Walker and Sloan are proud to be working with a B2B marketing agency in Bristol as they are keen to bring on board an experienced Senior Account Director to the team on a full time basis.
The Role:
Are you a leader who sets the pace, elevates client relationships, and drives standards across a client services function? If you’re comfortable steering the strategic direction of a marketing agency one moment and coaching your teams to be the best marketers they can be the next, you may have found your dream role.
Is this the role for you?
We’re looking for a strategic, commercially-minded Senior Account Director to own client retention, lead our client services function, and set the bar for delivery quality across the business.
This is a role for someone who thinks big and acts decisively. Someone who can zoom out to understand our growth trajectory, then zoom in to coach Account Directors, shape client outcomes, and ensure their pods are firing on all cylinders.
At the agency, we don’t do passive management. You’ll lead from the front, set the operating rhythm, spot risks early, and challenge clients and colleagues alike with honesty and care. Our clients are CEO-level leaders of founder-led consultancies. They don’t need a supplier managing deliverables, they need a genuine marketing partner who brings the agenda, tells the truth about the data, and pushes back when instinct is pulling them the wrong way.
If you thrive in a dynamic environment, are calm under pressure, and want to shape both client success and agency growth, this role could be for you.
What will you be doing?
- Owning client retention and health: Take full responsibility for driving churn from ~50% to sub-20% within 12 months, with a clear system to measure and maintain client health across the portfolio.
- Embedding our Growth OS: Champion and roll out our Growth Operating System consistently across all client accounts, ensuring 100% of active clients are on the operating rhythm within 90 days.
- Driving client outcomes: Act as the senior strategic presence across all pods, joining Quarterly Marketing Reviews and key moments, and ensuring every client is challenged, not just served.
- Leading and developing Account Directors: Coach, develop, and hold your ADs accountable; build strategic challenge as a team-wide skill, not a senior privilege.
- Owning financial performance: Drive gross margin improvement from ~40% to ~60% through disciplined scope management, AI adoption, and process efficiency.
- Setting the operating rhythm: Define and enforce the weekly, monthly, and quarterly cadence that keeps pods aligned, accountable, and performing.
- Supporting new business: Contribute to pitches and proposals, and produce the client retention data and case studies that support commercial growth.
What’s in it for you?
We’re building a business we all want to work in, one where high standards, autonomy, and genuine fun sit side by side. As Senior Account Director, you’ll play a central role in shaping that.
- A competitive salary (£60,000 – £70,000 per year based on experience)
- Hybrid working – 2 days a week in our Bristol office
- 36 days holiday + annual company break
- A clear path to Head of Client Services as we scale
- A genuinely great place to work – collaborative, ambitious, and fun
What makes you the ideal candidate?
- You walk into client meetings as a marketing leader, not a service provider waiting for direction.
- You build high-trust, high-performance environments – giving honest feedback, tackling difficult conversations, and bringing energy and empathy in equal measure.
- You run your pods with commercial and operational rigour, thinking about margin, scope, and growth, not just delivery.
- You coach others to form their own views and own their recommendations independently.
- You are proactive by instinct, you don’t wait to be asked, and you follow through without being chased.
Key skills to succeed
- Leadership and coaching: Guide ADs, set standards, and build team capability
- Strategic challenge: Bring the agenda, interpret data honestly, and push clients constructively
- Client management; Build deep, trusted relationships with CEO-level stakeholders
- Operational excellence: Run a tight operating rhythm and manage performance across pods
- Commercial acumen: Protect margin, manage scope, and spot growth opportunities
- Quality ownership: Define, uphold, and improve delivery standards across the function
