Client Director

Role: Client Director (internally Engagement Director)

Community: Engagement

Type: 12months FTC, potential to extend / offered permanent

Location: London

Set up: Hybrid working, in the studio 3 days per week, 2 days remote per week

Before you apply: Check out these questions that may help you put together your application.

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Your community:

We’ve always been ambitious for the work and optimistic for the world, pushing what’s possible, exploring new ways of doing things and using our creativity to make a difference. Our Engagement community helps our clients navigate their points of inflection and turn ideas into reality. We are a team focussed on delivering excellence for our clients and their project, and always with one eye on the future to make the impossible seem effortlessly possible every day.

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Your role:

Our Engagement Directors play a key role in supporting and growing our business by being the ultimate accountable member of the Engagement community for our client relationships and new business pursuits. Our Engagement Directors are true partners for our clients and take responsibility for the client relationship.  

Working across multiple pieces of business, we expect you to create and lead successful long-term partnerships with prospective, new and existing clients to deliver transformative work.  Always with one eye beyond the immediate project, you are ambitious for our clients, looking for how we can extend and build the relationship to push them to go further. You will balance client objectives and our own to identify the fastest path to value for both.  

Always with one eye beyond the immediate project, you are ambitious for our clients, looking for how we can extend and build the relationship to push them to go further. You will balance client objectives and our own to identify the fastest path to value for both.

Working with Senior Engagement Managers and Engagement Managers, you will play an active role in ensuring the Engagement community moves beyond delivering work to brief, time and budget to becoming strong partners for our clients. 

We expect you to direct the project/team by cutting through complexity, identifying opportunities for growth and helping others seize them. You understand what good looks like and push the work to uphold and improve our standards. You play a pivotal role in advocating for our clients, our business, our teams and our people.

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You are responsible for:

Client relationship growth

• Focusing on CMO / C-Suite
• Accountable for long term relationship development of clients and growth into other areas within a business
• Providing mentorship within a client organisation in order to build new relationships
• Supporting and directing other Engagement members in farming planning on other client accounts
• Growing the relationship across WO’s offer (cross and up-selling)
• Spotting opportunities and starting to forge relationships with other areas of the business

Programme planning and direction

• Responsible for the relationship and output to the client and the business
• Responsible for the building the right internal team to meet the client needs
• Having a strong point of view on the direction of the thinking
• Long term planning partner to clients
• Leading strategic business conversations with the client
• Facilitating key workshops with senior stakeholders, confidently presenting all of the content at a c-suite level
• Contributing to ideas that help to challenge and push the work forward 
• Managing client expectations throughout the relationship through to delivery 
• Exploring new ways of approaching things, being flexible with the client and teams
• Inviting feedback from the team and client, looking to continuously review and better the work and relationship 
• Building confidence in having strategic business conversations with the client

New business development

• Responsible for contribution to new business opportunities, small project briefs through to large scale transformations
• Accountable for the overall pitch process and output, ensuring it meets the 3 C’s criteria of our work
• Anticipating marketing opportunities with the client creds and upcoming launches 

Commercial Management 

• Accountable to the business for the financial health and growth of clients  
• Providing insight on how to solve issues in advance to teams, clients and other members of the community 
• Reporting client health as part of Principals & Project Leads
• Facilitating contract reviews/negotiations together with legal councils 
• Leading difficult financial conversations with the client around scope or payment terms 

Team coordination

• Leading large scale transformations supported by other Engagement members
• Empowering and training more junior members of the team to deliver the best work and grow individually 
• Anticipating and making people-led resourcing decisions, balancing them with overall business priorities
• Maintaining best practice ensuring the rest of the team goes through the right protocol before sending anything out

Engagement community building

• Support the overall standard of the community, sharing knowledge and best practice
• Mentoring and line managing more junior levels
• Working with SED and Executive Directors to set the agenda for important community initiatives 

WO business responsibility and advocate 

• Being a strong external advocate and networker within the industry
• Attending and participating in key marketing events and activities 
• Keeping the business leaders up to date and informed in key forums such as P&PL
• Owning the internal narrative on the client relationship 
• Supporting and feeding into internal events and marketing activities 
• Looking for opportunities to push and develop WO’s offer and presence 
• Start to develop specialism and POV within the business 

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Our focus on people and the world:

Wolff Olins believes in creating an environment where people can bring their whole selves to work. We are interested in our people having diverse points of view and different perspectives on the world. We set out to equip our people with the knowledge, confidence and tools to do the best work of their lives. Our purpose is to help our people create transformative brands that push businesses, people and the world forward.

You should: 

• Have experience in leading medium-sized brand transformations 
• Be confident in running pillar client relationships 
• Have be able to demonstrate growth of client relationships
• Worked on successful new business initiatives 
• Be confident in presenting in meetings and pitches 
• Have some experience in mentoring within the community 
• Have a clear point of view on the role of brands 

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You should:

• Explore the facts- you like to get the bottom of the issue. You ask probing questions, understanding the logic behind arguments and seek solutions.
• Create Impact - in person or in writing; you should be persuasive and articulate. You clearly express your point of view. You enjoy presenting and are open in voicing your opinion and challenging others ideas.
• Show resilience - you are confident in your capabilities and remain calm when working under pressure or with senior stakeholders. You lean into resolving any team or client’s conflicts showing empathy but putting the work at the heart of what we do.
• Be conscientious- You are meticulous with your work, adhering to processes, and placing emphasis on meeting deadlines ensuring details are right.
• Deliver with intent- You are organised, enjoy making plans and have the ability to prioritise tasks. You flourish in a busy multi-tasking environment and place focus on honouring your commitment

• Hybrid working setup (min in the studio 3 days a week)
• Flexibility on when you want to work - aiming to work 7.5 hours a day
• Laptop for the duration of your role (Mac or Windows)
• Company phone (Apple or Samsung)
• Annual expense allowance on tech equipment and home office set up
• Breakfast, snacks and fruit served daily in the studio + lunches served every Tuesday and Thursday
• Access to company tech i.e. 3D printer, hi-spec cameras
• & much more...!