Head of Client Partnerships

Location: Remote

Department: AMER Client Services

The role

Wunderkind is hiring a Head of Client Partnerships to own our client relationships after the sale. Youll lead a team of six Client Partners covering our entire US book of business, and youll own renewals and expansion across it. 

This is not an account management job in the SaaS sense. Our clients buy results, and most of what they buy from us is a combination of our product and the campaign strategy and services work our teams do around it. The job is to understand each clients business, map our product and services to it, and build a team that does the same. Our clients treat us as advisors, and executive relationships are at the core of this role: you’ll be an executive sponsor for our largest accounts and a trusted partner to their C-suite and senior marketing and eCommerce leaders.

Youll report to the executive who leads our account and services teams, and youll work directly with the CEO, CFO, Sales, Product, and Partnerships. You’ll partner day to day with Customer Success. They own client delivery; you own the relationship and the commercial plan, and the two need to stay tightly aligned.

What youll own

The number. Renewals and expansion across the whole book. Success looks like clients who see more value from us each year and choose to grow with us. Youll own the forecast for both, report it to the executive team every week, and be accountable for the result. 

The team. 5-6 Client Partners, two tiers: Client Partners on our Strategic and Enterprise accounts and Associate Client Partners on the rest of the book. Youll hire, coach, and hold the team to targets. The measure of your management is how much of each persons week is spent in front of clients and how well they convert when they get there.

The relationships. Youre the executive face of the team to our clients. Youll front-end the senior relationships, show up when a renewal or an expansion needs a peer on our side of the table, and make sure every account has a real relationship with a decision maker, not just a day-to-day contact.

Solutioning. Our clients dont buy features. You and your team will understand each clients business, read their results, and propose combinations of our product and our services that solve something for them. Youll coach the team to own this. 

Account plans and risk. Every account has a plan, an owner, and an honest view of where it stands. Youll run the cadence that keeps those current, decide where to spend the teams time, and escalate early when an account is at risk.

Our internal partners. Youll work with Customer Success and Professional Services on delivery, with RevOps and Finance on forecast and contract hygiene, with Product on what clients need and what we can commit to, and with Sales so handoffs from new business are clean. Where client feedback should change the roadmap, youll make the case with evidence.

Escalations. Youre the first call when a client relationship is in trouble. Youll fix what you can, bring in the right people when you cant, and use good judgment about what reaches the CEO.

What the first year looks like

By the end of your first 90 days, youve met the decision maker at every Strategic and Enterprise account, you know which renewals in the next two quarters are at risk and why, and youve hired or are closing on the open seats on the team.

By the end of the first year, the team hits its renewal and expansion targets, the forecast you report is one the CFO trusts, and every account has a plan and a named relationship with someone who can sign. Your Client Partners are proposing product and services solutions on their own, and clients are calling them for advice, not just for status.

Who were looking for

Youve done this before, in this industry, and youve carried the number.

Must-haves

• 10+ years in client-facing roles in martech, performance marketing, or digital advertising, with retail and eCommerce clients. Titles we see this experience under: VP or Head of Client Partnerships, Account Management, Strategic Accounts, Client Services, or Customer Success; Client Partner; Group Account Director.
• Several years leading a quota-carrying team that owned renewals and expansion, with a record of hitting the targets and growing the book you inherited, not just keeping it.
• Relationships with marketing and eCommerce decision makers at brands and retailers, and the standing to be treated as their peer.
• Experience selling or leading teams that sold a combination of software and services. Youve scoped services, priced them, and defended them in a negotiation.
• You can read a clients results, understand their business, and propose a solution.
• Fluent in email, SMS, and onsite marketing programs and the ESP and CDP landscape our clients work in.
• Comfortable owning a forecast and defending it to a CFO.

Nice-to-haves

• Time on the agency or consulting side, where the relationship and the growth of the account were your job.
• Product experience, or enough exposure to product teams to translate client needs into something a product manager can act on.
• Experience building a team or a function, not just inheriting one.
• Experience working through a company transition, where the coverage model, the pricing, or the product was changing under you.

 

 

The base salary range for this role is $215,000-$260,000. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each specific candidate; including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, applicable certifications, and geographic work location. This may vary depending on living location and market rate