The Role

You're a strategic, senior-level Client Services leader with a deep understanding of how world-class brands are built. With a background rooted in design and a strong instinct for people, processes, and brand, you’re a relationship builder who knows how to guide clients through ambiguity, complexity, and transformation. You're meticulous with details, confident in the big picture, and understand that great branding is the result of not just creative excellence, but also clarity, alignment, and trust.

At Koto, you’ll play a critical role in shaping some of the most ambitious and culturally relevant brands, serving as the client’s trusted partner while working closely with creative and strategy teams. You’ll join our New York team, helping us grow both the business and the studio culture from the inside out.

Your Responsibilities

1. Lead Complex Brand Engagements
You’ll oversee multiple high-profile projects, ranging from brand strategy and identity development to global rollouts. You know how to navigate both legacy organizations and startups, tailoring your approach to fit their respective pace and scale.

2. Shape the Client Experience
You are the client’s north star — bringing structure to complexity, asking the right questions, and proactively anticipating their needs. You set the tone from day one and guide every step of the journey with transparency, integrity, and a touch of humanity.

3. Drive Growth
You partner with our MD and CSD on new business — identifying leads, crafting proposals, and helping Koto show up with confidence. You understand what makes a great client fit and help us grow without compromising our values or our craft

4. Bring Strategic Rigor to Execution
You own the details without losing sight of the bigger picture. From kick-off to close, you guide projects with strategic foresight, managing scope, resources, and delivery with confidence. You help ensure our work is not only exceptional but also impactful and sustainable.

5. Champion Creative Excellence
You speak the language of creativity and strategy, and know how to advocate for the work in a way that resonates with both brand-side stakeholders and internal teams. You help clients see the value of bold ideas — and how they connect back to their business.

6. Balance Empathy with Accountability
You’re a natural relationship builder and a thoughtful client partner, but not at the expense of the work. You know when to listen, when to push back, and how to keep people aligned even when the stakes are high or the timeline is tight.

7. Contribute to Studio Culture
You’re excited to be an integral part of the New York studio — shaping culture, processes, and people. You thrive in a collaborative environment and enjoy working in person with teammates across disciplines.

About You

• 8–12 years of experience in client services or brand partnerships, ideally within branding, design, or creative agencies
• A track record of managing complex, global brand projects with multiple stakeholders and moving parts
• Confident in navigating C-suite client relationships and complex stakeholder dynamics across a range of industries — from tech to consumer to cultural
• Skilled in writing scopes, negotiating fees, and managing project profitability
• Passionate about design, fluent in creative processes, and curious about culture
• Based in (or willing to relocate to) New York, with the ability to work in person regularly

Our Responsibilities 

1. We will ensure you have meaningful and regular access to your manager to support your personal development and career trajectory.

2. We will actively reward performance with promotions, pay increases and a discretionary annual bonus of up to 10% of salary to all employees.

3. We ensure Koto is an equal environment for all its employees.

4. We will support you in taking family leave and offer significant paid maternity and paternity leave.

5. 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.

6. We will contribute an additional up to 4% to anyone wanting to contribute to our 401 (k) plan.

7. We deploy a monthly ‘employee wellness’ benefits package via Juno of $100 per month.

8. We offer access to YCN and fund relevant training opportunities to any employee looking to develop themselves and their career.

9. We reward five years of service with $5,000 and five days of vacation. We reward ten years of service with $10,000 and four weeks of holiday.

10. 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 create the work of their lives. We are actively cultivating leadership, culture, and spaces that 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 in each member of our team, allowing them to manage their own time, hours, and personal commitments appropriately to complete work.