Head Quarters - Key Account Director

Ward Talent Team; London; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job description

Are you a strong leader and a strategic thinker? Do you have a passion for building long-lasting client relationships and lead a high profile portfolio for our London businesses?...

...Apply now!

As a Key Account Director here at Ward, you will have the ability to develop and implement business strategies, as well as having the commitment in delivering innovative and service excellence, contributing to the growth and success of the account portfolio. These attributes will be applied across the Ward London portfolio to assist with strategical input for the Account Management Team.

Role: Key Account Director
Shift Pattern: Monday - Friday 37.5 hours per week
Location: London Headquarters

Benefits include:

• Cycle to work salary sacrifice scheme
• Company Pension scheme
• Life Assurance benefits

Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with high value clients
• Support our clients to achieve their objectives and ensure service delivery remains 'fit for purpose’ at all client locations
• Regularly review services provided in line with customer needs and strategic priorities
• Effectively monitor SLAs and KPIs, identify opportunities and/or risk and work with others in the business to develop action plans to address any areas of underperformance
• Drive organic growth
• Client and staff retention
• Be the Senior contact responsible for ensuring that your clients are kept informed and the relationship nurtured at all times
• Develop innovation, alternative solutions and contract improvement
• Accountable for the management of your portfolio P&L, continuously monitoring expenditure and delivering financial performance in line with budgets
• Manage and control budgets, ensuring that expenditure is monitored and controlled in line with financial targets
• Attend regular client review meetings and effectively monitor SLAs and KPIs, identifying opportunities and/or risk
• Produce, evaluate and present regular reports on portfolio performance
• Participate and on occasions take the lead in tender presentations
• Ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of team members at all times
• Maintain optimum manning levels and manage recruitment needs
• Review all critical operational incidents and identify areas for improvement
• Support and deliver in line with the business’s overall growth strategy
• Ensure client annual reviews are undertaken and company process is followed
• Build and maintain effective relationships with current and potential decision-makers, key stakeholders, and clients
• Build effective networks and relationships with external stakeholders
• Deliver effective succession planning to ensure resilience for each site, the management team and the wider London business
• Attend monthly reviews with the Ward finance team

Strategic Planning:

• Monitor and measure progress and performance against agreed plans to ensure that the business attains its targets and objectives as effectively as possible
• Provide recommendations to the Managing Director and Senior Leadership Team
• Identify commercial opportunities for growth
• Ensure that the business is at the leading edge of understanding market and client needs
• Consistently strive to ensure that budget targets are met
• Ensure costs are adequately controlled
• Direct and control the work and resources within your team to optimise operational performance and achieve the desired impact on business results
• Understand variance analysis and develop financial plans to mitigate loss
• Develop business case plans or short focus papers for projects

Retention:

• Develop and provide robust and successful client retention strategies across your portfolio
• Ensure comprehensive relationship mapping is always in place and up to date
• Manage difficult or emotional customer situations
• Respond promptly to customer needs
• Solicit customer feedback to improve service
• Meet contractual commitments
• Identify and resolve problems in a timely manner
• Better today than yesterday - develop alternative solutions and contract improvement

Leadership Competence:

• Experienced P&L and budget responsibility
• Operational, threat and risk experience
• Demonstrate a high level of resilience and resourcefulness to overcome challenges and deliver business outcomes
• Act in accordance with Ward’s values and culture
• Share key elements of organisational strategy effectively with teams
• Hold themselves and direct team members responsible and accountable for performance
• Effectively establish priorities
• Create an environment that nurtures and develops people
• Speak out (challenge) in circumstances where behaviors are inconsistent with our culture
• Influence effectively
• Lead and manage change where needed
• Communicate plans and activities in a manner which invokes employee engagement
• Establish wide internal and external relationships
• Ensure that Ward is held in high regard within the industry

People:

• Lead and embed an inclusive culture through coaching and challenging the right behaviours
• Contribute to the delivery of our business-wide people strategy and The Ward Way
• Effectively engage challenging conversations with peers and your team to produce positive outcomes
• Maintain a positive and ethical work environment that is conducive to attracting, retaining and motivating a diverse group of employees at all levels
• Create an environment which encourages creative thinking
• Line report annual appraisal completion and review
• Identify and deliver annual CPD for themselves and line reports

Who We Are:
Ward Security provides security services solutions to a range of UK businesses. Security services include: CCTV security systems, property management, guard dog security, key holding services, security guard patrol services, response alarm systems and more. With over 1500+ of our amazing people operating nationally.

We seek the best talent to uphold our vision “ We look after our people; our people look after our clients. We aim to retain and attract the very best of both ”.

Why Work For Us?
Apart from joining our friendly team, we offer Uniform, SIA Licensing savings scheme, Cycle to Work Salary Sacrifice scheme, Pension and Life Assurance benefits.

We strongly believe in growing our own talent, and we provide opportunities through our in-house Training Academy, our Leadership Development Programme, online eLearning and development programmes for a career path.

To support the wellbeing of our people we have an in-house Mental Health Team, Wellbeing Platform, an inclusive culture recognised in our Diversity Champion & International Inclusion Awards. We uphold our wellbeing as a MIND Workplace Wellbeing Silver Award holder. We offer Reward membership to all employees, which includes retail discounts, cinema tickets, gym membership, 24/7 free Employee Assistance Programme, and many other fantastic benefits.

At Ward Security, we believe in fostering an inclusive workplace where diversity is celebrated, and every individual is valued. We are committed to providing equal opportunities to all employees and applicants regardless of race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. As an equal-opportunity employer, we strive to create an environment that promotes fairness, respect, and collaboration. We are dedicated to recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting individuals based on their qualifications, skills, and abilities. We embrace the unique perspectives and backgrounds of our team members, recognising that diversity enriches our organisation and contributes to our success.