Client Partnerships Director

Clickthrough Marketing; England; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A forward-thinking performance agency in the UK is looking for a Director to lead client partnership strategies, build relationships with senior stakeholders, and ensure client experience retention. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in client leadership roles, strong commercial acumen, and a commitment to delivering exceptional client experiences. This hybrid role offers a competitive salary, bonuses, and the opportunity to shape client relationships.

Benefits

Up to 15% annual performance bonus

EMI share options after 6-month probation

Flexible part-time and remote working

24 days holiday plus bank holidays

Health and wellbeing weeks

Enhanced maternity and paternity pay

Financial wellbeing support

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in senior client leadership partnerships or strategy roles.
• Experience working with CMOs, MDs and Board-level clients.
• Strong understanding of digital agency performance or marketing landscapes.
• Proven ability to hire, coach and scale high-performing client teams.
• Commercial acumen, understanding pricing, contracts, margin and risk.
• A calm, credible communicator with gravitas and emotional intelligence.

Responsibilities

• Lead our client partnership strategy and build deep relationships.
• Ensure client experience retention and strategic value delivery.
• Drive a culture of growth, retention and client pride across the agency.

Skills

Customer Service

Client Expectations

Client Requirements

Action Plans

Issue Resolution

Account Management

Client Relationships

Service Delivery

Client Satisfaction

Client Management

Job description

This is an opportunity to lead the evolution of client experience growth and long-term partnership strategy inside one of the UKs most forward‑thinking performance agencies. You’ll sit at the heart of our client‑facing operations, owning relationships with senior stakeholders, leading our client team and ensuring we deliver meaningful value that protects and grows our retained revenue.

We’re looking for someone with gravitas, empathy and commercial strength who can represent the agency with confidence, build trusted partnerships at CMO/MD and C‑suite level, and coach our internal team to deliver on that promise consistently.

You’ll work closely with our Delivery Ops and Strategy leaders but will be the one defining how we partner, how we retain and how we grow. You’ll also be a key cultural leader who actively brings our vision to life by pushing boundaries in how we think, work and grow.

Location & Working Hours

• Location: Hybrid – offices in Lichfield and Manchester. Most company and team meetings are in Lichfield.
• Hours: Full‑time (part‑time option available, minimum four days per week)
• Salary: Base salary depending on experience and alignment with role requirements
• Bonus: Up to 15% annual performance bonus
• OTE: Up to £92,000 total package
• Equity: EMI share options offered after successful 6‑month probation

The Role

This is a full‑time leadership role reporting directly to the CEO. You’ll lead our client partnership strategy, build deep relationships with senior client stakeholders (CMO, MD, C‑suite) and ensure client experience retention and strategic value delivery are consistently world‑class.

You’ll also lead our Account Directors and Client Managers, providing leadership, owning the team structure, hiring standards and internal client leadership culture.

You’ll run a structured cadence of strategic check‑ins with senior client stakeholders every 3–4 months, ensuring they feel supported, challenged and engaged in a way that creates long‑term loyalty, risk mitigation and value expansion.

You’ll also be accountable for commercial hygiene – managing aged debt risk, PO alignment and scope boundaries in partnership with Finance and Ops. Most importantly, you’ll drive a culture of growth, retention and client pride across the entire agency.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Client Partnerships

• Own senior client relationships, particularly CMOs, MDs and C‑suite.
• Lead a regular 3–4 month cadence of strategic, non‑operational check‑ins with senior stakeholders.
• Use curiosity, commercial insight and market intelligence to build trust and surface risk.
• Validate CTMs perceived value and positioning in every retained relationship.
• Create space for challenge, strategy and honest dialogue that supports long‑term partnership.

Client Team Leadership

• Leadership of Account Directors and Client Managers.
• Own the structure, hiring and development of our client‑facing team.
• Define clear roles, responsibilities and scorecards for success.
• Champion the quality of client‑facing hires by working closely with our Head of People.
• Lead internal reviews on client health, risk, team performance and relationship structure.
• Build a high‑trust, high‑accountability culture across the client function.

Client Experience & Retention

• Champion and protect high standards of client experience across all accounts.
• Act as the escalation point for major client relationship concerns.
• Own the structure and rollout of Key Account & Engagement Plans for every retained client.
• Ensure every client and client team has aligned, trackable client OKRs.
• Drive proactive communication, expectation management and satisfaction reviews.

Strategic Growth & Client Expansion

• Identify opportunities to expand CTMs remit and unseat competing agencies within existing accounts.
• Position CTMs full range of capabilities and innovations to senior stakeholders.
• Partner with the CEO, Account Directors and New Business team on cross‑sell and upsell initiatives.
• Contribute to revenue growth through insight, relationship depth and opportunity activation.
• Hold quarterly growth and retention targets across the retained base.

