Senior account manager

Key details 📍Ultimo, Sydney 💰$90k – $105k + Super ($100,800 – $117,600 inclusive package) 🏡 Hybrid work 🫶🏼 Inclusive leave & wellbeing benefits

If you love being the first call for a senior client, growing an account because you saw what it needed next, and helping the people around you do their best work, then this one’s for you. Heads & Tales is looking for a Senior Account Manager to join our Sydney team. You’ll lead your own portfolio of B2B and B2C client accounts, owning the relationship, the commercial performance of each account and the quality of the work we deliver across our clients’ owned channels: websites, publications, newsletters, content hubs and social.

We’re an owned media agency and we’ve been smart storytellers for over 25 years, because we believe the craft of storytelling can change the world for the better. This is where account management moves from coordinating delivery to leading it. You’ll step into established senior client relationships quickly, act as a trusted adviser, and support the Account Managers and Account Executives around you to do their best work. You’ll report to our Client Partnership Director, and the role sits on a well-trodden path towards Account Director.

Here’s a bit of a snapshot of what’s involved in the role:

• Look after your portfolio – be the senior contact across your accounts, including some of our larger and more complex ones, accountable for relationship health and results, and trusted to make the call
• Be a trusted adviser – build relationships with senior client stakeholders, get to know their business and audiences, and use performance data and insight to show how their owned channels could work harder
• Turn objectives into account plans – lead briefs and account plans that connect client goals to owned media outcomes, and represent Heads & Tales as the owned media lead in the client’s agency village
• Own the numbers – take responsibility for your portfolio’s financial performance, from scoping and pricing new work and renewals to margin, utilisation, monthly revenue forecasts and invoicing in Productive and ProSpend
• Grow your accounts – spot and shape organic growth opportunities from first idea to proposal and conversion, run client workshops, and co-lead sections of pitches
• Set the standard for delivery – oversee our editorial, design, digital, social and production teams, resolve resourcing, timing or quality issues before they reach the client, and own final quality assurance
• Help the team grow – guide, mentor and review the work of Account Managers and Account Executives on your accounts, with the potential for direct line management as required
• Collaborate across the network – work alongside strategists, editors, designers and our in-house production studio Sherpa, and bring in sister agencies Reload Media, Keep Left, Tide and Chapter One Consulting where they can extend the impact of your clients’ owned channels
• Use AI as a tool, never the author – bring AI into performance insights, workshop prep and pressure-testing growth ideas so you have more headspace for clients and your team, while the thinking and the final call stay with you

Who we think would be a good fit

We think the person who would thrive in this role is someone with:

• Around 5+ years of account or client management experience, including looking after accounts on your own, ideally in a content, creative, integrated or publishing agency (PR, newsroom and brand-side routes are just as welcome)
• A track record with senior client stakeholders, where clients come to you for advice, not just updates
• Real commercial ownership: you’ve managed account budgets, margin, utilisation and forecasts, and you understand how an agency makes money
• Experience growing existing accounts, from spotting the opportunity to shaping the proposal and seeing it through
• Experience guiding and mentoring more junior team members, with the care to help them grow (formal line management is a bonus, not a must)
• A point of view on owned media and the content people choose to engage with, and comfort presenting and talking through ideas with senior stakeholders
• A proactive approach to managing multiple projects and deadlines in a busy, fast-moving environment
• A curious, responsible approach to AI – you’re keen to use it to work smarter and think wider, and you know the original idea, the fact-check and the final call are human
• Familiarity with Productive, ProSpend or similar agency tools will be a bonus

What Heads & Tales can offer you

Smart storytellers for over 25 years – we’re an owned media agency that believes the craft of storytelling can change the world for the better, and we make work that resonates rather than fills space. Real range in your work – from strategy and insights to digital content hubs, social, video, podcasts, custom magazines and high-end custom books. Custom magazines are in our DNA, but we’re just as at home in an always-on digital world. Award-winning work – our Zoos Victoria publications were named Mumbrella Custom Publication of the Year 2024, and our Mercedes-Benz work was shortlisted at the 2023 Content Marketing Awards. Long-term partnerships with some of Australia’s most respected brands – like Mercedes-Benz (for over 20 years!), Zoos Victoria, HCF, ANZIIF and zazen Water. We become part of their team, which is when the best stories happen. Proudly independent, and part of the Hardie Grant Media network – collaborate with our in-house video and photography studio Sherpa and sister agencies Reload Media (digital marketing), Keep Left (PR & corporate comms), Tide (PR & influencer marketing) and our newest addition, Chapter One Consulting. We know our people are the “Heads” behind every tale – so we keep our salary review methodology clear and transparent, and we work hard to solve the everyday challenges when we can. A people-first AI Charter – we embrace AI as part of our toolkit, but we don’t lose our heads. AI supports us, it’s never the author, and it will never replace creative roles. We’ll also invest in building your AI capability, so you’re using it with best practice. A culture where ideas are welcome – we’d much rather you give something a go and it not work, than never try in the first place!

Salary & benefits

We’re offering $90,000 to $105,000 + Super ($100,800 to $117,600 inclusive package), with salary offer pending experience alignment. We could talk about all the great things about working at Heads & Tales all day, but here’s some of the key ones you should know about right now:

• Hybrid work setup (obviously!)
• Menstrual & menopausal leave
• 3 months paid parental leave (on top of the standard Government program!)
• Brand-new on-site gym, sauna, golf simulator, and yoga facilities
• Free counselling for work/personal matters for you & members of your household
• Socially-conscious policies – including volunteer leave, blood donation leave, fertility treatment leave, gender transition leave (and more!) all supported by our active Reconciliation Action Plan, Diversity & Inclusion and ESG committees.
• 50% discount on all Hardie Grant published book titles

Be yourself, we like you that way

At Heads & Tales, authenticity is at the heart of everything we do. We know that diverse and inclusive teams have a positive impact on our culture and our business, and on the stories we tell. We celebrate multiple approaches, points of view and backgrounds. We work hard to build a culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the ability of everyone to be their full authentic selves at work. At any point in the application process, please feel safe to let us know of any accommodations that will make it more accessible for you. We encourage you to share your pronouns and anything else you would like us to know that will make this an enjoyable experience.

Ready to apply? Sound like you? Send us your CV and cover letter – we’d love to hear from you.