Client Director (NZ)

About Provoke

Provoke is a global technology consultancy specialising in cloud, AI, and digital solution engineering. Founded in New Zealand, we've grown across the US, APAC, and Europe - while staying true to our delviery-first DNA. 

We partner with organisations to solve complex problems through bespoke technology, intelligent automation, and AI-enabled solutions - designed, built, and delivered by our people. From strategy and experience design through to software engineering, data, AI, and managed services, we help organisations modernise, move faster, and unlock real business value.

The Opportunity

This is a role for a senior operator who knows professional services inside out. Someone who understands that in a bespoke build environment, the sale and the delivery are inseparable, and that the best client relationships are built on trust earned through deep understanding, smart solutioning, and teams that deliver.

As a Client Partner, you'll be the one sitting across the table from CIOs, CTOs, and CEOs - not pitching products, but diagnosing problems and shaping tailored solutions. You'll think like a vendor who genuinely understands what it takes to build and maintain high-performing delivery teams, protect margins, and grow accounts through real value.

What You'll Be Doing

Winning Work Through Solutioning

This is consultative, solution-led selling - you are unapologetically outcomes focused, and not just an order taker. You'll originate and shape new business by understanding client problems deeply and crafting bespoke approaches that are grounded in delivery reality. You'll use your own network to open doors at C-suite and decision makers, partnering with internal teams to build a strong and credible pipeline.

In addition to bringing new logos, you'll grow existing accounts by identifying where Provoke can genuinely add more value - expanding scope, engagements, and deepening partnerships over time. When it comes to proposals and RFPs, you'll assemble and lead the process by combining the right minds to put forward solutions that clients trust because they can see the thinking behind them.

Operating at Executive Level

Operate at an executive level by becoming the trusted partner that Boards, C-suites, and senior leaders rely on - not just a supplier, but a strategic extension of their team. Lead executive business reviews that go beyond status reporting, bringing meaningful insight, constructively challenging thinking, and reinforcing Provoke's role as a true partner in their success. Immerse yourself in your clients' environments by deeply understanding their business strategy, pressures, and future roadmap, and consistently connect these back to where and how Provoke can create real impact.

Running Delivery Like a Business

Run delivery like a business, owning end-to-end execution with a clear professional services lens. Treat team composition, utilisation, margin, and client outcomes as one system, and actively optimise across the board. Build fit-for-purpose teams and stay accountable for commercial performance, including budgets, margins, contract health, and renewals.

Lead and coach cross-functional teams to deliver strong client outcomes in a way that's sustainable for the business and the people doing the work. Stay close enough to guide and unblock when needed, and step in hands-on to maintain momentum when it matters.

Representing Provoke in Market

Represent Provoke in the market as a credible, visible, and trusted voice, actively contributing to client forums, industry events, and thought leadership opportunities. Build a reputation as someone who brings perspective, challenges thinking, and shapes conversations—not just participates in them.

Strengthen Provoke's position in the New Zealand market by leveraging your profile, network, and insights to create opportunities, open doors, and generate meaningful demand. Actively positioning Provoke as a leading partner of choice, using your presence and influence to drive both brand recognition and growth.

Who You Are

This role will suit a particular kind of person. You'll know if it's you:

• You're a senior operator with genuine presence: comfortable in the boardroom, credible with C-suite and executive stakeholders, and well-networked across the NZ technology landscape.
• You sell through solutioning, not pitching: You listen, diagnose, and shape tailored approaches to complex problems - because you've done the delivery work yourself and understand what it takes.
• You think like a professional services leader: You instinctively understand how to build teams for engagements, protect margin, manage utilisation, and grow accounts sustainably.
• You're commercially sharp but relationship-first: You know that trust is the product and the revenue follows.
• You're a proactive thinker who leads clients with insight, not just responsiveness: You anticipate, challenge, and add value before being asked.
• You're resilient, self-directed, and energised by the autonomy of owning your own patch and building something meaningful.
• A career built in professional services, consulting, or a vendor/SI environment.

Experience You'll Bring

• A career built in professional services, consulting, or a vendor/SI environment.
• Significant experience leading client relationships and delivery in IT or technology consulting.
• A track record of solution-led business development - winning work by understanding problems, not pushing products.
• Experience building, shaping, and managing delivery teams in a services context - including the commercial realities of margin, utilisation, and resourcing.
• Strong delivery management foundations, ideally in Agile or Scrum environments.