The role
We are looking for a Client Principal to develop key accounts within our Public Sector practice. In this role, you will be accountable for ensuring the satisfaction of key clients. This includes identifying additional opportunities to work with them, and leading relevant bids/presales.
It is expected that you will form strong relationships with senior stakeholders within government departments, based on a clear understanding of their needs and the environment they operate in. You will also develop expertise on Softwire’s offering and abilities and use your knowledge to shape our propositions and proposals to meet both new and existing clients’ needs.
You will form part of the Public Sector Senior Leadership Team. You’ll report to the Director of Public Sector and will have the opportunity to contribute to Public Sector strategy. Collectively, this team is responsible for a portfolio of £25m+, with an expectation of significant, well-managed growth in future.
Whilst this role supports a degree of remote working, it is expected that you will be able to spend time with clients on a regular (at least weekly) basis.
Success in this role will be measured against client satisfaction and retention, and success at identifying opportunities for introducing new services to client (cross-sell/upsell).
You will be responsible for
Relationship development and thought leadership
- Building our network within target departments and agencies, up to Deputy Director and Director level. Leveraging this network and contacts to deliver better value, improve Softwire’s reputation and ultimately to win more work.
- Being aware of general and client specific trends and drivers and helping share them within Softwire.
- Working with marketing and delivery capabilities to target our thought leadership and brand building efforts around specific clients.
- You may develop expertise in a particular area within public sector and support new business within that area.
Account management
- Owning senior relationships at major accounts and taking personal responsibility for client spend, loyalty and growth.
- Working alongside Delivery Principals on account management to ensure clients receive a great service and experience.
- Acting as a point of escalation for client concerns and working with a multidisciplinary team of experts to resolve them
- Monitoring and hitting our margin and profitability goals, including leading strategy for client rate cards.
Bid leadership and strategy
- Being aware of upcoming opportunities and ensuring that we are well prepared to engage with them
- Leading cross-functional bid and pitch teams relevant to your clients / area. Being the focal point for our bid and pitch strategy, win themes, overall content and quality, and the success of the bid.
- Making use of existing content, delivery colleagues and your client knowledge to help respond to bids / sales opportunities
- Leading pitches/presentations
About you
You are an experienced account manager or practitioner with a deep understanding of the UK public sector. You have a proven track record of forming and bringing value to senior relationships that enables you to act as a trusted advisor.
You have prior experience with professional services agencies – either working for them, or as a client. You’re very comfortable with outcome based services (vs product, resource augmentation) and familiar with working with multidisciplinary teams to propose solutions to specific client challenges.
- You are a good listener and develop strong empathy to clients personal and organisational drivers
- You are a strong communicator and are able to create and communicate clear narratives to clients based on inputs from different capabilities.
- You have prior experience in working with bids/tenders and can bring the clients voice to this, reviewing (and often contributing to) content to ensure it is well-tailored to their needs.
- You have strong leadership skills and can motivate a team behind a client’s aims, and support them in in understanding and overcoming perceived barriers presented by the client.
- You are collaborative and your default approach is to work as a team, openly sharing information, resources and comms. You are comfortable in a culture which values and rewards collective success over personal attribution and that takes a “One Team” approach to everything we do.
- You take a can-do approach and don’t mind getting your hands dirty and leaning into issues and opportunities that you identify. You don’t need a perfect environment to thrive and where there are problems, you take a positive approach to making them better.
About Softwire
Softwire is one of the UK’s leading digital technology consultancies, offering services in software engineering, design, innovation, cloud, mobile and data.
Softwire was founded on one simple idea: if we can create the best possible culture and working environment then everything else will fall into place. And it seems to be working – we were recently voted number 1 company to work for in the UK at the Best Company awards, and we are a successful and growing supplier to the UK public sector with a great track record creating high quality services that cater for everyone.
We’ve worked across government, in Trade (UKEF), Healthcare (OHID), Climate Change (DESNZ), National Security, Elections, and Grants (DLUHC). We deliver full-lifecycle projects from Discovery, through Alpha, Beta, and long-term support.
We have a mature and successful offering with strong relationships across several departments and successful £multi-million engagements delivering high quality outcomes for citizens and government. We plan to expand both our capabilities and our scale, and we are looking for someone to support this growth, and provide the structure to enable us to scale.
We are currently on the Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) framework, GCloud, TS3 (via a partner), and the DALAS framework (HMRC). We plan to expand to other frameworks in the future.
We focus on creating a great culture and working environment and we are looking for people who share our core beliefs about what makes a great place to work:
- That if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.
- That work should be both fulfilling and fun.
- That kindness matters and should be extended to employees and clients alike.
- That by being trusting and trustworthy as an organisation and as individuals we can dispense with tedious bureaucracy and rules.
When you work with Softwire, you’re not only becoming part of a team with in-depth skills and delivery expertise – you’ll be working in a high-trust environment alongside skilled, kind, fun people who are passionate about creating amazing services and experiences that solve real problems. passionate about creating amazing services and experiences that solve real problems.
What we offer
Package
Softwire operates transparent pay scales and a profit share scheme based on role and overall company performance.
- Highly competitive base salary based on experience in a similar role and ranges based on experience.
- You can expect to receive a substantial profit share based on company performance.
- Pension: Additional 5% of salary.
- 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy up-to 10 more days).
- Time off for company-wide morale events, time off for charitable activities.
- Free annual eye test, income protection, cycle to work, electric vehicle lease schemes, and payroll charity donations.
Flexibility
We are a flexible employer who understands that being committed to a job is not the same as sacrificing everything for it: a holiday is a holiday; if you need flexibility for life stuff that’s not a problem; and we don’t expect (or want) long hours – we believe in a good work/life balance.