Job Description

Key details

📍Ultimo, Sydney

🗓️ 10-month parental leave cover contract, starting ASAP (to August 2027)

💰$105k - $115k + Super per annum ($117,600 - $128,800 inclusive package)

🏡 Hybrid work

🫶🏼 Inclusive leave & wellbeing benefits

If you love walking into a complex business, earning the trust of its most senior stakeholders in your first few weeks and leaving the account stronger than you found it, then this one's for you.

Heads & Tales is looking for an experienced Senior Account Manager to join our Sydney team on a 10-month parental leave cover contract, running to August 2027. You'll take the lead on some of our largest client accounts, including clients in regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals, automotive, property and health, owning the relationship, the commercial performance of each account and the quality of the work we deliver across their 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.

While one of our team is on parental leave, we need a seasoned Senior Account Manager who can hit the ground running and look after their accounts as if they were their own. You'll step straight into established senior client relationships, run your accounts with real autonomy, and know when a legal or compliance question needs answering before the work goes anywhere. You'll report to our Client Partnership Director.

The role

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

• Take the lead on large accounts - be the senior contact across some of our largest and most complex client accounts from week one, accountable for relationship health and results, and trusted to make the call
• Partner with senior stakeholders - build trusted relationships with senior and executive-level client stakeholders in complex businesses, understand how decisions really get made, and use performance data and insight to show how their owned channels could work harder
• Work with care in regulated industries - guide content through legal, regulatory and compliance approvals for clients in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, automotive, property and health, building review stages into every timeline so quality, compliance and deadlines all hold
• 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 the financial performance of your accounts, 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, own final quality assurance and guide the Account Managers and Account Executives on your accounts
• 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 research, workshop prep and pressure-testing growth ideas so you have more headspace for clients, always within client confidentiality, while the thinking, the compliance judgement 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 6-7+ years of account or client management experience, including solid time as a Senior Account Manager (or equivalent) looking after large accounts in a content, creative, integrated, publishing, brand or PR agency
• A proven track record partnering with senior and executive-level stakeholders in complex organisations, where clients see you as a trusted partner, not a supplier
• Experience working with clients in regulated industries, such as pharmaceuticals, automotive, property or health, and a practical understanding of legal and compliance approval processes
• The ability to hit the ground running: you're comfortable stepping into established client relationships and working with autonomy from your first week, and have a tried-and-true method of getting up to speed on clients quickly
• Real commercial ownership on large accounts, from budgets, margin, utilisation and forecasts to growing the account, and a clear understanding of how an agency makes money
• 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.
• 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 an annualized salary of $105,000 to $115,000 + Super ($117,600 to $128,800 inclusive package) for this 10-month parental leave cover contract (pro rata for the contract period. Exact salary offer will be aligned to relevance of experience.

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
• 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, public holiday swaps (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. This is a 9-month parental leave cover contract to August 2027, and we're keen to have the right person start as soon as possible.