Account Director in Manchester

Location: Manchester / Hybrid (OP office and client office days required 1-2 times per week)

Type: Full Time (5 days per week)

Client Leadership Team Overview

The Client Leadership Team at Open Partners is the heartbeat of our agency: driving strategic vision, integration and performance through close, high-impact relationships. We blend Media, Creative, and Data into cohesive, growth-oriented roadmaps and set the tone for Smarter, Faster, Better across everything we do. This is a privileged team of top-tier talent with drive and ambition who partner with clients to generate true business value, actively defining and demonstrating what Agency of Next means.

Role Purpose

To be a central leader within the Client Leadership track, owning senior client relationships, directing integrated strategy across media, data and creative, and driving commercial growth across your portfolio. You are the day-to-day senior voice of Open Partners for your clients, shaping their marketing and business direction with consultancy-grade clarity, foresight, and influence while setting the agency standard for excellence.

Your Impact

• Integrated Strategic Direction: Deliver cohesive strategic narratives, Effectiveness Roadmaps, RISE frameworks, Annual Plans, and Business Reviews that unify media, data, and creative into measurable business outcomes.

• Commercial Portfolio Growth: Protect and expand account revenue and margin health, maintaining 95% or higher forecasting accuracy while uncovering and closing qualified upsell and cross-sell opportunities.

• Senior Relationship & Champion Building: Establish trusted advisor relationships with senior stakeholders and decision-makers, cultivating internal client Champions who actively advocate for Open Partners.

• Consultative Problem Solving: Apply structured analytical thinking to untangle complex business challenges, turning insight into prioritised testing roadmaps and decisive action pathways.

• Delivery Partnership & Quality Governance: Brief and collaborate with the Client Operations Centre of Excellence to guarantee integrated strategic alignment and flawless delivery standards.

• Agency of Next Innovation: Guide clients through transformation by integrating AI tools, smart automation, and agent-based workflows directly into team delivery and strategic roadmaps.

What success looks like in 6 months

• You have established trusted relationships across your client portfolio, embedding yourself as an indispensable strategic advisor and documenting active Champions within each account.

• You have fully integrated Effectiveness Roadmaps and RISE plans across your accounts, aligning specialist teams behind clear commercial narratives.

• You are consistently achieving 95% or higher forecasting accuracy with strong portfolio margin health.

• You have identified and progressed qualified growth and expansion opportunities across your accounts.

• Your account team is operating co-intelligently, actively adopting AI, automation, and modern agency workflows.

What You'll Bring

• Consultative & Strategic Fluency: Advanced ability to synthesise complex data, market context, and cross-discipline inputs into clear, high-level business narratives.

• Commercial Grounding: Deep understanding of commercial levers, revenue forecasting, fee models, margin management, and client business drivers.

• Relationship Building & Influence: Outstanding communication and executive presence to guide clients through ambiguity, challenge constructively, and align stakeholders around long-term strategy. Ability to foster trust, operate with empathy & develop deep stakeholder connections.

• Integrated Discipline Fluency: Solid understanding of how media, creative, and data intersect to drive full-funnel marketing effectiveness.

• Innovation & Problem Solving: Apply context, intellect and creative thinking to solve client problems and drive innovation for them and Open Partners.

• Work Co-Intelligently: Capable and passionate about working with technology to produce better work for our clients and continually grow your skill set in thinking, relationship building and leadership.

Your Outputs & Results

• Client Satisfaction: NPS of 9 or higher with senior client contacts.

• Commercial Performance: Delivery of revenue to target, maintenance of 95% or higher forecasting accuracy, and healthy portfolio gross margin.

• Strategic Delivery: 100% on-time deployment of RISE strategies, Effectiveness Roadmaps, Key Account Plans (KAPs), and formal Business Reviews.

• Commercial Growth: Documented quarterly identification of qualified growth opportunities and measurable revenue uplift across your accounts.

• Relationship Depth: Evidence of multiple documented client Champions and proven influence on client business decisions.

• Delivery Excellence: Seamless operational partnership with Client Operations, with zero unmanaged client escalations.

• Agency of Next Impact: Tangible implementation of AI and automated workflows within account management processes.

Our Values & Mindset

At Open Partners, we hire mindset first. If you do not tick every single box but bring a strong growth mindset, transferable skills, and an authentic passion for this space, we want to hear from you. We hold each other to three simple standards:

Smarter: Aim high, train hard, embrace next.

Faster: Learn fast, adapt fast, act fast.

Better: Think, say and do what's best.

Ready to elevate your career? Apply today!