Associate Client Services Director

Role Purpose

The Associate Client Services Director is a senior, commercially-led, strategic and client-facing role within the Client Services stream, reporting to the Client Service Director. This is a consultative role, as much about shaping the client's strategic thinking as managing the account.

This role owns a dedicated portfolio of accounts, accountable for the commercial performance, strategic direction and relationship health of those clients end to end. Alongside their own portfolio, they provide senior support to other accounts across the APAC region as needed. They are not accountable for the region as a whole; their accountability sits with their dedicated accounts, with a supporting role played elsewhere.

The purpose of the role is to be out in front of clients, building senior relationships, raising the client's strategic ambition, and turning that into commercial growth. This is a strategic partner to the client, not a caretaker of the account.

Role Accountability

Dedicated Portfolio Ownership (Commercial)

• Own the commercial health, retention and growth of a dedicated portfolio of clients.

• Act as the senior point of accountability for these accounts, revenue retention, account growth and relationship health sit with this role.

• Maintain a real-time view of portfolio health, risk and opportunity across the dedicated accounts.

• Lead the commercial conversation for these clients: renewals, pricing, scope changes, upsell and cross-sell. This role owns "what does the client need, and what will it cost?"

• Own the scoping document for their accounts, building the base scope, coordinating delivery input, securing sign-off on hours and approach, and presenting to the client.

• Ensure scopes are outcome-based, correctly priced and operationally feasible, with clearly defined deliverables per period.

• Partner with the Client Service Director and Finance on renewal strategy, forecasting and margin protection.

Senior Client Relationships

• Build and maintain executive-level relationships with key stakeholders across the dedicated portfolio.

• Actively identify opportunities within client organisations to expand IMWT's services. This is a growth role, not account maintenance, the goal is to grow accounts, not simply keep clients happy. (We have enough farmers; we need a hunter.)

• Run strategic sessions with key client stakeholders, bringing in additional IMWT specialists where relevant, to surface, shape and sell new opportunities.

• Travel regularly to meet clients face-to-face, site visits, strategic workshops and in-person Quarterly Strategic Alignments (QSAs), as clients require.

• Represent IMWT at a senior level in the market, including at industry or client-facing events as required.

• Own the Quarterly Strategic Alignment (QSA) as a strategic, sales and retention instrument for these clients, the commercial narrative, growth roadmap and renewal conversation. (Delivery owns the technical content within it.)

Regional Support (APAC)

• Provide senior support to other accounts across the APAC region as needed, stepping in on client relationships, commercial conversations, scoping or escalations to lend seniority and capacity.

• This is a supporting role, not an ownership one: accountability for those accounts remains with their respective owners.

• Regular travel to meet clients face-to-face is a core expectation; clients are predominantly based in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Escalation & Risk Management

• Act as the first senior escalation point for commercial and relationship risk on the dedicated portfolio, ahead of escalating to the Client Service Director.

• Handle escalations in a materiality-based, forward-looking way, always presenting options, not just flagging that hours are spent.

• Sponsor structured monthly health reviews (RAG) and drive timely mitigation of at-risk relationships.

Partnership

• Partner closely with the Client Service Director on stream strategy, standards and operating cadence.

• Work alongside the Delivery and Strategy teams within the RACI model:

  • Strategy owns the client's digital strategy.

  • Client Services owns the commercial strategy and identifies opportunities.

  • These two work closely together, while Delivery owns the technical approach, hours and quality.

• Build and maintain relationships with key technology partners, including Google, working directly with Google to determine the best activation strategies for clients. This will involve spending time on-site at Google offices.

• Model best-practice commercial and client leadership behaviour for the wider Client Services team.

How this role will be measured

• Client retention rate

• Account growth rate

• Hours vs agreed scope

• Renewal pipeline value

• Opportunity pipeline

• Client health score

• Executive stakeholder relationships

• Overdue invoices

Requires Knowledge & Skills

Experience

• 7+ years' experience in Client Services, Account Management or Client Partnership within a digital or performance marketing agency.

• Track record of owning a commercial client portfolio and leading commercial conversations at a senior level, renewals, pricing, scope and expansion.

• Experience engaging C-suite or senior executive client stakeholders.

• Desirable: experience working with Google Marketing Platform enterprise customers (GA4, DV360, SA360 and similar).

Knowledge

• Strong commercial acumen: pricing, renewal strategy, margin and forecasting.

• Working knowledge of SEO, Paid Media, Analytics and other core service lines, enough to hold credible commercial conversations and scope confidently, without needing to lead the technical detail.

• Understanding of outcome-based scoping and the boundary between Client Services (relationship, commercial, scope) and Delivery (technical approach, hours, quality).

• Strong, current knowledge of trends across digital and technology, genuinely plugged into where the industry is heading, which is the kind of enthusiasm clients value.

Skills

• Confident, senior-level relationship building and executive presence.

• Strong negotiation, escalation handling and conflict resolution skills.

• Willingness and ability to travel regularly to see clients in person.

• A self-starter who manages their own time and capacity well, with disciplined, accurate time tracking to stay on top of their workload.

Position title: Associate Client Services Director

Department: Client Services

Report to: Client Service Director

Direct report: N/A

Days/Hours: M-F/38 hours/week | Full-time | Permanent

Employment type: Full-time

Targeted timezones/locations: within Australia (NSW, VIC or QLD).

Note: only applications within the targeted time zones/locations are being processed.