Head of Client Services

Aperitif Agency; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Performance-related bonuses

Growth opportunities

Strong team culture

Job summary

Aperitif Agency is looking for an exceptional Head of Client Services to lead the client side of the organization. In this key leadership role, you will own the health, retention, and operational performance of our client services function.

You will work closely with account managers to ensure clients receive an excellent experience while driving strong client retention and satisfaction. This is a unique opportunity to be part of an award-winning boutique growth agency in Melbourne.

Qualifications

• Experience in client service or account management.
• Strong understanding of client retention and delivery operations.
• Ability to improve systems and processes.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the client services team.
• Oversee client portfolio health and retention.
• Enhance operational efficiency and delivery quality.
• Ensure effective cross-functional collaboration.
• Manage resourcing and workforce planning.

Skills

Client retention

Team leadership

Operational efficiency

Cross-functional collaboration

Commercial awareness

Job description

• Reporting Line: Reports directly to the company founders.
• Remuneration: Competitive base salary + performance-related bonuses tied to agency growth and client retention.

Aperitif is an award-winning boutique growth agency helping ambitious brands grow through SEO, Google Ads, paid social, and sharper commercial thinking.

We’re not built like a traditional agency. We care deeply about the quality of the work, the people doing it, and the outcomes we help create for clients. We move quickly, think commercially, and hold a high bar.

Over the last few years, we’ve built a strong reputation for doing good work by good humans. That has helped us attract a high-quality client base, expand internationally, and earn major industry recognition along the way.

Recent highlights

• Winner: Best Global Small SEO Agency at the Global Search Awards 2025 (alongside 2 others)
• Winner: Best Small Integrated Search Agency at the APAC Search Awards 2026 (alongside 2 others)
• Austin, Texas office expansion
• Award-winning work across SEO and performance marketing

Why Aperitif is different

At Aperitif, client service is not about smiling through chaos or papering over cracks.

It is about building trust, doing sharp work, communicating clearly, and creating an experience clients actually want to stay for. We care about standards. We care about accountability. We care about helping clients grow, not just keeping things moving.

We also care about building a genuinely strong place to work.

That means high standards without ego. Good people. Clear expectations. Room to grow. Real ownership. A team that gives a s**t.

Why this role matters

This is a key leadership role in the business.

You will lead the client services function and help shape how Aperitif delivers for clients as we continue to grow. That means improving client retention, strengthening delivery quality, building a high-performing team, and helping create a more mature, scalable client services engine.

This role is not just about managing accounts. It is about helping build a stronger business.

The role

We are looking for an exceptional Head of Client Services to lead the client side of Aperitif.

You will own the health, retention, and operational performance of our client services function. You will work closely with account managers and specialists, improve how teams work together, strengthen delivery systems, and help ensure clients receive an excellent experience from onboarding through to long‑term growth.

You will also play a key role in workforce planning, delivery efficiency, team leadership, and cross‑functional alignment across sales, marketing, finance, and people operations.

Key responsibilities

Client retention and account health

• Own the overall health of the client portfolio
• Drive strong client retention, satisfaction, and long‑term relationship quality
• Identify client risk early and step in where additional leadership support is needed
• Support upsell and cross‑sell opportunities in partnership with the broader team
• Help create a client experience that feels proactive, commercially sharp, and high quality

Team leadership and development

• Lead, coach, and develop the client services team
• Build a high‑performance culture with clear accountability and strong support
• Improve role clarity, communication quality, and team effectiveness
• Support hiring, onboarding, and development within the client services function
• Help create an environment where strong people want to stay and grow

Workforce planning and resourcing

• Manage resourcing and capacity planning across the client services team
• Anticipate workload, hiring, and delivery pressure before they become problems
• Work closely with department leads to align client demand with team capacity
• Help maintain a healthy balance between service quality, profitability, and sustainability

Operational efficiency and delivery quality

• Improve systems, processes, and workflows across client service and delivery
• Strengthen onboarding, handovers, reporting, and internal coordination
• Help reduce friction between teams and improve delivery consistency
• Monitor account and team performance, then use that information to improve how the function runs
• Build a culture of continuous improvement, not reactive firefighting

Cross‑functional leadership

• Work closely with sales, marketing, finance, and people operations to support healthy growth
• Help ensure new client wins are set up for long‑term success
• Act as a mature, commercially‑minded bridge between departments
• Support better decision‑making through visibility, communication, and operational discipline

Commercial and profitability responsibility

• Help ensure the client services function operates efficiently and profitably
• Keep a close eye on margin, utilisation, team capacity, and delivery quality
• Support commercially sound decisions without compromising long‑term client outcomes
• Understand how delivery performance affects retention, revenue quality, and overall business health

Success in this role looks like

• Strong client retention across the portfolio
• High client satisfaction and low avoidable churn
• Strong team engagement and staff retention within client services
• Healthy delivery operations, including resourcing, utilisation, and workflow quality
• Better alignment between client services and the rest of the business
• Improved operational maturity as Aperitif continues to scale

You’ll likely be a strong fit if you

• Have led client service, account management, or delivery teams before
• Know how to balance client experience with operational discipline
• Are commercially aware, not just relationship‑driven
• Can coach people well and hold a high bar
• Are calm under pressure and good at reducing friction
• Care about quality, accountability, and building strong teams
• Are comfortable leading in a growing business where things are improving and evolving quickly
• Experience in an agency or service‑based environment
• Strong understanding of client retention and delivery operations
• Experience with resourcing, workforce planning, and capacity management
• Confidence working across multiple teams and stakeholders
• Experience improving systems, process, and operational rhythm
• Familiarity with modern agency tools across project management, reporting, CRM, communication, and workflow systems

Growth opportunity

For the right person, this role has significant room to grow. Someone who excels in the client services remit, builds trust internally, and demonstrates strong leadership capability may have the opportunity over time to expand into a broader operational or general management role within the business.

• Join an award‑winning agency with strong momentum
• Work closely with founders who care deeply about the business and the people in it
• Help shape a key leadership function at an important stage of growth
• Work with a high‑quality team and client base
• Build something meaningful in a business that values standards, trust, and good humans