Senior Client Manager

Koto; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary annual bonus up to 10%

401(k) plan with up to 4% employer ERI

Monthly wellness stipend via Juno

Training opportunities with YCN

Global studio access and remote workr

25 days vacation + bank holidays

Paid family leave (maternity/paternity

Job summary

Koto is seeking a thoughtful, proactive Senior Client Manager to join our Client Services team in New York. You will lead branding and design projects from kickoff through delivery, balancing creative ambition with commercial realities and ensuring high-quality work.

You'll own client relationships, manage timelines and budgets, and collaborate with strategy and creative teams to deliver on briefs. A strong communicator with 5+ years in agency-style environments will thrive in our hybrid NYC

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience managing branding and creative projects.
• Strong understanding of brand strategy, creative development, and design processes.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
• Able to manage budgets, timelines, and stakeholder expectations.

Responsibilities

• Own projects from start to finish, leading day-to-day management of branding and design projects, timelines, budgets, deliverables, and stakeholder communication.
• Build meaningful client relationships, understanding their businesses, ambitions, and challenges to balance client priorities with creative teams.
• Champion great creative work by navigating feedback and protecting creative integrity while delivering to the brief.
• Plan ahead with project plans, timelines, and resourcing, ensuring clarity, alignment, and next steps.
• Own the commercial details, monitor profitability, track resourcing, and manage scope changes in coordination with leadership and Finance.
• Contribute to new business by developing proposals, scopes of work, budgets, timelines, and approaches.
• Navigate challenges with confidence, handling difficult conversations, scope changes, and project issues while protecting relationships.

Job description

The RoleKoto is looking for a thoughtful, proactive, and commercially minded Senior Client Manager to join our growing Client Services team in New York. You'll be a trusted partner to our clients and creative teams, leading projects from kickoff through delivery and ensuring exceptional work is delivered with care, clarity, and purpose.You understand the balance between creative ambition and commercial realities, bringing structure to complex projects, building meaningful relationships, and creating the conditions for our teams to do their best work. You're confident taking ownership, anticipating challenges, and keeping everyone moving in the right direction.This is an opportunity to play an important role in shaping client relationships, delivering ambitious creative work, and contributing to the continued growth of our New York studio.

Your Responsibilities

Your ResponsibilitiesOwn projects from start to finish. You lead the day-to-day management of multiple branding and design projects, owning timelines, budgets, deliverables, and stakeholder communication. You ensure projects are delivered on time, within scope, and to the highest creative standards.Build meaningful client relationships. You develop trusted partnerships with clients, understanding their businesses, ambitions, and challenges. You act as a confident point of contact, managing expectations, anticipating needs, and balancing client priorities with the needs of our creative teams.Champion great creative work. You understand the branding and design process and know how to create the right conditions for exceptional work. You collaborate closely with our creative and strategy teams, helping navigate feedback, protect creative integrity, and ensure the work delivers against the brief.Plan ahead and keep things moving. You develop thoughtful project plans, timelines, and resourcing schedules, anticipating challenges before they become problems. You bring clarity to complex projects, keep teams aligned, and ensure everyone understands priorities, responsibilities, and next steps.Own the commercial details. You manage project budgets, monitor profitability, track resourcing, and maintain accurate financial reporting. You confidently navigate scope changes, identify commercial risks, and work closely with studio leadership and Finance to keep projects commercially healthy.Contribute to new business. You support new business opportunities by developing proposals, scopes of work, budgets, timelines, and project approaches. You bring a thoughtful perspective to how we structure engagements and help create a compelling experience for prospective clients.Navigate challenges with confidence. You approach difficult conversations, shifting priorities, and unexpected challenges with composure and sound judgment. Whether managing feedback, negotiating scope, or resolving project issues, you bring solutions while protecting relationships and the quality of our work.

About You

You have 5+ years of experience managing branding and creative projects, ideally within an agency or design studio.You have a strong understanding of brand strategy, creative development, and design processes, with a genuine passion for great creative work.You're confident managing complex projects, balancing timelines, budgets, stakeholders, and competing priorities.You're commercially minded and comfortable managing scope, resourcing, and project profitability.You're a natural relationship builder and excellent communicator, navigating client conversations and challenges with confidence, empathy, and sound judgment.You're proactive, organized, and solutions-oriented, bringing a collaborative, low-ego approach and a genuine desire to help those around you succeed.

Our Responsibilities

• We will ensure you have meaningful and regular access to your manager to support your personal development and career trajectory.
• We will actively reward performance with promotions, pay increases, and a discretionary annual bonus of up to 10% of salary to all employees.
• We ensure Koto is an equal environment for all its employees.
• We will support you in taking family leave and offer significant paid maternity and paternity leave.
• We will actively encourage you to take 25 days' vacation annually, in addition to US bank holidays and a studio closure over the December Holidays.
• We will contribute an additional up to 4% to anyone wanting to contribute to our 401 (k) plan.
• We deploy a monthly ‘employee wellness’ benefits package via Juno of $100 per month.
• We offer access to YCN and fund relevant training opportunities to any employee looking to develop themselves and their career.
• We reward five years of service with $5,000 and five days' vacation. We reward ten years of service with $10,000 and four weeks' holiday.
• We will allow you to work from any of the four Koto studios globally, for a set period, with appropriate planning and application.

Our Culture

At Koto, we encourage our team to be ‘rationally optimistic’ about the potential of our work, our clients, their businesses, and the power of brand. We pursue the best briefs, aim to inspire meaningful work, and for those interested, provide an opportunity to make the work of their lives. We are actively cultivating leadership, culture, and spaces to encourage this. We work in person with an optional WFH day on Friday, and an additional two weeks of remote work a year. We believe this produces the best work, mentoring opportunities, collective learning, and culture. We encourage autonomy for each team member, allowing them to manage their time, hours, and personal commitments to complete their work.