Director of Client Strategy

The Director of Client Strategy acts as the strategic lead across a portfolio of high-value accounts, reporting directly to the SVP of Client Experience. This role is responsible for shaping and driving strategic account plans, delivering exceptional consulting solutions, and ensuring the long-term success of client relationships. The Director of Client Strategy is the trusted advisor and advocate for clients, responsible for aligning client business objectives with Zaelab’s capabilities and driving account growth through cross-functional collaboration.

The ideal candidate brings strategic thinking, commercial acumen, and client relationship mastery. They possess deep experience in managing complex client portfolios in a professional services or consulting environment and excels at balancing strategic vision with day-to-day delivery excellence.
Your Key Responsibilities:

• Account Leadership: Drive strategic direction of accounts and participate in quarterly and annual planning processes. Effectively forecast and manage the business for growth and profitability. Assess any potential risks in collaboration with teams internally and find ways to mitigate risk. Partner with Zaelab leadership and team leads to influence solutions driving toward a shared direction and assist in creating new strategic capabilities. Showcase business capabilities and product presentations to continue to drive innovative thought leadership. Partner with leadership to tell the Zaelab story as the market and our capabilities evolve.
• Account Management: Be directly accountable for the revenue on all Zaelab accounts within your portfolio, ensuring that the Zaelab stays on or ahead of its financial targets.  Oversee the management of all portfolio accounts, participating directly in servicing clients where needed and being the first point of escalation. Monitor client satisfaction and ensure that the optimal team is servicing each account.  Supervise all ongoing forecasting and monthly invoicing activities and ensure that information is accurate and up to date according to our SOWs. Serve as the client lead within the portfolio. Ensure the work meets client objectives and exceeds their expectations. Be proactive and act as a sounding board for clients. Negotiate and secure profitable account compensation, including time and material projects, retainers, fixed-fee and any other types of arrangements. Successfully onboard new clients when any new business is won.
• Business Strategy: Be a consultative partner to our clients, identifying areas of their business that require transformation or modernization. Leverage this strategic thinking to seek out new growth opportunities within your client portfolios, leveraging experts across our business to showcase capabilities and demonstrate thought-leadership. Maintain an active backlog of strategic pursuits to drive pipeline and organically build the top line revenue of the business.
• Collaboration: Work closely with and coordinate multiple organizational layers and stakeholders both internally and externally.  Foster collaborative working relationships with internal business groups, and interface with clients, partners, end users, and external stakeholders to understand their needs and incorporate feedback. Collaborate cross-functionally with business development, marketing, experience, technology and engineering leaders to gain market, and competitive insights, and translate that into outcomes that drive unique value propositions, differentiation, and market share growth. 

• +8 years of experience in consulting, account management or strategic client services roles, ideally within a consulting, digital, or technology services environment.
• Proven experience managing complex, multimillion-dollar accounts and working with C-suite stakeholders.
• Demonstrated expertise in driving strategic growth within a portfolio of existing or new accounts.
• Strong decision-making skills and the ability to have difficult conversations with confidence and poise are a must. 
• Comfortable operating in a high growth, entrepreneurial environment, is flexible and agile as business needs and goals shift
• Demonstrated knowledge of and passion for the industry.
• Ability to confidently persuade, present and champion ideas.

• Demonstrating organization, time management, and multi-tasking skills.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Solid negotiation skills.
• The ability to travel is required.
• Bachelor's degree, preferably in business management or administration, marketing, information technology, communications, public relations or related fields.

• Extended Healthcare Plan (Medical, Disability, Dental & Vision)
• RPP - Group RRSP
• Group Life - AD&D - Critical Illness Insurance
• Paid Time Off Benefits
• Work From Home - Flexible hours
• Training & Development
• Employee Discounts