Build the partnerships that do not exist yet

Some partnership roles are about taking very good care of relationships someone else has already created. This is not that role.

Our client is one of Melbourne’s most recognised cultural organisations, and they are looking for a Head of Partnerships & Engagement to lead the next stage of commercial partnership growth.

There are already strong relationships in place. There is an established brand. There are warm opportunities, senior networks to tap into and a team around you to help make things happen.

What they do not have is someone whose primary job is to go out and create the next wave of partnerships.

That is where you come in.

You will open doors, build relationships from scratch, create compelling commercial propositions and turn conversations into new revenue.

Cold outreach does not scare you. Asking for an introduction does not feel awkward. You know how to work a network without making it feel transactional, and you are comfortable sitting across from a CEO and explaining why a partnership makes sense.

And importantly, you can do all of that without becoming the person everyone avoids at networking events.

This role needs commercial hunger.

It also needs judgement, warmth and integrity.

About the opportunity

Reporting to a commercially minded Chief Growth Officer, you will take ownership of partnerships and engagement across the organisation. The biggest priority is new business.

Current partnership revenue sits at approximately $550,000, and there is genuine whitespace to grow it.

The year-one bonus structure reflects that opportunity:

- $650,000 total partnership revenue: $7,500 bonus
- $700,000: $20,000 bonus
- $750,000: $35,000 bonus
- $800,000: $50,000 bonus

The base salary is $115,000 + Super, with total earning potential of $165,000 + Super. These are not fantasy targets designed to look impressive in a job ad and disappear once you start.

The organisation believes there is significant untapped prospect and wants someone who sees the upside and thinks:

“Yep. I can do that.”

You will not be starting with nothing either.

There are warm leads, existing relationships, strong senior networks and a well-known organisation behind you. You will also have support from a Partnerships and Engagement Manager, a Growth Coordinator, Marketing and the broader leadership team.

The expectation is that you spend meaningful time out in market creating opportunity, rather than drowning in admin.

It is not only a sales role

New-business growth is the biggest reason this role exists, but the remit is deliberately broader. You will also oversee the organisation’s partnership activation, membership and engagement activity.

That means building the relationship is only the beginning.

You will help ensure partnerships are valuable for everyone involved, develop new engagement opportunities, oversee membership activity and work across the organisation to connect partners, audiences and communities in meaningful ways.

You will collaborate with teams across Marketing, Communications, Brand, Customer Experience, Philanthropy, Education and the organisation’s creative functions.

You will also lead one direct report.

So while we absolutely need someone who enjoys the chase, we are not looking for a pure salesperson who closes the deal and throws it over the fence.

You need to care about what happens next.

What you will be doing

Your role will include:





- Building and executing a proactive new-business partnership strategy
- Identifying prospective corporate partners and creating ways to get in front of them
- Building pipeline through networking, referrals, direct outreach and targeted prospecting
- Developing customised partnership propositions, presentations and commercial opportunities
- Creating new programs and assets that organisations genuinely want to partner with
- Owning partnership revenue targets and driving year-on-year growth
- Managing commercial conversations from initial approach through to negotiation and close
- Building trusted relationships with CEOs, executives and other senior decision-makers
- Managing and growing key existing partner relationships where required
- Overseeing partnership activation and ensuring commitments are delivered well
- Leading membership acquisition, retention and engagement activity
- Overseeing community and broader stakeholder engagement programs
- Identifying revenue risks and opportunities early and responding commercially
- Owning partnership and engagement budgets, forecasts and reporting
- Leading and developing the Partnerships and Engagement Manager
- Working closely with Marketing and other internal teams to bring opportunities to life

Who we are looking for

We care much more about what you have personally created and won than whether your current job title happens to be an exact match. You might currently work in:

- sport
- sponsorship
- major events
- entertainment
- media
- venues
- cultural organisations
- corporate partnerships
- membership organisations
- another fast-moving commercial environment

You do not need to have spent your career in the arts. In fact, experience somewhere with genuine commercial pace could be particularly valuable.

What matters is that you can demonstrate a track record of creating net-new business.

You should be able to tell us:

- what revenue target you personally carried
- what you brought in
- where the opportunities came from
- how you opened the door
- what you personally did to move the deal forward
- what the partnership was worth
- how you closed it

If most of your partnership experience has been centred around renewals, account management and servicing established sponsors, this probably will not be the right next move. We need someone who genuinely likes creating what is not there yet.

You will probably bring

- At least five years’ experience across commercial partnerships, sponsorship, business development or a related field
- Demonstrated success acquiring high-value commercial partners
- Genuine new-business development capability
- Confidence prospecting and approaching organisations you do not already know
- Experience creating tailored commercial propositions
- Strong commercial and financial judgement
- Experience working to revenue targets and managing pipeline
- Confidence forecasting revenue and identifying potential shortfalls
- The ability to build relationships with CEOs and senior executives
- Excellent written,



verbal and presentation skills
- Solid stakeholder and relationship management capability
- Experience leading at least a small team
- Enough operational judgement to understand how a partnership needs to be activated after it is sold

Knowledge of entertainment, events, culture or the arts would certainly help. It is not the only path into this role.

The kind of person who will thrive here

You are commercially ambitious without being transactional. You are persistent without becoming pushy.

You back yourself, but you do not need to tell everyone in the room how brilliant you are.

You are prepared to make the call, send the message, ask for the introduction and follow up again when the first email disappears into the abyss.

You understand that good new-business development is not about being the loudest person in the room.

It is about curiosity, timing, relevance, judgement and giving someone a genuinely good reason to say yes.

You also understand that not every partnership decision is driven by a spreadsheet.

In this environment, organisations may partner because of commercial opportunity, brand alignment, customer experience, employee engagement, community impact, reputation, social responsibility or simply because supporting the arts matters to them.

You need to be able to understand those different motivations and build a proposition around them.

Why this role?

Because you get to build something. This is a genuine opportunity to take ownership of a commercial growth function within an organisation people already know.

You will report to a senior leader with a strong commercial and growth background.

You will work with high-profile executives and organisations.

You will have people around you who can help with execution and administration, allowing you to spend more time doing the part of the job that actually creates growth.

And if you do it well, you will have a very good career story to tell:

You came in, built a new-business partnership engine and materially grew revenue for one of Melbourne’s best-known cultural organisations.

That is a pretty interesting thing to have on your CV.

The practical details

Role: Head of Partnerships & Engagement Location: Southbank, Melbourne

Employment: Full-time, ongoing

Salary: $115,000 + Super

Annual performance bonus: Up to $50,000

Maximum earning potential: $165,000 + Super

Reports to: Chief Growth Officer

Direct reports: One

Travel is limited and primarily partner-specific. Most partnership and activation activity is Melbourne-based, with interstate travel only where a prospective or existing partner requires it.

Interested?

We are not looking for someone who sees “Head of Partnerships” and assumes this is primarily about lunches, relationship management and keeping existing sponsors happy. We are looking for someone who reads this and thinks:

“I love opening doors.”

“I know how to create commercial opportunities from nothing.”

“I can sit comfortably in front of a CEO.”

“And yes, I absolutely back myself to hit that bonus.”

If that sounds like you, we would genuinely love to hear from you.

Apply with your resume and tell us briefly about one partnership or piece of new revenue you personally created from scratch.

Where did the opportunity come from?

What did you do?

And what happened?

We are much more interested in that story than a perfectly polished cover letter.

📌 Head of Partnerships & Engagement (Melbourne)
🏢 Kindtide
📍 Melbourne