Associate Director

We are currently looking to expand our team

You've spent the past few years delivering high-impact research and building strong client relationships. Now, you're ready to step into a role where you can drive projects end-to-end, grow accounts, and mentor the next wave of researchers - all while staying hands-on with the work you love.

At T garage, we help brands navigate change through sharp insight, strategic thinking, and a good dose of creative energy. We work across categories (FMCG, retail, services, lifestyle) and blend quant and qual to help clients make better decisions, faster.

This Associate Director role is for you if you are looking to do more than just deliver solid research. You want to build client partnerships, guide junior talent, and help shape the future of a growing, independent agency that values insight, creativity, technology, and human connection.

What you'll be doing:

You'll lead mixed-method research projects from brief to delivery, bringing your experience, perspective, and strategic lens to every stage. You'll collaborate with smart, kind people across our Melbourne and Sydney teams, and work closely with clients to design work that makes a difference.

Here's how you'll contribute:

• Project leadership
  : You'll design and manage quant and qual studies, write proposals, craft approaches, and make sure everything from fieldwork to final debrief runs smoothly and delivers value.
• Client relationships
  : You'll become a trusted partner to your clients, helping them see around corners and make confident decisions. You'll lead presentations, guide discussions, and spot opportunities to deepen the relationship.
• Team development
  : You'll mentor and support junior team members, sharing your knowledge and helping them grow their confidence and skills.
• Commercial growth
  : You'll contribute to account growth and support new business conversations. You'll understand the commercial side of projects, helping to ensure work is delivered on time, on budget, and to the highest standard.
• Strategic input
  : You'll add value beyond the research, connecting dots, contributing to strategic thinking, and bringing your own point of view to the table.
• People Leadership
  : You'll have 1-2 direct reports who you coach and manage to deliver great work to to grow and flourish in their career.

This is a role for someone who's confident in their craft, ready to lead, and hungry to keep learning.

You're a great fit if you:

• Have
  7–8 years experience
  in a commercial research or consulting role, with strong skills across both
  quant and qual
  .
• Are confident designing and delivering research that's methodologically sound, creatively framed, and commercially useful.
• Can lead multiple projects at once and stay across the detail without losing sight of the big picture.
• Are great with clients by building trust, handling challenges, and making the complex feel clear.
• Have experience mentoring junior team members and enjoy helping others succeed.
• Are comfortable contributing to proposals, account plans, and client growth.
• Are collaborative, proactive, and kind, someone who lifts the energy in a room, not just the quality of the work.
• Want to be part of a team that's ambitious, independent, and doing things a little differently.

The details:

• Location: Sydney
• Positions: Associate Director
• Must be located in Sydney
• Must have full working rights in Australia.

We're a team of curious thinkers, practical problem-solvers and food lovers. We don't do cookie-cutter research, we work with heart and purpose to help our clients create better, more meaningful products.

If that sounds like your kind of place, we'd love to hear from you