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xAI is seeking a Senior Agency Development Manager to own the agency system and commercial architecture for Global Brands across APAC. This is a senior individual-contributor role reporting to the Head of Global Brands, APAC.
You will build and execute the agency development plan covering holding companies, regional hubs in Singapore and India, operating companies, and key independents. Your core responsibilities include:
• Develop strategic relationships at two levels: C-suite and holding-company leadership in Singapore and India, plus working-level relationships with Business Directors, Client Directors, and Account Directors who write plans and clear buys.
• Structure and negotiate commercial deals with agencies, including trading agreements, partnership frameworks, incentives, joint business plans, and other constructs that lock in commitment and unlock spend.
• Navigate complex agency structures—holdco vs. opco, regional vs. local P&Ls, media vs. creative vs. social specialists—and understand decision rights between Singapore regional teams and in-market India/SEA offices.
• Act as primary trusted advisor to priority agencies. Educate teams on X products, audiences, creative, brand safety, and measurement to arm them to recommend X to their brand clients independently.
• Partner with Client Partners and market teams to convert agency relationships into live campaigns, larger statements of work, and multi-market commitments.
• Identify whitespace: agencies and pods not currently recommending X, open those doors, and create a path to revenue.
• Represent X at agency town halls, leadership forums, holding-company reviews, industry events, and in-market working sessions.
• Track partnership health and commercial performance, course-correcting quickly without waiting for quarterly reviews.
You will operate independently, set your own strategic map, and be accountable for agency-sourced revenue influence and partnership quality. You will work as a peer with the Global Brand sales team with close partnership and distinct ownership.
REQUIREMENTS:
• 10–12+ years in media sales, agency development, or senior agency-side commercial/client leadership, with a clear record of driving revenue through agency partnerships in APAC.
• An existing network you can use immediately (not a list you hope to build) that includes contacts across holding companies, regional hubs, and key independents in APAC.
• Proven experience structuring commercial deals and working through layered agency decision-making (holding companies, operating companies, local markets, specialist units).
• Strong negotiation, communication, and presentation skills. Credible with regional CEOs and useful to Business Directors running global brands.
• Deep understanding of how media, creative, social, and performance agencies plan and buy in APAC.
• Comfortable with ambiguity, competing stakeholders, and a fast-moving product environment.
• Willingness to travel regularly across Southeast Asia and India.
• Self-starter who runs independently without needing a playbook handed to you.
PREFERRED:
• Thai or Hindi (spoken)—strongly preferred as this will materially increase effectiveness in key markets.
• Time spent inside a holding-company network (WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, IPG, Dentsu, Havas) or a major independent, plus platform-side agency development.
• Direct experience standing up or resetting an agency partnership in a market where the platform was under-indexed.
• Working fluency in how global brands brief regional and local agencies across SEA and India.
• Experience with both brand and performance agency models.
