Client Director (agency - financial services) in Leeds

Location - Leeds, hybrid

Salary - c. £50,000–£60,000 base, depending on experience, plus £10,000 OTE tied to agency profitability

Reporting to - CEO

Direct reports - Client services team members

Ready to take on a senior client role with proper commercial influence? We’re looking for a Client Director for a Leeds-based agency working with clients in regulated and complex sectors, with a strong focus on financial services. This is a great opportunity for someone who understands how to build trust with senior clients, spot growth opportunities and turn strong relationships into longer-term commercial value. The agency delivers a mix of brand, digital, web, campaign and content work, often for organisations where the detail matters, stakeholders can be complex, and good thinking needs to stand up to proper scrutiny. They’re now evolving how they work with clients, with a growing focus on longer-term partnerships, smarter services and the thoughtful use of AI. This role sits right at the centre of that next stage.

This isn’t a “keep the plates spinning and hope the client renews” kind of role. You’ll be leading key relationships, spotting opportunities, supporting new business and helping develop the client services team around you. If you’re commercially sharp, confident with senior stakeholders, curious about AI and digital, and ready to help clients see what’s possible before they’ve fully spotted it themselves, this could be a very good move.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Leading a portfolio of client accounts - owning relationships, commercial health and growth
• Spotting opportunities to grow existing accounts through new work, retained arrangements and additional services
• Supporting new-business pitches, bringing sector knowledge and credibility into the room
• Managing and developing the client services team, setting standards and helping people grow
• Working closely with strategy, technical and creative leads to shape proposals and delivery
• Staying close to developments in AI and digital that matter to clients in regulated or complex sectors
• Bringing useful, relevant ideas into client conversations - not AI for AI’s sake
• Helping shape the agency’s move towards longer-term client partnerships and more defined services

What You’ll Bring to the Table

Experience & Background

You’ll probably come from one of two routes. You may already be agency-side, with proper, sustained experience working with financial services or similarly complex, regulated clients. Not just one campaign here or a project there - but enough exposure to understand how these organisations think, how decisions get made, and what it takes to get good work approved and delivered. Or you may have worked client-side in a regulated business, likely in marketing, digital or a related role, and now be ready to move into a faster-paced agency environment where you can have more room to act. Ideally, you’ll have experienced both sides of the fence. Agency and client-side experience would be a lovely combination here, because it gives you the kind of perspective that clients trust and teams benefit from.

You’ll also bring:

• Strong understanding of financial services or regulated/commercially complex sectors
• Experience leading or growing client relationships
• Confidence working with senior client stakeholders and prospects
• A good understanding of digital, brand, web, campaign or content delivery
• Commercial awareness - you understand growth, profitability and where the opportunity sits
• The ability to work closely with creative, strategy and technical teams
• An interest in where AI is taking the industry, and how it can create value for clients
• Experience managing, mentoring or developing client services people

The Kind of Person Who’ll Thrive Here

You’ll be someone who sees the bigger picture, not just the next task. You’ll be proactive, pacey and naturally curious. You’ll ask good questions, spot gaps, open conversations and help clients think a little further ahead. You’ll probably recognise yourself in most of this:

• Commercially sharp — you can see where the growth is and you’re happy to go after it
• Strategic — you can step back, connect the dots and shape the opportunity
• Fast-moving — you don’t wait around to be asked
• Tech-curious — especially around digital, AI and where client sectors are heading
• Relationship-led — clients trust you, like working with you and want more of your thinking
• Confident in the room — whether that’s with prospects, senior clients or internal teams
• A capable leader — someone who can raise standards and bring people with them

A Quick Note on Fit

This probably isn’t the one for someone who wants to quietly deliver to brief and keep their head down. There’s nothing wrong with being a brilliant account handler, of course. But this role needs more than that. It needs drive, initiative and a genuine appetite for growth — across clients, new business, services and the team. You’ll need to be comfortable creating momentum, not just managing what already exists.

Why Apply?

• Play a central role in a specialist agency at a genuinely interesting stage of growth
• Work with clients where brand, digital, content and commercial complexity all meet
• Help shape how AI is used, sold and brought into client conversations
• Take ownership of client growth, not just client delivery
• Lead and develop a client services team with room to grow
• Hybrid working from a Leeds office
• £10,000 OTE tied to agency profitability
• Build your reputation in a sector you already understand

Sound like your kind of next move? If you understand financial services or regulated sectors, know how to grow client relationships, and fancy a role where you can have a real say in what comes next, we’d love to hear from you.