Performance Manager

We have partnered with a well-established independent digital consultancy based in Sydney. The business is consulting-led: channel-agnostic, commercially focused, and trusted with genuinely complex briefs by clients who have been around long enough to know the difference between activity and results.

The performance team manages a concentrated portfolio of accounts. The work spans multiple campaign types, significant ad spend, and clients with ambitious targets. People stay here, the culture is flat, feedback is direct, and progression is something that actually happens.

You will take ownership of a portfolio of performance accounts and the exec sitting alongside you. That means being accountable not just for your own output, but for the quality of work the team produces, the way accounts are developed over time, and the confidence clients have in the business. Platform depth still matters here, you will not be managing from a distance, but the primary question at this level is whether you can translate that depth into strategy, client trust, and team growth.

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  Own the performance outcomes across a portfolio of accounts, setting strategic direction and holding accountability for results month on month

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  Lead and develop a performance executive: structuring their workload, reviewing their output, and building their capability in a way that raises the whole team's standard

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  Hold the client relationship on your accounts, running regular meetings, managing expectations and translating performance data into commercially meaningful conversation

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  Identify growth opportunities proactively, new campaign approaches, budget reallocation, channel expansion, and build the case for them internally and with clients

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  Collaborate with SEO, analytics and creative specialists on integrated briefs, bringing performance expertise into a broader strategic conversation

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  Contribute to new business activity: joining pitch processes, reviewing briefs, and helping scope what performance delivery looks like for prospective clients

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  Stay ahead of platform developments and AI-driven changes, and help shape how the team adopts and applies them in practice

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  Drive knowledge-sharing across the team through regular in-office sessions, contributing to a culture where capability development is a shared responsibility

• Solid hands-on Google Ads experience, three or more years, with a clear track record of driving account growth rather than maintaining it. You should be able to talk concretely about accounts you have moved forward and how

• Experience managing and developing junior team members. This does not need to be extensive, but you should have genuinely coached or mentored someone, not just delegated to them

• Confidence in client-facing situations. You have held a client relationship before, you understand what makes those conversations work, and you are comfortable navigating commercial pressure without escalating everything upward

• A strategic instinct alongside your technical one. You can zoom out from the platform and think about what the account needs over the next quarter, not just the next week

• Genuine curiosity about AI and platform evolution — and ideally some early practical experience with how AI-driven features are changing campaign management

• Strong analytical foundations. You reach for data first, you are accurate when you do, and you can communicate what the numbers mean to people who are not in the weeds alongside you

You are technically grounded but no longer defined purely by execution. You understand what good performance looks like at a platform level, but your attention has shifted toward the bigger picture: what are these accounts capable of, what is standing in the way, and how do you build a team that can get there?

You are comfortable owning outcomes rather than contributing to them. When an account underperforms, your instinct is to understand why and fix it, not to wait for direction. When a client is uncertain, you are the person who steadies the room.

• You are strong in execution but not yet ready to be accountable for a portfolio of outcomes

• You have not yet managed a client relationship independently

• You are not actively curious about how platform developments and AI features are changing what performance can deliver commercially

• Real ownership from day one. You will not be a layer of management between a director and a team. You will be accountable for accounts and a person, with the autonomy to make meaningful decisions

• A genuine progression path. The route to senior manager and director is well-established here, and the tenure of the team is the evidence it is real

• Cross-functional exposure beyond what most manager roles offer. You will work alongside SEO, data and analytics specialists and develop a genuine understanding of how performance sits within a broader commercial strategy

• AI tools provided and learning supported. The business is actively building capability in this area, with regular in-office sessions and investment in yours alongside it

• A culture that takes the work seriously without making the environment difficult. Trust is given early, feedback is direct, and the structure is flat enough to get things done

Ready to apply? Send us your CV and we will be in touch promptly to walk you through the role in more detail.

At Fulcrum, we celebrate diversity and know that our differences help us thrive. We are committed to diversity, inclusion, and providing equal opportunities at all stages of the recruitment process.