Relationship and Sales Director, UK Institutional - 12 Month Fixed Term Contract

About Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Working at Columbia Threadneedle Investments you'll find growth and career opportunities across all of our businesses. We are intentionally built to help you succeed. Our reach is expansive with a global team of 2,300 people working together. Our capability is diverse with more than 550 investment professionals sharing global perspectives across all major asset classes and markets. Our clients have access to a broad array of investment strategies, and we have the capability to create bespoke solutions matched to clients' specific requirements. Our unwavering focus on our clients and strong financial foundation connects each of our enterprise businesses — Ameriprise Financial, Columbia Threadneedle Investments and RiverSource Insurance and Annuities.

Job Description

We are hiring a Relationship and Sales Director on a 12 month fixed term contract. In this role you will manage a book of pooled and segregated UK Institutional clients through proactive maintenance and development of relationships with both clients and their consultants. You will participate in field consultant activity within the Sales team ensuring a consistent and considered approach is applied and monitored. Responsibility to ensure approach is joined up with the Consultant Relationship team, monetising buy ratings and working in tandem when defence is required. Target independent trustee market with intention to become a trusted advisor. Partner with Investment and Marketing to generate relevant content to open doors. This role is primarily focused on building strong relationships, driving cross-sales activity, including lead generation, strategic account planning, pipeline development, cross selling and managing business at risk. Prioritisation is essential with such a broad universe.

How you'll spend your time

• Develop relationships across our channel with a proactive approach to account planning, introducing senior CTI Executives into existing and potential strategic relationships where appropriate with a view to better understand the medium to long term strategic plans.
• Work collaboratively across the sales team to evolve, refine and adapt our approach to relationship management and business development in a dynamic market environment.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of market trends, regulatory changes, and competitor activity to provide insights and maintain competitive positioning.
• Lead with insights in client and prospect engagement.
• Leverage business wide marketing content, understand and maintain up-to-date knowledge of the market trends, be familiar with economic environment our clients/prospects are operating in and know their requirements.
• Work with Sales Support to understand your client book, navigate the broader market to enrich the opportunity sets, generate compelling marketing materials and ensure Salesforce accurately reflects all client/prospect details, contact activity and pipeline.
• Ensure a joined-up approach when engaging with field consultants operating with transparency and in collaboration with the consultant relationship team.
• Retention of at-risk assets. Adopt a proactive approach to retention with a documented business-at-risk strategy where required with key mandates.
• Work with client management delegating day-to-day client queries where possible to ensure timely response.
• Communicate investment strategy ideas and market intelligence in a pro‑active manner.
• Leverage the time and resources of the investment teams effectively.
• Work with marketing to evolve the articulation of key strategies.
• Accountable for ensuring CMBOR reflects client portfolio parameters.
• Achieve all applicable regulatory and risk management standards through on‑going training.

To be successful in this role you will have:

• Institutional client relationship management experience, including experience of Fiduciary, LDI, Segregated and Institutional Pooled mandates.
• Confident and effective presentation skills, with the ability to engage clients, communicate ideas clearly, and present comfortably to Institutional clients and consultants.
• Proactive business development mindset, with the ability to identify new opportunities, deepen existing relationships, and contribute to revenue growth across institutional channels.
• Experience engaging consultant, influencing gatekeepers, positioning propositions effectively, and supporting the sales process.
• Strong investment management experience including thorough understanding of fund management, financial instruments, administration processes, performance analysis and reporting.
• Must be a structured individual with strong workflow management and project management skills.
• Collaborative working style, with the ability to partner effectively both within the team and across the wider business to reach well‑considered solutions and decisions.
• Excellent listening skills and assertive, empathetic approach to dealing with stakeholders within the business.
• Good self‑organisational and time management skills; ability to work under pressure to short deadlines.
• Drive and enthusiasm demonstrated through strive to achieve a first‑class service management function.
• Sound judgement and clear decision making, with proven problem solving skills—particularly in relation to data, processes, and operational challenges.

Columbia Threadneedle is a people business, and we recognise that our success is due to our talented people, who bring diversity of thought, complementary skills and capabilities. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and performance‑based culture where everyone can belong, grow, contribute and realise their potential. We appreciate that work‑life balance is an important factor for many when considering their next move so please discuss any flexible working requirements directly with your recruiter. Columbia Threadneedle Investments is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to racial or ethnic background, religion or belief, sex or gender, nationality, genetic information, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, marital status, pregnancy or maternity or any other basis prohibited by law. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for individuals with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation to aid your participation in the application or interview process, speak to your recruiter to discuss how we can support you.