Commercial Stewardship

• Monitor and address aged debt, billing issues and PO compliance with Finance.
• Protect delivery margin through proactive scoping and expectation alignment working in partnership with SLT.
• Ensure client contracts, SOWs and service levels are managed cleanly.
• Promote financial discipline and commercial awareness across the client team.

Client Planning & Internal Enablement

• Embed Key Account Planning and client OKRs into our ways of working.
• Ensure every team member understands and aligns to the agency’s growth and retention priorities.
• Represent the voice of the client across the SLT, client delivery teams and planning sessions.
• Help translate client insight into proposition process and service improvements.

Strategic Leadership Responsibilities

1. Client Success & Satisfaction

• Ensure exceptional experiences that deepen trust, reduce churn and support long‑term strategic value.
• Lead Client NPS & CSAT; target: NPS 8.5, CSAT 85%.
• Monitor client retention rate, average client tenure, and % of key clients with stakeholder check‑in cadence.
• Track % of accounts with live engagement plans & OKRs, volume and resolution speed of client issues.

2. Client Growth & Commercial Enablement

• Help identify and enable client growth through senior engagement insight and internal alignment.
• Influence weighted revenue pipeline from retained accounts; target set quarterly with CEO.
• Track signed projects and retainers, revenue from new services or propositions, cross‑sell visibility and unseating opportunities.
• Ensure % of total client revenue protected or expanded per quarter.

What We’re Looking For

• Extensive experience in senior client leadership partnerships or strategy roles.
• Extensive experience working with CMOs, MDs and Board‑level clients.
• Strong understanding of digital agency performance or marketing landscapes.
• Proven ability to hire, coach and scale high‑performing client teams.
• Commercial acumen, understanding pricing, contracts, margin and risk.
• A calm, credible communicator with gravitas and emotional intelligence.
• A challenger mindset, confident raising tough issues with clients and teams.
• Deeply committed to delivering brilliant client experiences and long‑term value.
• Collaborative, values‑led and excited to work in an ambitious scaling agency.
• Motivated to lead in alignment with our company vision and inspire others to do the same.

What You’ll Get

• A senior leadership role reporting to the CEO.
• Strategic input into how CTM retains, grows and evolves client relationships.
• Ownership of client team structure, experience and commercial hygiene.
• Autonomy to lead change and shape the future of client partnerships.
• A collaborative leadership team focused on growth impact and integrity.
• Hybrid working with flexibility and full trust.
• Up to 15% annual performance bonus.
• EMI share options offered after successful 6‑month probation.
• Long‑term opportunity to shape and influence agency culture, client direction and leadership mindset.

About Us

ClickThrough is a digital performance agency helping ambitious brands grow smarter and faster.

We combine strategic thinking with hands‑on delivery across SEO, paid media, UX, content, CRO and AI to unlock sustainable growth.

Our Vision

To unleash the potential of people and brands by pushing boundaries in how we think, work and grow.

Our Positioning

A strategic partner in digital performance combining elite talent with AI‑powered solutions to deliver personalisation at scale.

We’re a team of around 40 people, commercially sharp, values‑led and focused on delivering exceptional results. We partner with ambitious marketing leaders to deliver digital performance that’s strategic, joined‑up and measurable, and we’re proud of the long‑term relationships we’ve built.

We don’t just deliver digital. We build trust, challenge thinking and bring clarity to help brands unlock their next phase of growth.

The Company

We create digital strategies that accelerate growth in conversions and performance. Through a 360° approach to marketing we immerse ourselves in your business before recommending the right strategy.

Our proven experience combined with our hunger for knowledge, passion for challenge and dedication to data‑led marketing drives us to deliver award‑winning service and results.

The Benefits

• Flexible part‑time and remote working.
• Giving something back scheme.
• 24 days holiday plus bank holidays.
• A chance to be Person of the Month.
• A range of social activities.
• Simply Health benefits.
• Health and wellbeing weeks.
• Enhanced maternity and paternity pay.
• Financial wellbeing support.

Key Skills

Customer Service, Client Expectations, Client Requirements, Client Support, Action Plans, Issue Resolution, Account Management, Client Relationships, Service Delivery, Client Service, Client Satisfaction, Client Management, Procedures, Service Level Agreements, New Clients.

Employment Details

• Employment Type: Full‑Time
• Experience: Years (required)
• Vacancy: 1
• Monthly Salary: £65,000 – £80,000

Required Experience

Director