Head of Account Management - Global Freight Solutions : Job Details

Department: Account Management

Reporting to: Customer Relationship Director

Location: Hybrid - Horsham, Warrington, or Newbury

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 37.5, Monday-Friday

Date: March 2024

Salary: £55,000-£60,000 + commission, benefits.

Join Our Team as Head of Account Management!

Are you a dynamic leader with a passion for driving client success and fostering long-lasting relationships? Do you thrive in an environment where innovation and collaboration are encouraged? As the Head of Account Management at GFS, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our client relations strategy. Your primary responsibility will be to lead and inspire a team of talented account managers to deliver exceptional service and exceed client expectations.

In this critical leadership position, you will be responsible for leading the Account Managers and Indoor Account Managers for Global Freight Solutions, working in conjunction with the board and senior management. The Head of Account Management will be accountable for developing a comprehensive vision & strategy to achieve profitable growth and retention targets and provide leadership for the account management team. The successful candidate should possess experience in global account management and leading teams to maximize the opportunity to develop and grow Global Freight Solutions business.

The ideal candidate must be prepared to travel frequently.

Main areas of responsibility

• Develop and implement a unified vision, structure & account management strategy across the organisation working hand in hand with senior leadership.
• Lead the account management strategy for GFS Customers from micro-SME to Corporate clients.
• Provide guidance and rigor in developing account strategies and create a mechanism for sharing best practices.
• Actively participate in strategy development and implementation of strategy for at risk engagements.
• Partner with Sales, Revenue management & Operations to drive an effective margin management strategy.
• Establish a training program for account management in conjunction with the GFS training team to continually develop the account management team.
• Work closely with Marketing in developing client propositions, presentations, and other collateral.
• Contribute significantly to sales support, strategic and financial planning, and product development.
• Be responsible for establishing and creating account management KPIs, client risk and opportunities and more.
• Mentor and motivate direct reports to achieve productivity, supporting their personal and professional development, and business succession planning.
• Ensure that poor performance is managed and remedied via support, training or disciplinary action as appropriate. Liaise with Human Resources on all employment issues.
• Take ownership of creating staff engagement amongst the team and with the wider business.
• Keep an accurate and up-to-date record of internal and on-the-job training received by staff.
• Complete annual employee appraisals with all direct reports.
• Complete annual training needs analysis forms with all direct reports.
• Complete monthly, detailed 121's with direct reports.
• Organise comprehensive inductions and support and coach new starters joining the team.
• All other reasonable requests as specified by senior management.
• Recruitment of staff as required.

Education & Experience

Essential:

• A minimum of 10 years' experience in account management, ideally with global leadership.
• Strategic thinker with long term planning abilities and the ability to attract and retain top talent, good performance management and team leadership.
• Understands individuals' career aspirations and develops personalised plans in partnership with senior leadership to help account managers grow their skills/performance.
• A demonstrable ability to identify new business opportunities, retain business and meet/exceed revenue targets.
• Works collaboratively with all supporting departments, to ensure all account management understand what we are trying to accomplish and the importance of their role in our success.
• Strong people management and leadership skills and can act as an advisor or subject matter expert.
• Strong people and influencing skills with senior level leaders regarding matters on an organisational level.
• Consistently seeks ways to improve processes, productivity, and profit.

Desirable:

• Exposure to the transport and logistics industry.

Personal:

• An enthusiastic achiever with a 'can do' attitude'.
• Tenacious while being able to build positive relationships with clients and colleagues.
• Tackles problems and takes independent action where appropriate, seeks out new responsibilities, generates new ideas and practices self-development.
• Strong personal values.