Job Description

Collinson is the global leader in travel experiences and customer engagement, a business that builds loyalty 500 million times a day, across 140 countries, for some of the world's most ambitious brands. Our clients include major financial institutions, airlines, transport operators and retailers who trust us to design programmes that move customers from passive participation to genuine, measurable commitment.

Our loyalty practice sits at the intersection of behavioural strategy, data science and programme design. We believe that the best loyalty programmes are strategic assets - not cost centres - and we've built our methodology around the evidence: that incrementality, not points balances, is the true measure of a programme's worth.

Recent mandates include the design and delivery of large-scale loyalty and customer engagement programmes across the transport, mobility and travel sectors. These are complex, high-stakes initiatives involving multiple stakeholders, significant commercial value and innovative customer propositions. They represent exactly the kind of work this role will be asked to support and lead.

Purpose of the job

The VP of Account Management is a senior leadership role responsible for developing and growing strategic client relationships across major travel and transport sectors.

This individual acts as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders, leading complex loyalty consultancy engagements that deliver measurable commercial value, long-term partnership growth, and exceptional client experience.

The role requires a highly credible and commercially astute leader who is comfortable operating at executive level, managing complex organisational relationships, and navigating multi-stakeholder environments. A critical component of the role is the orchestration and management of multi-agency alliances, ensuring clear alignment, governance, and delivery coordination across internal teams, strategic partners, and client stakeholders.

The successful candidate will combine strategic thinking with operational excellence and will have a proven ability to lead cross-functional collaboration, align diverse delivery partners, and drive integrated programme outcomes within complex enterprise ecosystems.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Client Leadership

• Own and lead a portfolio of high-value strategic accounts within the travel, transport, and loyalty sectors.
• Build deep, trusted relationships with senior client stakeholders and become a recognised strategic advisor.
• Develop long-term account growth strategies aligned to client business priorities and commercial objectives.
• Identify opportunities to expand consultancy services, deepen partnerships, and drive incremental revenue growth.
• Lead executive-level discussions and represent the organisation confidently within complex corporate environments.

Loyalty Consultancy Partnership

• Work in close partnership with the VP, Loyalty Consulting to shape and deliver strategic client programmes.
• Act as the senior commercial and relationship lead across client engagements, ensuring consultancy recommendations land effectively within client organisations.
• Bring together client stakeholders, partners, and internal teams to enable successful programme delivery and long-term partnership growth.
• Support the development of loyalty strategies, partnership opportunities, and customer engagement initiatives by ensuring strong client alignment and stakeholder buy-in.
• Provide senior client counsel and navigate complex organisational dynamics to help drive decision-making and programme success.
• Ensure strategic consultancy outputs translate into actionable commercial outcomes and measurable client value.

Account Growth & Commercial Ownership

• Hold accountability for overall account performance, commercial delivery, and client satisfaction.
• Successfully manage and grow multi-million-pound accounts with a strong focus on retention, expansion, and profitability.
• Lead contract renewals, commercial negotiations, and strategic partnership discussions.
• Identify risks and opportunities early and proactively manage stakeholder expectations.
• Drive account planning, forecasting, and revenue reporting across the portfolio.

Stakeholder Management & Influence

• Navigate complex organisational structures and corporate politics with confidence and professionalism.
• Influence senior decision-makers across client, partner, and internal stakeholder groups.
• Build strong collaborative relationships with third-party partners, agencies, and suppliers.
• Align cross-functional internal teams to ensure seamless delivery and exceptional client outcomes.
• Act as an ambassador for the business both internally and externally.

Team Leadership

• Provide leadership, coaching, and direction to account management and delivery teams.
• Foster a high-performance, client-centric culture focused on collaboration, accountability, and commercial impact.
• Support team development and succession planning.
• Encourage strategic thinking, innovation, and continuous improvement across the function.

Direct Reports

Account Directors, Delivery Director with wider Account Management and Delivery team members as applicable.

Experience & Skills

Essential Experience

• 10–15+ years of experience operating in senior account management, consultancy, or client leadership roles.
• Strong agency or consultancy background with experience managing complex enterprise-level clients and partnerships.
• Significant senior-level account management or consultancy leadership experience within loyalty, customer engagement, travel, transport, or related sectors.
• Proven success managing and growing large-scale, multi-million-pound enterprise accounts.
• Experience operating within complex corporate or matrix organisations.
• Strong track record of building executive-level client relationships and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Experience leading strategic consultancy engagements and commercial negotiations.
• Demonstrated success managing partnerships involving multiple stakeholders and third parties.

Key Skills & Competencies

• Exceptional relationship management and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Highly credible executive presence with strong influencing and negotiation capability.
• Strategic thinker with strong commercial acumen.
• Politically astute with the ability to navigate complex organisational dynamics.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• Excellent problem-solving and decision-making capability.
• Collaborative leadership style with the ability to inspire confidence internally and externally.
• Results-oriented with a strong focus on client success and commercial growth.
• Resilient, adaptable, and comfortable operating in fast-paced environments.

Leadership Expectations

The VP of Account Management will:

• Lead with professionalism, credibility, and integrity.
• Represent the organisation confidently at senior industry and client forums.
• Drive strategic thinking while maintaining a strong focus on execution and delivery.
• Build long-term partnerships based on trust, commercial value, and shared success.
• Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, and client excellence.

Measures of Success

• Client retention and account growth.
• Revenue and profitability performance across managed accounts.
• Executive stakeholder satisfaction and relationship strength.
• Successful delivery of strategic client programmes and account initiatives.
• Growth of partnership opportunities and commercial value creation.
• Team engagement, development, and performance.

Why Join Us

This is an opportunity to work on some of the organisation’s most strategic and visible client programmes, partnering with globally recognised brands and major transport and travel organisations. The role offers the opportunity to combine strategic client leadership with programme delivery in a fast-paced and collaborative environment.

Reward & Benefits: What's in it for me?

We want our people to feel recognised, supported and able to thrive both at work and beyond it.

We offer a competitive reward package designed to support your financial, physical and mental wellbeing, alongside opportunities to learn, develop and be recognised for the contribution you make. Benefits vary by role and location, and full details will be shared as part of the application process.

Equal opportunities: Our commitment to inclusion

Collinson Group is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and experiences, and believe that different perspectives make our business stronger.