Principal, Accounts

BT Group; City Of London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading telecommunications provider in the UK is looking for a strategic leader in account management to shape and direct client service excellence. The ideal candidate will lead teams, manage senior stakeholder relationships, and drive commercial performance. Experience in large-scale client management and agency leadership is essential, along with strong communication skills and business acumen. This position offers competitive benefits and the opportunity to work within a transformative company poised for the future.

Benefits

Annual target bonus (15%)

Private healthcare

£5,500 car or cash allowance

Pension scheme (5% employee contribution, 10% company contribution)

25 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays

Enhanced family leave policy

Life Assurance (4 x salary)

Employee discounts on BT packages

Discounted mobile plans

Healthcare Cash Plan options

Volunteering days

Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme

Private virtual GP appointments

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in managing account teams and portfolios.
• Proven success in senior agency leadership roles.
• Ability to drive business results in telecommunications or B2C sectors.

Responsibilities

• Lead account management strategy and champion client service excellence.
• Develop and manage account teams to ensure successful project delivery.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with senior stakeholders.

Skills

Account management expertise

Senior leadership

Stakeholder relationship building

Financial understanding and P&L management

Effective communication skills

Education

Degree in business, marketing, communications, or related field

MBA (desirable)

Job description

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Direction – Lead and shape the agency’s account management strategy and vision, champion client service excellence, and build strong stakeholder relationships to deliver creative solutions aligned with business objectives.
• Team Leadership & Development – Lead, develop and manage account teams, ensuring successful project delivery, and fostering strong senior stakeholder relationships.
• Stakeholder Relationship Management – Build and maintain strategic relationships with senior leaders, act as a key escalation point, champion agency value, and navigate organisational complexity to drive success.
• Business Performance & Accountability – Drive commercial performance and delivery excellence by leading account teams, ensuring projects meet time, budget, and quality standards while optimising resources and identifying growth opportunities.
• Strategic Planning & Prioritisation – Drive strategic planning and resource alignment by partnering with brand stakeholders, prioritising work based on business impact, balancing competing demands, and forecasting capacity needs with operations.
• Agency Positioning & Reputation – Drive the agency’s reputation as a strategic partner by showcasing successes, ensuring exceptional client service, representing externally, and identifying growth opportunities.
• Process & Service Excellence – Lead the development of best‑in‑class account management and project delivery by defining standards, driving continuous improvement, and ensuring seamless stakeholder communication and service delivery.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration – Build strategic alignment and foster seamless collaboration across creative, operations, brand, and production teams to drive an integrated, high‑performing agency culture.
• Problem Solving & Escalation Management – Manage complex stakeholder relationships, resolve conflicts, mitigate project risks, and make strategic decisions to protect priorities, resources, and organisational reputation.

Qualifications

• Considerable expertise in account management, client services, or partnerships, including senior leadership of account teams and large portfolios.
• Experience in in‑house agency leadership across multiple brands or business units, including transformation or scaling capabilities.
• Demonstrated success in driving business results and managing multi‑million‑pound client relationships or budgets, ideally in telecoms, technology, or complex B2C organisations.
• Exceptional ability to build trust and influence senior stakeholders across complex organisational dynamics; skilled in managing competing priorities and navigating sensitive conversations with diplomacy.
• Strong business and financial understanding, including P&L management, financial accountability and ROI delivery.
• Ability to connect creative and brand strategies to business outcomes and anticipate future market needs.
• Excelling in communication across all seniority levels, presenting compellingly and inspiring confidence in agency capabilities.
• Commitment to delivering exceptional client service and driving continuous improvement.
• Understanding agency operations, resource management, and workflow to balance creative excellence with efficiency.
• Experienced in coaching and mentoring senior leaders, succession planning, and fostering inclusive team culture.
• Natural collaborator who builds bridges across teams and respects creative processes while representing business needs.
• Skilled in presenting to boards or executive teams, with industry recognition or thought leadership in account management and active engagement with industry trends and professional networks.
• Degree‑level education in business, marketing, communications, or related field; MBA desirable.

About BT Group

BT Group was the world’s first telco and our heritage in the sector is unrivalled. As home to several of the UK’s most recognised and cherished brands – BT, EE, Openreach and Plusnet – we have always played a critical role in creating the future, and we have reached an inflection point in the transformation of our business.

Over the next two years, we will complete the UK’s largest and most successful digital infrastructure project – connecting more than 25 million premises to full‑fibre broadband. Together with our heavy investment in 5G, we play a central role in revolutionising how people connect with each other. While we are through the most capital‑intensive phase of our fibre investment, meaning we can reward our shareholders for their commitment and patience, we are absolutely focused on how we organise ourselves in the best way to serve our customers in the years to come. This includes radical simplification of systems, structures and processes on a huge scale. Together with our application of AI and technology, we are on a path to creating the UK’s best telco, reimagining the customer experience and relationship with one of this country’s biggest infrastructure companies. Change on the scale we will all experience in the coming years is unprecedented. BT Group is committed to being the driving force behind improving connectivity for millions and there has never been a more exciting time to join a company and leadership team with the skills, experience, creativity and passion to take this company into a new era.

Benefits

• Annual on target bonus 15% (based on both personal and company performance)
• Private healthcare for you and your family
• £5,500 car or cash allowance
• BT Pension scheme – minimum 5% employee contribution, BT contribution 10%
• 25 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays with the option to buy up to one week’s work of your contracted hours (will also increase with service)
• 2 weeks carer leave
• From January 2025, all parents welcoming a new child will be eligible for our new Family Leave policy: 18 weeks at full pay, 8 weeks at half pay and 26 weeks at the statutory rate. It is for all parents, no matter how your family is made.
• Enhanced women’s health support: including help with menopause symptoms, cancer screenings, period care and more.
• Life Assurance (4 × life cover pay)
• Exclusive colleague discounts on our latest and greatest BT broadband packages
• 50% off EE mobile pay monthly or SIM‑only plans and 50% discount for friends and family on EE SIM‑only plans.
• My Discounts gives colleagues access to unbeatable savings on everyday purchases at hundreds of retailers.
• Discounted EE TV including TNT Sport and the NOW Entertainment membership.
• Option to join the Healthcare Cash Plan or other benefits such as dental insurance, gym memberships etc.
• Volunteering days so you can give back to your local community.
• Brand new electric vehicle salary sacrifice arrangement, known as ‘My EV’.
• 24/7 private virtual GP appointments for UK colleagues