Client Services Director - Sensory and Consumer Science in Reading

We are the leading international sensory and consumer research company specializing in food, beverages, cosmetics, personal care, and other consumer products. We have 19 proprietary state-of-the-art facilities across France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, United Kingdom, Morocco, China and the USA, and cover more than 65 countries through our network of approved partners. SAM provides tailor‑made solutions, delivering actionable guidelines to make our clients’ brands and products memorable.

Join SAM to work with the most competent, creative, and fun team in the industry and let your work, opinions and ideas contribute to the future of sensory and consumer research. Become your most extraordinary self with support and development throughout your career. Join our very diverse team of sensory scientists, food technologists, statisticians, psychologists, sociologists, strategic thinkers, marketeers, field managers, technicians and other sensory and research experienced colleagues.

Client Service Director/Senior Research Director is responsible and accountable for key accounts in the cluster, as well as holding joint responsibilities for the strategic, resourcing and financial planning for the business.

• Positively and proactively feed into the strategic direction of the business, with a focus on FMCG consumer and sensory product testing.
• Engage with clients to understand needs, both unmet and emerging.
• Innovate and ideate: proactively develop and deliver commercially viable (ideally scalable) methodologies/solutions/tech to market.
• Work with senior team to ensure finances are accurately tracked, recorded and reported.
• Proactively look for new business and business development opportunities.
• Engage with broader industry to ensure understanding of sector trends: feed back to the business (AI, emerging trends etc).

• Collaborate across departments and clusters to enhance internal synergy and client value; foster a ‘one SAM’ mentality and delivery style.
• Work within senior team to resource fairly and sustainably across business and within direct team.
• Line manage a senior team of ~6 researchers.
• Ensure team members receive appropriate coaching and training.
• Mentor team members in research skills, leadership, and career development.
• Ensure outputs from team members meet the expected standards of quality and insight.

• Serve as the primary contact for key accounts.
• Lead client relationships and ensure consistent communication across project lifecycles.
• Drive business development and identify growth opportunities.
• Develop and implement long‑term strategic plans aligned with company objectives.
• Ensure accounts meet revenue targets and maintain profitability.
• Support pricing strategies and contract negotiations.
• Act as visible ‘point of escalation’ on smaller accounts.
• Demonstrate and role‑model engaging, inspirational and pro‑active with clients: showcase ‘trusted partner’ framework.

• Provide guidance on complex proposals, tenders, and client presentations.
• Ensure alignment of project execution with strategic goals.
• Supervise research teams to ensure timely, high-quality project delivery.
• Support on strategic recommendations and story‑led reporting.
• Manage team resources and budgets effectively.
• Hold teams accountable to accurate reporting and tracking of commercials on each project.
• Hands‑on involvement in specialist/high profile/strategically significant projects.

• Minimum 10 years in the industry.
• Significant FMCG product testing experience: practical experience of core product testing methodologies (HUTs, CLTs, IDIs).
• Solid understanding of qualitative research: minimum requirement is knowing when to recommend qualitative research or bring in experts from within SAM.
• Able to deliver powerful project and strategic recommendations in story‑led formats.
• Strong commercial acumen: planning, predicting, tracking and reporting of financials.
• Hold teams accountable to high standards for holistic client service.
• Strong leadership abilities to manage teams and oversee large‑scale research initiatives.
• Excellent organisational and problem‑solving skills.
• Rigorous, responsive and proactive.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.