Account Director in Leeds

Location:Yorkshire

Vacancy Type:Employee Contract Type:Permanent About The Role: Right across infrastructure, there's a requirement to not only maintain, but also renew and reimagine. Whatever stage you're at in your career, with us you'll have an opportunity to grow and develop. Delivering essential infrastructure services for life, while being safety first and client and customer centric in a friendly, fun and respectful environment where you are encouraged to thrive. Where will you be working? We help our clients safeguard the water supply, improve environmental performance and manage demand for future generations. We enhance and extend asset life, ensuring compliance with water quality and environmental standards. We're problem solvers with over 140 years of combined experience in engineering and infrastructure. We are looking for an experienced and commercially minded Account Director to join our growing Water Division and play a pivotal role in strengthening strategic client relationships, driving account development and identifying sustainable growth opportunities across our priority water-sector clients and frameworks. This is a senior leadership role for an individual who thrives at the intersection of client engagement, strategic account management, business growth, market intelligence and opportunity development. Working closely with Regional Managing Directors, operational leaders, the Growth Director and wider Group stakeholders, you will ensure that client development activity is coordinated, commercially focused and aligned with operational delivery excellence. What You'll Be Doing Strategic Account Leadership Developing and maintaining robust strategic account plans. Building strong relationships with Regional Managing Directors, framework leads and operational teams. Ensuring account plans reflect client priorities, operational performance, procurement pipelines and growth opportunities. Mapping stakeholder relationships and maintaining clear action plans. Identifying opportunities to increase market share and strengthen client engagement. Converting client insight and operational knowledge into tangible growth opportunities. Driving the development of non-core and cross-Group opportunities that leverage wider business capabilities.Client Growth & Opportunity Development Supporting sustainable revenue growth across strategic accounts. Expanding service offerings within existing clients and frameworks. Developing opportunities beyond traditional Water Division services. Working with internal stakeholders to shape and position growth opportunities. Supporting capture planning and opportunity qualification activities. CRM, Pipeline & Forecasting Excellence Maintaining high-quality CRM records. Driving opportunity forecasting and pipeline visibility. Tracking client engagement and relationship activity. Ensuring opportunity data is current, accurate and actionable. Identifying gaps in relationship coverage and pipeline strength. Providing clear reporting and forecasting to senior leadership teams. Key Account Management Establishing consistent account review programmes. Supporting regionally led account planning activities. Driving accountability through clear actions and ownership. Embedding key account management discipline across account teams. Ensuring customer, procurement and operational insights are reflected in account strategies. Customer Strategy & Market Intelligence Gather and analyse client feedback, priorities and business challenges. Support the ongoing development of Water Division customer strategies. Identify trends and opportunities across multiple clients and regions. Monitor AMP investment programmes, framework opportunities and industry developments. Track competitor activity and procurement trends. Translate market intelligence into practical actions and growth opportunities. Procurement & Pipeline Intelligence Monitoring framework renewals and procurement activities. Tracking tender notices, market engagement opportunities and supply chain events. Maintaining early-stage opportunity visibility. Supporting bid/no-bid decisions and capture planning. Ensuring opportunities are validated and aligned with regional priorities before progression. Client Relationships & Stakeholder Engagement Developing stakeholder maps and relationship strategies. Identifying gaps in relationship coverage. Preparing client briefings and account reviews. Supporting senior leadership engagement with key customers. Ensuring all significant engagement activity is captured and tracked. Bid Strategy & Proposal Support Provide customer, competitor and procurement intelligence. Support account-based capture planning. Contribute to bid strategy workshops and reviews. Assist with win themes, value propositions and client-focused content. Support bid writing, storyboarding and proposal development. Ensure bidding activity benefits from meaningful client and market insight. External Engagement Attending industry forums, client events and supply chain engagement sessions. Building market intelligence and industry networks. Supporting strategic relationship development activities. Enhancing sector visibility and profile. Essential Experience Significant experience in Account Management, Strategic Accounts, Business Development or Client Development. Experience within the Water, Utilities, Infrastructure or Regulated Services sectors. Strong understanding of UK water company frameworks and AMP investment cycles. Proven experience developing account plans, customer strategies and opportunity pipelines. Strong CRM and pipeline management capability. Experience working with senior operational and commercial stakeholders. Ability to translate customer insight into practical commercial opportunities. Strong commercial acumen with an understanding of revenue growth, margin, risk and strategic fit. Experience contributing to bid strategy, bid writing and proposal development. Excellent communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills. Desirable Experience Experience working across UK water company framework or a regulated market such as the energy sector Knowledge of capital delivery, asset management, leakage, metering, smart networks, operations and maintenance or specialist water services. Experience using CRM systems such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics or equivalent platforms. Experience of procurement intelligence, capture planning and work-winning processes. Experience operating within complex matrix organisations. Experience gathering and interpreting market and competitor intelligence

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