Senior Account Manager - Membership, Arts, Culture and Higher Education

We're looking for a Senior Account Manager to look after a portfolio of clients across professional membership, arts and culture and higher education. Working with the Account Director for the sector, you'll own the day-to-day client relationship and the commercial health and growth of your accounts.

At Manifesto, Client Services own the why and the what: the value we create, how accounts grow and the strength of the partnership. Our delivery leads own the how and how well: execution, project budgets, resourcing and quality. This role sits firmly on the client services side, working in close partnership with delivery leads on every account.

You'll bring three to five years of agency account management experience, ideally growing digital transformation and web platform work with clients in some or all of these sectors. You'll understand the pressures these organisations face, from income generation, ticketing and membership to audience strategy and mission, and how digital supports them.

Responsibilities

• Meet account financial targets by building pipeline, identifying new opportunities and expanding scope within your accounts.
• Convert opportunities into signed Statements of Work, working with the Account Director and sector team.
• Spot opportunities in tender documents, frameworks and client conversations, and lead proposals for your accounts, including re-tenders and competitive opportunities.
• Share upcoming opportunities early with Delivery Leads and Heads of Studios so they can plan resources ahead.
• Work with the Account Director and Business Director on monthly and annual forecasting and invoicing, keeping HubSpot accurate and up to date.
• Contribute to new business proposals and pitches with the growth team, so prospective clients meet the people they'd work with day to day.
• Own delivery handover, so expectations and legal, financial and contractual obligations are understood and documented across the teams.

Client strategy and value

• Develop a deep understanding of each client's organisation, strategy, sector and competitors, including needs beyond our day-to-day product owners and project leads, and share it with everyone working on the account.
• Prioritise the insights that matter most and build them into compelling narratives that take stakeholders on a journey and position manifesto as a partner.
• Make sure clients understand the manifesto proposition and its relevance to them, linking their problems to examples of where we've solved the same or similar ones.
• Contribute to account planning sessions with the Account Director, strategy team and SMEs.
• Join regular client touchpoints such as monthly calls and roadmap workshops, and support the Account Director to run Strategic Business Reviews.

Commercial framing

• Lead pricing conversations for your accounts and set clear expectations on value and outcomes.
• Select the right commercial model, applying the manifesto rate card and retainer models, with pricing assumptions clearly captured.
• Make recommendations on the levers that balance price and margin, such as discounts, pricing structures and investment.
• Prepare proposals and estimates, making sure Delivery, SME and commercial input and approvals are in place before anything goes to the client.
• Make sure MSAs, SoWs, CCNs and estimates meet contracts team requirements and pass internal review processes, and that SoWs are signed off by clients before work starts.

Partner relationship and trust

• Manage client expectations, perception and confidence day to day, taking proactive steps to keep the relationship valuable for both sides and exceed expectations as an agency partner.
• Shape client requests into valuable opportunities, focusing on the complex and commercially significant conversations.
• Build commercially valuable relationships across client organisations, growing our network beyond our immediate contacts, and support the Account Director with senior stakeholder engagement.
• Develop stakeholder engagement plans for your accounts, mapping how stakeholders relate to the buying cycle and sign-off.
• Act as the escalation point for relationship concerns and tension, using the agreed escalation process with Delivery where issues relate to delivery, and escalating to the Account Director in a timely way, driving resolution recommendations.
• Run the client feedback survey for your accounts, manage the initial response and capture agreed actions, debrief Delivery and Heads of Studios.
• Agree appropriate servicing levels with the Delivery Lead based on client tier, time, budget and scope.

Internal representation for the client

• Bring clarity to the business about each client's strategy and needs, avoiding ambiguity.
• Translate client needs and opportunities into clear briefs for SMEs and Delivery, challenging and reframing requests before work is scoped.
• Review team presentations through the lens of client objectives, so we communicate with impact.
• Make sure client feedback and project retro insight feed into future opportunities.

Client Services community

• Be an active contributor to the Client Services Studio, Community of Practice and Client Services Playbook.
• Help unify the Client Services offering across manifesto and promote the role within the wider business.
• Support Account Managers to follow commercial and contractual processes.

Effective day-to-day management of high quality relationships with clients:

• To manage contractual obligations and risks, including partners delivering work for our clients.
• To manage the commercial health of the client accounts, ensuring acceptable client and project level margins are maintained.
• Understand the wider needs of our clients beyond our day to day product owners/project leads.
• Actively source and validate with the Account Director, events and public arenas where we can promote the manifesto brand and complete outreach and networking.

About You

We’re looking for an experienced Senior Account Manager who has experience working with professional membership, arts and culture and/or Higher Education organisations:

• Client focus and stakeholder management.
• Agency experience as a Senior Account Manager, ideally with membership, visitor attraction or higher education clients.
• Builds credible, trusted relationships with stakeholders at different levels.
• Can clearly explain how digital services solve client problems, using real examples.
• Confident with pricing, proposals, estimates and forecasting.
• Understands how clients buy and what it takes to secure budget and sign-off.
• Gets to the root of client problems and shapes solutions with the right people.
• Spots risks early, negotiates well and knows when to escalate.
• Leads the client side of multidisciplinary engagements to positive client and commercial outcomes.
• Clear, concise writer and confident presenter.
• Builds a sector network and turns relationships into advocates.
• Uses AI tools to work smarter and stays curious about how clients are using AI.

Behaviours

• Focused on value and outcomes for clients.
• Commercially sharp and accurate.
• Organised across multiple priorities.
• Handles challenging situations with tact and diplomacy.

This is a hybrid working role, where you will have the choice to work from home or attend hubs around the country. Some travel to clients or to attend regular team days is expected.

About Us

Manifesto is the digital experience agency for changemakers. We are committed to delivering purposeful and positive impact for people, planet and society, in restless pursuit of a better world.

We take pride in creating award-winning digital experiences, products and services that are measurably ethical, inclusive, accessible, sustainable and joyful. Our changemaker clients include UNICEF UK, Breast Cancer Now, Trussell, Woodgreen, The Royal Academy of Arts, Zoological Society London, Historic Environment Scotland and Fauna & Flora.

Part of the TPXimpact group - a Certified B Corporation, we are a team of 130 digital product leaders, creative designers, user experience designers, engagement specialists, software engineers and experience strategists.

TPXimpact is a digital transformation company, and Certified B Corporation, on a mission to build a future where people, places and the planet are supported to thrive. Combining vast expertise in human-centred design, data, experience and technology, we help the public, private and third sectors with their digital transformation journey, delivering high quality solutions that improve services, experiences and outcomes.

We’re passionate people who work in close collaboration with our clients to create sustainable solutions ready for an ever-evolving world.

We are committed to having a positive impact on the clients and the communities we serve. We actively encourage applications from all genders, ethnicities, disabled people, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Don’t meet 100% of the criteria? We still want to hear from you. Please let us know if you require any adjustments during the recruitment process.

Salary: £47,000 - £50,000