- Southbank, Melbourne
- Full time, ongoing
- $115,000 + Superannuation + up to $50,000 annual performance bonus

Some partnership roles are about taking really good care of relationships that are already there.

This one is much more about building the ones that are not.

Our client is one of Melbourne's most recognised cultural organisations, with a strong brand, established relationships and plenty of untapped commercial opportunity. They're looking for a Head of Partnerships & Engagement who genuinely enjoys opening doors, creating recent opportunities and building relationships from the ground up. There are warm leads. There are senior networks to tap into. There is a team around you to help bring ideas to life.

What they need now is someone who will get out into market, create momentum and turn the strength of the organisation's brand into meaningful commercial growth. You'll report to the Chief Growth Officer and lead partnerships and engagement across the organisation, with a very clear focus on new business.

This is a role for someone who likes the chase, but also cares deeply about what happens once the deal is done.

What you'll be doing

Your remit will be broad and will include:

- Building and delivering a proactive new-business partnership strategy
- Identifying prospective corporate partners and finding smart ways to get in front of them
- Creating new pipeline through networking, referrals, introductions, direct outreach and targeted prospecting
- Developing tailored partnership propositions, presentations and commercial opportunities
- Creating new partnership ideas and assets that organisations actually want to be part of
- Managing conversations from first approach through to negotiation and close
- Owning partnership revenue targets and driving year-on-year growth
- Building trusted relationships with CEOs, executives and senior decision-makers
- Managing and growing key existing relationships where needed
- Overseeing partnership activation and making sure commitments are delivered well
- Leading membership acquisition, retention and engagement activity
- Overseeing community and broader stakeholder engagement programs
- Identifying revenue risks and opportunities early
- Managing budgets, forecasts and reporting
- Leading and developing the Partnerships and Engagement Manager
- Working closely with Marketing, Communications, Brand, Customer Experience, Philanthropy, Education and creative teams

The biggest priority is new business. But this is not a role where you sign the deal and throw it over the fence. You'll also help make sure the partnership actually works, creates value and feels worthwhile for everyone involved.

The environment

You won't be starting from zero.

This is an organisation with profile, credibility, strong existing relationships and access to some very useful networks. There are genuine opportunities already sitting within reach.

The opportunity here is to become more deliberate,



proactive and ambitious about turning that platform into commercial growth. That means spending meaningful time out in market. You might be asking for introductions, meeting prospective partners, reconnecting with people in your network, attending events or simply finding a genuinely relevant reason to start a conversation.

You'll need to enjoy that part of the job. You'll also be working across a much broader ecosystem than just sponsorship.

Partnerships connect into membership, audiences, community, customer experience, brand, engagement and the organisation's broader purpose. So yes, commercial instinct matters. So do judgement, curiosity and understanding what makes a relationship valuable beyond the number on the contract.

What we're looking for

You'll ideally bring:

- At least five years' experience across commercial partnerships, sponsorship, business development or a related field
- A solid track record of winning net-new commercial partnerships
- Experience personally carrying and delivering against revenue targets
- Confidence building pipeline from scratch
- Experience approaching organisations you do not already know
- Strong commercial and financial judgement
- Experience creating tailored partnership propositions and presentations
- Confidence negotiating and closing deals
- Experience managing pipeline and forecasting revenue
- The ability to spot revenue risks early and do something about them
- Confidence working with CEOs and senior executives
- Solid written, verbal and presentation skills
- Excellent relationship and stakeholder management capability
- Experience leading at least a small team
- Enough operational judgement to understand what happens after the partnership is signed
- Persistence, resilience and the confidence to follow up again when the first email goes unanswered

You might come from sport, sponsorship, major events, entertainment, media, venues, cultural organisations, membership businesses or another commercially driven environment.

You do not need to have spent your career in the arts. In fact, experience somewhere with genuine commercial pace could be incredibly valuable. What matters most is what you have personally created, won and grown.

New business really matters

We will want to understand the detail here.

You should be comfortable talking about:

- The revenue targets you personally carried
- What new revenue you brought in
- Where the opportunities came from
- How you opened the door
- What you personally did to move the conversation forward
- What the partnership was worth
- How you navigated the negotiation
- What helped you ultimately get it across the line





If most of your experience has been centred around renewals, servicing existing sponsors and managing established relationships, this may not be the right next move.

This role needs someone who genuinely enjoys creating what is not there yet.

The kind of person who will thrive here

You'll be commercially ambitious, but you won't make every conversation feel like a transaction. You'll be persistent without being pushy. You'll be comfortable making the call, sending the message, asking for the introduction and following up again when the first email disappears into the abyss. You'll also understand that great business development is not about being the loudest person in the room.

It is about timing, relevance, curiosity, judgement and giving someone a genuinely good reason to say yes. And in this environment, those reasons can be very different.

For one organisation, it might be brand exposure. For another, it could be employee engagement, customer experience, community impact, social responsibility, reputation or simply a genuine connection to the arts.

You'll need to understand what matters to the person sitting across from you and shape an opportunity around that. Warmth matters here too. They want someone who can sit comfortably with a CEO, but who is equally capable of building trust with people right across the organisation.

Why this role is worth considering

Because you get to build something.

You'll be joining an organisation people already know, with a strong platform, genuine credibility and real commercial potential. You'll report to a commercially minded Chief Growth Officer and work with high-profile organisations and senior decision-makers. You'll also have support around you across partnerships, marketing, growth and the broader organisation. That means more time creating opportunity and less time disappearing into admin.

There is also meaningful upside.

The base salary is $115,000 + Superannuation, with an annual performance bonus of up to $50,000.

So if you back yourself commercially, there is a genuine opportunity to be rewarded for the growth you create. And if you do it well, you will have a pretty strong career story to tell.

You came in, built a stronger 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

The role is full-time and ongoing, based in Southbank, Melbourne.

You'll report to the Chief Growth Officer and lead one direct report.

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

Salary is $115,000 + Superannuation, with an annual performance bonus of up to $50,000.

If you are someone who genuinely enjoys opening doors, building relationships and creating commercial opportunities that did not exist before, we'd really love to hear from you.

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