Head of Client Relations-(Hybrid)

Central 1 Credit Union; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 156,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

Central 1 Credit Union seeks a Head of Client Relations, a strategic leader who will enhance client satisfaction, retention, and growth through relationship management. This role involves overseeing the client lifecycle, fostering a client-first culture, and driving operational excellence while managing a high-performing team.

Benefits

Work-life flexibility

Hybrid work environment

Variable annual incentive plan

Generous annual vacation allotment

Top-notch flexible benefits plan

Retirement Plan with matched contributions

Learning platform access

Career development opportunities

Corporate discounts

Qualifications

• 10+ years in client success or enterprise relationship management.
• Minimum 5 years leading teams and performance management.
• Experience implementing scalable, process-driven client success models.

Responsibilities

• Drive long-term client satisfaction and growth through operational excellence.
• Lead a team of account executives and ensure alignment with client objectives.
• Oversee the client lifecycle to ensure exceptional client experiences.

Skills

Client Success

Strategic Account Leadership

Data-Driven Decision Making

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, or related field

MBA or advanced degree (preferred)

Tools

Salesforce

Power BI

Tableau

Job description

Central 1 cooperatively empowers credit unions and other financial institutions to deliver banking choice to Canadians. Central 1 provides critical services at scale to enable a thriving credit union system. We do this by collaborating with our clients, developing strategies, products and services to support the financial well-being of their more than 5 million diverse customers in communities across Canada. For more information, visit www.central1.com.

What we offer:

• Work-life flexibility
• Hybrid work environment
• One time allowance to set up your office for remote first employees
• Variable annual incentive plan
• Generous annual vacation allotment
• Top-notch flexible benefits plan including family building and gender affirmation
• Retirement Plan, matched contributions at 6%
• Access to a learning platform and educational assistance support
• Access to a virtual wellness platform
• Career development opportunities
• Wellness Flex Fund to support personal interest and activities
• Day off to volunteer in your community and other paid time off options
• Corporate discounts

*subject to employment agreement

Job Summary:

The Head of Client Relations is a strategic leader responsible for driving long-term client satisfaction, retention, and growth through relationship management, operational excellence, and data-driven strategies. Overseeing the full client lifecycle, this role ensures internal alignment to deliver measurable results while managing costs and performance. As the voice of the client, the Director fosters a client-first culture, builds strong C-suite relationships, and identifies opportunities to grow revenue across Central 1. They also serve as an industry thought leader, shaping a best-in-class client experience and guiding future product and service development.

What you'll be doing:

Client Relationship Leadership

• Serve as the primary relationship owner for high-value strategic clients.

• Develop and implement a scalable, disciplined client success framework—ensuring consistent processes, predictable client experiences, and measurable results.

• Build and maintain trusted advisor relationships with client executives to align services with their business objectives.

• Regularly collect and analyze client feedback to inform internal process improvements, strategic decisions, and product evolution.

Client Retention, Growth & Revenue Enablement

• Create and manage structured, data-informed client success plans to maximize product adoption, utilization, and value delivery, utilizing client insights and their strategic priorities

• Identify and pursue strategic opportunities for client expansion while maintaining a sharp focus on client satisfaction and value realization.

• Collaborate with Sales, Product, and Marketing to co-create campaigns and client-facing initiatives grounded in client data and market intelligence.

• Monitor and analyze client performance trends, proactively addressing risk factors and uncovering growth potential.

Operational Excellence & Cross-Functional Alignment

• Establish and enforce disciplined processes for onboarding, health monitoring, renewals, and escalation management.

• Leverage data analytics and dashboards to drive decision-making, track KPIs (e.g., NPS, retention, expansion), and evaluate program performance.

• Champion a culture of process efficiency, ensuring resources are deployed effectively and client outcomes are achieved with cost discipline.

• Act as the voice of the client in cross-functional settings, translating insights into actionable improvements across departments.

• Accountable for the client engagement model and drive optimal approach to how of how interact and collaborate effectively across internal partners and departments. Ensure clarity across C1 on ensuring all respective partners have the required client information and that the appropriate connections are taking place both internally and externally with the right people on the right topics at the right time
  

People Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of account executives and other account support team members.

• Build a culture of excellence grounded in disciplined delivery, client-centric thinking, and team accountability.

• Define clear team goals aligned to organizational priorities, including measurable cost-efficiency targets and data-backed performance benchmarks.

• Implement performance tracking tools and regular feedback mechanisms to drive continuous improvement
  

Strategic Planning, Governance & Cost Management

• Contribute to the strategic direction of the business by providing client insights, industry trends, and competitive analysis.

• Ensure client success strategies align with organizational goals, including cost containment and sustainable revenue growth.

• Develop and manage the client success budget with a focus on maximizing ROI through prudent cost management and resource allocation.

• Represent the organization at industry events and forums to enhance brand presence and client trust.
  

Member Relations Leadership

• Lead the Member Relations function to build and sustain strong and trusting relationships with member credit unions by deepening relationships with member CEOs and board directors to understand their needs, articulate Central 1’s value proposition and provide insights into trends likely to affect credit unions and the credit union system.

• Leverage data, trends and research for CEOs and Boards on the evolution of financial services to educate member leaders with the goal of preparing members for turbulence and disruption. Ensure Class A Members are informed about matters related to Class A membership and governance. Represent Central 1/Member Relations at credit union events as necessary.

• Proactively identify opportunities to enhance value to members through these channels while promoting Central 1 strategy and products and profiling expertise

What you'll have:

• 10+ years of experience in client success, enterprise relationship management, or strategic account leadership, ideally within financial services or SaaS environments.

• Minimum of 5 years leading teams, including setting strategy, managing performance, and aligning goals to broader business outcomes.

• Demonstrated experience implementing scalable, process-driven client success models.

• Strong background in leveraging data for decision-making and client engagement strategies.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, or related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred.

• Proven ability to manage budgets, drive cost efficiency, and deliver measurable business impact.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with treasury, payments, capital markets.

• Proficiency in CRM and data analytics tools (e.g., Salesforce, Power BI, Tableau).

Salary Range: $156,000-$195,000

The salary range represents the job rate determined for the successful candidate who is fully competent in the role. The actual salary will vary depending on market conditions and relevant job-related factors such as knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training.

#LI-Hybrid

Central 1 is an equal opportunity employer and committed to building an inclusive workforce by creating an environment where everyone feels like they belong and has the opportunity to be successful. We welcome all applicants to join our diverse workforce and we will provide an accessible candidate experience including, but not limited to accommodations to interview sites and alternate formats upon request to our Recruitment team.