Client Lead

We are integrated communications specialists with an eye on culture.

Headquartered from Melbourne Australia, we’re a team of 40+ passionate individuals spread across four specialist teams.

Our foundational clients include festivals and events such as Splendour In The Grass, Bluesfest, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, and more recently RISING Festival, ALWAYS LIVE and Sydney Festival.

Bolster Group has devised integrated campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands including Bacardi-Martini Australia, KFC, Google, EA Games, Samsung, Warner Music, and more. We’re the agency you bring in when you want to play meaningfully in music and broader culture. 

• Act as a strategic partner and trusted day-to-day lead for Bolster's most important client relationships, building genuine partnerships with senior client marketers (Head of Marketing, Directors)

• Own the commercial health of your client portfolio, including revenue forecasting, scoping, fee negotiation, profitability and resource planning

• Drive organic growth across the client base through deep understanding of client business challenges, identifying new opportunities and expanding scopes of work

• Lead the development of integrated client strategies and annual plans that span culture marketing, creative and content, media, social, PR and experiential

• Write, interrogate and approve client briefs, ensuring they are sharp, single-minded and set the team up to deliver outstanding work

• Provide creative and strategic counsel across client work, lifting the quality bar and championing ambitious, culturally relevant ideas

• Partner closely with the integrated teams to deliver seamless, integrated solutions

• Lead new business pitches end-to-end, including chemistry meetings, RFP responses, scoping, pricing and pitch delivery

• Oversee campaign delivery against client KPIs, ensuring work is delivered on brief, on time and on budget, and that learnings inform future activity

• Represent Bolster at industry events, client functions and agency group forums, contributing to the agency's reputation and profile

• Manage a patch of integrated client accounts, servicing the delivery of multiple projects at once from contracting to delivery

• Effectively lead integrated projects or campaigns by aligning all stakeholders (inc. internal team, clients, agency villages and extended freelancer network) on roles and responsibilities, objectives, KPIs, key milestones, budget, deliverables and ways of working

• Develop and maintain project budgets and timelines – closely monitor project finances including team resource / utilisation, scope creep prevention, and the protection of PT margin

• Manage contracting and invoicing of externals, in line with any agreed approval processes 

• Act as the main liaison between the specialist delivery team(s), any external contractors and the client throughout the post-production process, to gather feedback and make necessary adjustments, addressing client feedback and revisions efficiently

• Ensure client expectations are exceeded, and projects are delivered on time and within budget

• Identify tools, systems or processes that aren’t adding value or making life more difficult on our teams and clients – and take action to remedy

• Maintain a strong client service experience at every touchpoint – professional, but also fun!

• Set the standard for client servicing excellence – communication, proactivity, anticipation, problem-solving and commercial discipline

• Build and maintain relationships with external contractors and partners (i.e. the 'freelancer bench')

• Assist with and participate in the recruitment process for the Client Partnerships team

• Effectively delegate and oversee the delivery of work, ensuring the highest standard

• Work closely with the Group GMs and the SLT to refine our ways of working

• 5-8+ years client services / account management experience at a media, creative or integrated agency

• Demonstrated track record of leading senior client relationships (CMO / Marketing Director level) and acting as a trusted strategic advisor

• Proven ability to grow accounts – organically expanding scopes, identifying new opportunities and converting them into revenue

• Strong commercial acumen, including revenue forecasting, scoping, fee negotiation, P&L ownership and resource management

• Cross-discipline literacy across media, creative, strategy, social, PR and experiential, with the confidence to lead integrated conversations

• Excellent written and verbal communication, with outstanding presentation, storytelling and stakeholder management skills

• Proven people management and team leadership abilities, with experience mentoring and developing client services teams

• Sharp strategic thinking, with the ability to write and interrogate briefs and provide creative counsel

• Deep understanding of the Australian marketing and media landscape, audiences and cultural context

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, independent agency environment and manage multiple priorities

• Experience working with brands in music, entertainment, festival, lifestyle or youth culture categories

• Track record of leading new business pitches and converting them to wins

• Experience working across an agency group or with sister-agency disciplines (experiential, talent, First Nations engagement)

• Support, guidance, and growth including an annual learning and development budget and regular 'Bolster Uni' sessions

• Interesting, exciting, and challenging work

• Flexible working model - work remotely from anywhere, and in the office

• Wellness Perks - Class Pass , access to EAP

• Opportunities to get to know your teammates with free tickets to events and regular team gatherings

• Progression – you decide how high you fly. Make things happen and we’ll make sure you get where you’re going.