Account Director – Strategic Clients & Growth
Location: London / Hybrid
Function: Client Services
About Chesamel
Chesamel is a global consultancy and talent solutions business helping organisations transform how they work, grow and deliver. We partner with some of the world’s most recognised and innovative organisations, providing specialist talent, embedded teams and consulting capability across marketing, digital, technology, AI and workforce transformation.
Our model means we work closely with our clients, often operating as an extension of their teams. We combine specialist expertise with the agility to build the right solution around each client rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
We are headquartered in London, with a global client and talent footprint across the UK, Europe, Middle East and APAC. Our London team works on a hybrid basis, combining time with clients, collaboration in our London office and remote working.
The Role
We are looking for an experienced, commercially driven Account Director to lead and grow a portfolio of strategic client relationships. This is not simply an account management or delivery role. You will be responsible for developing senior client relationships, protecting and growing existing revenue, identifying new opportunities and expanding our relationships across client organisations.
You will understand your clients’ businesses: their strategy, challenges, stakeholders, budgets and future priorities. From there, you will identify where Chesamel can bring additional expertise, talent or solutions to help them achieve their goals. Existing-client growth is a fundamental part of the role. You should be someone who naturally looks beyond the current statement of work and asks: What else is happening within this organisation? Where are the challenges? Who else should we know? And where can we add value?
What You’ll Own
Client relationships and account strategy
- Build trusted relationships with senior and executive-level stakeholders.
- Develop strategic account plans covering stakeholders, current activity, future priorities, risks, opportunities and growth potential.
- Build relationships across client organisations rather than relying on a single client contact.
- Become sufficiently close to your clients to understand where their businesses are heading and anticipate what they may need next.
- Take direct responsibility for growing your portfolio of existing accounts.
- Identify whitespace and opportunities for expansion.
- Turn successful delivery into renewals, extensions and additional scopes of work.
- Identify opportunities to introduce clients to other Chesamel capabilities across talent, marketing, technology, AI and workforce transformation.
- Build and actively manage a credible account-growth pipeline.
- Work with internal specialists to turn opportunities into compelling propositions, proposals and commercial solutions.
Commercial ownership
- Own the commercial health of your accounts, including revenue, margin, forecasting, renewals and growth.
- Maintain clear visibility of account performance and pipeline.
- Identify commercial or relationship risks early and take action.
- Balance exceptional client service with strong commercial judgement.
Delivery
- Ensure our clients receive consistently high-quality work.
- Bring together the right people and capabilities from across Chesamel to meet client needs.
- Lead cross-functional teams and ensure clear accountability for delivery.
- Resolve issues quickly and maintain strong communication with clients and internal stakeholders.
New opportunities
- Support pitches and new-business opportunities where your relationships, sector knowledge or expertise add value.
- Use what you learn from existing clients to identify propositions and solutions that can be taken into other organisations.
About You
We are looking for someone from an agency background who is commercially curious, credible with senior clients and genuinely motivated by growing relationships.
You are likely to have:
- Significant experience in an Account Director, Client Partner, Business Director or similar senior client-facing role.
- A demonstrable track record of growing existing accounts, not simply servicing or retaining them.
- Evidence of generating additional revenue through renewals, extensions, upsell and cross-sell.
- Experience managing complex, high-value or global client relationships.
- Confident working with senior and executive-level stakeholders.
- Strong commercial acumen, including revenue, margin, forecasting and pipeline management.
- The ability to spot opportunities and turn client conversations into commercially viable solutions.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary or embedded teams.
- Excellent communication, influencing and negotiation skills.
- The ability to operate comfortably in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment where priorities can change quickly.
- Experience within consulting, professional services, marketing, technology, digital transformation or talent solutions would be particularly relevant.
The Person Who Will Thrive Here
- You won’t wait for a client to issue a brief before starting a conversation.
- You’ll be curious about their business, build relationships beyond your immediate stakeholders and be comfortable opening commercially focused conversations.
- You’ll enjoy joining the dots between a client’s challenge and the different expertise available across Chesamel.
- You’ll be equally comfortable discussing strategy with a senior client, reviewing the commercial performance of an account, challenging a delivery team and developing the next opportunity.
- Above all, you’ll understand the difference between managing an account and growing a strategic partnership.
How We’ll Measure Success
Success in this role means:
- Strong, trusted senior client relationships.
- Retention and successful renewal of existing business.
- Year-on-year growth across your client portfolio.
- A healthy and credible pipeline of opportunities within existing accounts.
- Increased penetration across client teams, functions and stakeholders.
- Strong revenue and margin performance.
- High-quality delivery and client satisfaction.
- Clients increasingly seeing Chesamel as a strategic partner rather than simply a supplier.
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