Group Head of Client Relationships

PE-backed parking and facilities services group

About our client

Our client is a fast-growing, private equity-backed delivering car park management and soft facilities management across the UK. They partner with some of the UK's best-known retail, hospitality, healthcare, education and transport brands and have built a strong reputation for outstanding customer service and right-first-time delivery.

Following consistent year-on-year EBITDA growth, the group has an ambitious five-year plan. Much of that growth will come from existing clients and from selling multiple group services into the same customers.

The role

We're looking for a farmer, not a hunter. This role is about nurturing, retaining and growing existing client relationships. New client acquisition sits with the Group Head of Sales.

This is a newly created senior leadership role to own, protect and grow the group's existing clients and onboard new clients. Reporting to the Group Chief Commercial Officer and working alongside the Group Head of Sales, you will lead a large team of strong client relationship professionals and bring structure, commercial discipline and growth to the function as the estate scales.

It is a Senior Leadership Team appointment sitting directly below the executive board, and is seen as the natural successor to the Group Chief Commercial Officer.

Key Responsibilities

• Define, own and refine the group-wide account management strategy and operating model across parking, soft FM, project management and architecture.
• Set and enforce clear standards for client engagement, estate management, escalation, governance and reporting.
• Hold overall accountability for the quality and effectiveness of client relationships across the group.
• Protect retention by spotting risk and dissatisfaction early, acting as the senior escalation point for high-risk or strategic client matters.
• Own the end-to-end client journey and deliver measurable improvement in client NPS.
• Grow share of wallet by cross-selling the full group offer into existing clients.
• Drive growth within existing estates through expansion, additional services and technology deployment.
• Own renewals, variations, bids and tenders for existing clients, with clear handover into mobilisation and operations.
• Lead, develop and performance-manage a team of client relationship managers and executives, building capability and succession.
• Select and embed the group's first CRM as the single source of truth for client activity, risk and opportunity.
• Strengthen the handover from sales to mobilisation to business as usual as site installations accelerate.
• Report a balanced portfolio scorecard covering retention, EBITDA, margin, NPS and forecast accuracy.
• Champion a client-obsessed culture across the team and the wider group.

Key Requirements

• Significant senior client relationship, account management or commercial leadership experience in a contract-led, multi-site B2B services business.
• Experience with blue-chip clients in B2B services.
• A proven record of delivering account management strategies and achieving retention, growth and profitability targets.
• Experience building, leading and developing a team of account or client managers.
• Strong commercial judgement across portfolio profitability, pricing, margin and contractual risk.
• A confident, credible communicator with boards, senior clients and operational leaders, with a collaborative, low-ego style.
• A full UK driving licence and the ability to spend regular time at the Essex head office.
• A background in car park management, soft FM, facilities management, outsourced services or property services.
• Ideally, experience implementing a CRM platform and rolling it out across a client or account management team.
• Experience bringing structure, process and governance to a fast-growing, entrepreneurial business.
• A track record of improving the client journey and NPS through insight and accountable action.
• The ambition and potential to progress to a board-level Chief Commercial Officer role.