Associate Director Client Solutions in London

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries. People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work/life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

What we’re looking for

The role sits in the Client Solutions team supporting Howden’s Climate capabilities. The team is a critical link between our practices, lead generators, clients, and internal stakeholders, ensuring the delivery of tailored climate-related advisory and solutions, and maintenance of strong client relationships.

What you’ll be doing

• Key Responsibilities:
• Support engagement with brokers across Howden to strengthen partnerships and foster collaboration.
• Integrate climate services into broking propositions and RFPs.
• Support development of outreach strategies and deliver training to internal teams.
• Build out collateral to support broker-led client engagements.
• Client Engagement:
• Implement engagement strategy to support brokers in engaging with and winning/retaining high-potential clients.
• Use climate to engage clients to cross-sell broader Howden services.
• Develop client relationships to sell climate advisory services to clients.
• Lead and support the delivery of cross-practice proposals, pitches, and RFP responses, incorporating technical input from advisory and analytical teams, and driving commercially viable proposals that meet client requirements.
• Manage client relationships throughout the opportunity lifecycle and post-sales phases (for climate services).
• Liaise with and bring in relevant SMEs and practice delivery teams to client engagements where appropriate.
• Help run governance processes related to client engagement, including go/no-go decisions and client triage criteria.
• Solutions Development:
• Collaborate with SMEs and practice delivery teams to craft tailored client solutions.
• Lead and support the development of climate/ESG-related advisory services and roll out strategy to integrate this into the wide Howden broking offering and to bring these services to both new and existing Howden clients.
• Lead and support development of sector and service-specific proposition collateral.
• Strategy and Innovation:
• Support the delivery of the engagement strategy and roadmap for integrating climate into Howden’s proposition for clients.
• Work with clients, brokers and practice teams to identify opportunities to create new offerings/products that align with market demands.
• Input into and support delivery of commercial strategies for target sectors in partnership with brokers and SMEs.
• Governance and Process:
• Maintain a best practice hub for proposition collateral, ensuring consistency and accuracy.
• Work directly with the Client Solutions Director and relevant practice teams and business teams in Howden to pull together and prioritise the CRR related pipeline of opportunities, initiatives and broker support.
• Support with analysis of pipeline data to identify trends, gaps, and strategic opportunities.
• Oversee the updating of pipeline tracking and programme management tools e.g. Monday.com and Howden client.

What qualifications we’re looking for

Essential

• Previous experience in a client engagement, business development, solutions development, or similar role, either in consulting or industry. Ideally, you have contributed to projects focused on climate, ESG, sustainability, or related areas.
• 7+ years experience managing and delivering projects time, budget and scope.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with expertise in proposal and pitch development preferred.
• Strong relationship management skills with a high emotional intelligence (EQ), and a demonstrated ability to build and sustain client and partner relationships.
• Must be able to adapt and flex in a fast-paced environment, be comfortable working on multiple tasks simultaneously whilst effectively prioritising and self-managing workload to meet deadlines.
• Strategic thinker with a knack for identifying trends and translating them into actionable strategies.

Highly Desirable

• Fluency in additional languages.
• Knowledge of insurance and/or financial markets.

What do we offer in return?

A career that you define. Our business succeeds by allowing our people to make a mark in the areas they care about most: personal development, volunteering, and fundraising for charity, or creating new insurance products that address society’s greatest challenges. And we know that separate home and work lives don't really exist. If you're happy and healthy at home, you're more likely to be happy and fulfilled at work – and vice versa. That's why we do our best to support our people in every aspect of their lives.

Diversity and Inclusion

At Howden we value diversity - there is no one Howden ‘personality type’. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new.
• We support each other, in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges.
• We are determined to make a positive difference, at work and beyond.

We consider our people our chief competitive advantage and as such we treat colleagues, candidates, clients, and business partners with equality, fairness, and respect – regardless of age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, or family circumstances.

Reasonable adjustments

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours or hybrid working. If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.

Our sustainability promise

We’re on a life-long journey to become an ever-more sustainable group. It's a commitment to taking care of our people and the world we live in, to doing good business, and to making a positive impact wherever we can. Our governance processes, company policies, and review systems are all geared towards our goal of making a positive impact in the world.