Careers: Lead Client Partner

This is your opportunity to join and grow with one of the UK’s leading UX and WordPress agencies. 

We’re on  a mission to create the most engaging and frustration-free digital experiences, and we’re looking for a Lead Client Partner to help us bring a new dimension to how we deliver to clients in regulated sectors.

As a leader with experience in managing operations and client-led deliverables, you’ll be the strategic owner of our team of Client Partners, as well as a stable of our most-valued clients, working alongside our subject matter experts and facilitating projects for clients based in places like Bristol, London, Geneva, New York, and beyond.

You’ll be responsible for nurturing long-term partnerships through our retainer model, whilst managing additional projects that enhance and expand our clients’ digital presence. The projects you’ll manage will experience the full website delivery lifecycle from discovery calls with experts, designing prototypes, developing and testing, and ultimately project launch.

This role is ideal for you if you excel in people leadership, relationship building, strategic account management, and you’ve been itching to mould a department with your own vision.

Client Partnership at Illustrate Digital

Client Partners at Illustrate Digital are where client relationships and business growth meet operational needs. You and your team will be the guardians of client satisfaction and process building, with a keen eye on account growth and strategic ownership.

Reporting to the Operations Director, you’ll be entrusted with hiring, building, and managing a new team who strive to deliver both client and operational success. You’ll work closely with our Head of Client Strategy, who leads our overall approach to client relationships and strategic development, as well as subject matter experts who are looking to transform our clients’ digital experiences.

You’ll hire and manage a new Client Partner who you feel is the best fit for your vision, as well as Project Manager or ‘Scheduler’ who will be responsible for navigating delivery timelines and project coordination. Or, you have the scope to make suggestions on other approaches that you feel works best. We’re an organisation that trusts our leaders, and is open to running experiments to find the best outcomes.

While you won’t need to know all the technical details, confidence in discussing digital strategy, ongoing optimisation, and technology solutions with enterprise-level clients across various sectors is essential. Experience with retainer-based service models and understanding of financial services, governance, and compliance issues would be advantageous but not essential.

We’re looking for someone who thrives on building lasting client relationships, is motivated by seeing client success, can balance strategic thinking with operational excellence, and whose exceptional communication skills will deepen our client partnerships while driving sustainable business growth.

Career Progression

We foresee opportunities for growth into ‘Head of’ or similar roles in the next 18-24 months based on performance and business growth. As a leader, we’d be looking for you to input on where you see opportunities for progression and how you would like to contribute long term.

Responsibilities

• Line management of Client Partners and Project Managers/Schedulers in your department
• Strategic collaboration with Client Services to establish sustainable growth and delivery plans
• Organising project teams and client stakeholders throughout the lifecycle of a project or retainer
• Optimisation of existing internal processes in conjunction with key internal stakeholders
• Managing timeline and budget of some of our most important client retainers and projects
• Facilitating and leading meetings, both internally and externally
• Planning, creating and communicating scopes of work and specifications in collaboration with delivery team members
• Ownership of changes in scope, providing effective change management
• Strong reporting skills of both team and company KPIs
• Good documentation and ownership of your projects in PM software (i.e. Teamwork) including tasks, schedules and time tracking
• Ensuring your team’s  delivery against relevant KPIs and objectives (e.g. customer satisfaction)
• Continually building relationships with clients, and working with strategists to roadmap future plans for the clients you work with
• Identifying opportunities to unlock additional projects for clients where it’s appropriate and valuable to them
• Leading debrief meetings with impartiality to carry learnings forward to future projects

Experience and Character

• Strong communication and negotiation skills
• Experience in people leadership or management
• The ability to effectively manage up and down depending on the situation
• A proven track record as an account manager, project manager, or closely similar role
• Can confidently balance complex projects whilst appropriately escalating risks to leadership
• Strong attention to detail, with a problem-solving mindset
• Analytical and adept at managing project budgets
• Range of experience across different business sectors
• Honest, tactful and a strong will to succeed, whilst remaining approachable
• Knowledgeable of, or quick to learn about, current web technologies and standards

Salary & Features

• Salary negotiable based on experience
• 31 days holiday per year, plus your birthday off
• Remote and hybrid working
• Flexible working hours
• Apple computer equipment and home setup provided
• Cycle Scheme available
• Company pension

How to Apply

Applications can be submitted by supplying your CV via the form here (Send Your CV).

More Information

Some examples of the kinds of project we deliver can be found here (Foster Wales) and here (Foot Anstey).

Our culture and the journey of our company’s growth over the last decade can be found here (About Us).

A little flavour of why our clients work with us can be found here (Why Hire Us).