Client Director in Portsmouth

Food Service UK-Wide / Field-Based c.£60,000 + car / allowance + bonus + private healthcare

Most account roles give you responsibility without much control. This one gives you both. You’ll know the feeling. You inherit a portfolio, get handed a number, then spend half your time working around layers, politics and processes that make it harder to actually grow anything. This is different. The national accounts structure has been deliberately flattened, which means you’ll sit directly below the Director of National Accounts, with proper access to the decision-maker and enough autonomy to manage your accounts like an adult. No script. No hand-holding. No hiding behind “that’s how we’ve always done it.”

You’ll manage around 10–12 accounts across foodservice channels including education, leisure, hospitality, contract catering, B&I and themed attractions. Some will be deep strategic partnerships where you’re properly embedded in the client’s world. Others will be more established, lighter-touch relationships. The skill is knowing which is which. Because this is not just a relationship job. It’s a commercial role for someone who can walk into a client site, understand how the operation really works, and spot opportunity where others just see a routine visit. A congested lunch counter. A bar that needs faster service. A venue that could use the space differently. A client who says “everything’s fine” but clearly isn’t saying everything. That’s where you’ll make the difference.

You’ll own the growth of your portfolio, working closely with commercial, culinary, development and regional teams to increase volume, protect margin, open doors, secure renewals and turn good relationships into more profitable ones. The package is strong: a salary around £60,000, company car or £5,000 allowance, private healthcare, mileage support and an annual profit-share bonus. There’s also longer-term upside through an Employee Ownership Trust, giving you meaningful financial participation as the business grows. There will be travel. Proper travel. This is UK-wide, so you’ll need to be comfortable with Scotland one week, the South Coast another, and around five overnight stays a month. Hotels are provided for longer journeys, and the role will suit someone who already understands that being visible with clients matters.

What you’ll be doing

• You’ll lead a portfolio of key foodservice accounts across multiple sectors, building senior relationships that go beyond buyer-supplier conversations.
• You’ll become genuinely useful to your clients — involved in development meetings, training events, marketing initiatives, product showcases, tastings, launches and innovation conversations.
• You’ll manage budgets, pricing discussions, renewals, negotiations, retention plans and margin performance, with support from the commercial team where needed.
• You’ll look for growth through new listings, upselling, concept expansion and better use of the products and services already available.
• You’ll build proper account plans, map stakeholders, understand each site’s operation and feed useful market insight back into the business.
• You’ll work independently, manage your own diary and bring solutions rather than problems.

What you’ll need

• You’ll need strong foodservice experience in a senior account, commercial, client relationship or operational leadership role.
• Education catering experience is useful, but experience across other channels — leisure, hospitality, B&I, hotels, themed attractions or wider contract catering — will be especially interesting.
• If you’re coming from operations, you’ll probably need to have reached Senior Operations Manager level or above.
• You’ll need the confidence to push doors open without being pushy, read people properly, challenge where needed and build credibility quickly.
• You’ll also need a CV that shows some staying power. This business invests in people, so they’ll want to see that you’ve stayed, grown and made an impact somewhere rather than bouncing around for job titles.
• Most importantly, you’ll need to be straight. Don’t oversell. Don’t manage upwards through spin. If you don’t know something, say so. If something goes wrong, own it. The right person here will be honest, commercially sharp and genuinely bothered about doing a good job.

About the company

It’s a growing food solutions business operating as an Employee Ownership Trust. They are not trying to be just another ingredient or product supplier. The aim is to work as a proper commercial and culinary partner, embedded in the client’s operation and helping them improve what they do. The culture is collaborative, ambitious and refreshingly direct. They want people who think commercially, act with integrity and build relationships that last. This is also a business creating room for succession. These two Client Director roles are new, the team is expected to grow, and people who join now will be in a strong position to shape what comes next.

What you’ll get

• c.£60,000 base salary
• Company car or £5,000 car allowance
• Annual profit-share bonus
• Private healthcare
• Mileage support
• Hotel provided for journeys over 100 miles from home
• Long-term EOT financial participation
• Direct access to the Director of National Accounts
• Genuine autonomy over your accounts and diary
• A growing team with future progression potential