identify new opportunities.
- Strong commercial ownership of revenue, margin, scope, forecasting, retention and portfolio growth.
- A disciplined approach to workflow: confident use of Asana, or deep working knowledge of it, to structure tasks, dependencies, ownership and reporting across multiple accounts.
- Experience across performance marketing, creative, content, strategy and technology, with the ability to bring specialists together effectively.
- A clear understanding of performance data and the ability to make a convincing commercial recommendation from it.
- The presence to support agency leadership and work constructively with peer Client Partners while staying approachable and available to the Melbourne team.
- Curiosity about AI and practical ways to improve how the team works.
Experience across property, education or other high-consideration categories is a bonus, as is experience with platforms such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Adobe or Oracle.
A degree or diploma in Marketing, Communications, Business, Digital, Economics, PR, Project Management or a related discipline is welcomed.
You must have relevant agency experience!
Why The Garden?
For 15 years, we’ve worked with brands navigating complex, high-consideration customer journeys. Today, The Garden brings together strategy, performance, creative, content and technology to help our clients move faster, make smarter marketing decisions and create better customer experiences. At this level, you’ll have the scope to shape client direction and the responsibility to help others do their best work.
You’ll own your portfolio, partner with talented specialists and contribute to how our Client Experience team operates and grows. We’re looking for someone who brings experience, sound judgment and generosity as a leader, someone who can raise standards while helping the team feel supported.
We work four days a week together from our Collingwood office, with one day working remotely, because we believe some of the best learning, collaboration and problem-solving happens when you’re around great people.
A little different? Good.
Strong teams are built from different perspectives, experiences and ways of thinking.
If you’ve got the capability and ambition we’re looking for but don’t tick every box, we’d still like to hear from you.
Great systems amplifying great people.
