Director, Client Partnership

THE ROLE

Director, Client Partnership, autonomously leads high-value client portfolios, driving strategic growth, commercial success, and the delivery of complex integrated workstreams and multi-service retainers. As a trusted business partner, the Director deeply understands our clients' business challenges and proactively architects solutions that drive measurable impact.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Strategic Leadership & Client Partnership
• Business Transformation: Act as a strategic advisor to senior client stakeholders, aligning our agency's capabilities with the client's overarching business goals.
• Portfolio Integration: Synthesize siloed workstreams into a cohesive, big-picture narrative, ensuring client strategy is seamlessly applied across all interdisciplinary teams.
• Creative Excellence: Inspire, motivate, and direct cross-functional teams to deliver high-impact, brief-led creative solutions that push boundaries.
• High-Impact Communication: Masterfully navigate complex presentations and critical conversations, tailoring messages flawlessly for internal teams, executive leadership, and C-suite clients.
• Commercial Management & Compliance
• Portfolio Health: Own the financial health of the portfolio, including accurate revenue forecasting, reconciliation, margin management, and profitability tracking.
• Scope Architecture: Lead the development, pricing, and negotiation of complex Statements of Work (SOWs) and high-volume retainers, ensuring they are profitable and scalable.
• Risk Mitigation: Oversee scope management across the portfolio, ensuring all deliverables remain strictly compliant with signed contracts, and proactively mitigating scope creep.
• Business Development: Partner with Growth and Executive leadership to spearhead new business pitches, productize agency services, and drive organic growth within the existing portfolio.
• Team Leadership & Talent Development
• Talent Cultivation: Directly manage, mentor, and inspire a high-performing Client Partnership team, fostering a culture of continuous learning, accountability, and psychological safety.
• Workload Optimization: Monitor team utilization and capacity, effectively delegating responsibilities while actively managing client expectations and pushing back when necessary.
• Escalation Anchor: Serve as the definitive internal and external escalation point for project, prioritization, or relational challenges.
• Growth & Influence
• Proven track record of managing, mentoring, and scaling client services teams.
• Ability to secure buy-in for bold ideas and navigate resistance through high-impact, empathetic communication.
• Expertise in facilitating cross-functional alignment, breaking down internal silos to own projects from inception to completion.
• Strong upward management skills, knowing precisely when to loop in executive leadership for strategic interventions.
• Deep experience managing high-volume, multi-service agency retainers for major brands.
• Strong literacy in agency financial operations, including profitability levers, resource models, and legal/contractual frameworks.
• Proven background in driving sophisticated organic social strategies, digital transformation, and creator/influencer-led ecosystems.
• Look beyond the immediate portfolio to align client initiatives with the agency's broader macroeconomic strategy, values, and long-term goals.
• Masterfully connect data points and market trends to solve complex business problems, understanding both immediate solutions and long-term consequences.
• Seamlessly navigate and leverage the agency's global service offerings and department leads, knowing how and when to pull in specialized expertise to expand the client footprint.
• Drastically improve the effectiveness of client interactions and internal workflows, ensuring every touchpoint delivers premium value.

WHAT YOU BRING

• 8+ years of progressive client services or account management experience within a fast-paced agency environment, with at least 2–3 years operating at a Director level.
• A proven track record of managing and organically growing a high-volume portfolio of brands (ideally encompassing multi-service, integrated digital retainers).
• Demonstrated experience leading short- and long-term business strategies for major brands, translating complex business challenges into actionable creative and digital solutions.
• Strong financial fluency with deep experience in revenue forecasting, profitability tracking, margin management, and architecting/negotiating complex SOWs and pricing models.
• Deep domain knowledge in digital transformation, high-volume organic social ecosystems, and creator/influencer-led marketing campaigns.
• Proven experience directly managing, mentoring, and scaling high-performing client services teams, with a passion for cultivating talent and optimizing workloads.
• Exceptional written, oral, and presentation skills, with a demonstrated ability to command a room, navigate resistance, and build trusted-advisor relationships with senior-tier and C-suite client stakeholders.
• Experience partnering with leadership and growth teams to spearhead new business pitches and successfully productize agency services.

WE OFFER

• Healthcare, Dental, and Vision coverage
• 401k plan, plus matching
• PTO
• Paid Company Holidays
• Parental Leave

DEPT® SUPPORTS YOU BEING YOU

We are a collaborative, open-door, best-idea-wins environment that fosters personal and company growth and has fun doing it. Here is a snapshot of our benefits package:

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION

At DEPT®, we take pride in creating an inclusive workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We actively seek to recruit, develop, nurture, and retain talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, with varying skills and perspectives.