Senior Director of Client Engagement

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Director of Client Engagement based in the United States.

This is a senior professional services leadership role focused on delivering exceptional outcomes across a portfolio of complex client engagements. You will oversee projects from initiation through completion, balancing client priorities, delivery quality, timelines, resources, and financial performance. The role combines executive-level relationship management with hands-on engagement leadership in a matrixed environment. You will guide consultants and project teams, build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, and proactively address delivery risks. You will also contribute to account strategy and identify opportunities to create additional value for clients. The position offers significant influence over client outcomes, service delivery practices, and long-term organizational growth.

Accountabilities

• Lead the successful delivery of professional services projects and interim leadership engagements, ensuring contracted deliverables, quality standards, timelines, and client outcomes are achieved.

• Manage engagement initiation, including workplan development, project launches, resource coordination, delivery expectations, and alignment with statements of work.

• Oversee multiple concurrent engagements while balancing client priorities, project complexity, organizational commitments, delivery risks, and available resources.

• Serve as the primary delivery contact for assigned clients, developing trusted relationships with executives, sponsors, project leaders, and other key stakeholders.

• Lead client meetings and project reviews, communicate progress, confirm priorities, gather feedback, resolve concerns, and maintain alignment between expectations and contracted services.

• Direct assigned consultants and project teams by establishing clear objectives, responsibilities, deadlines, communication standards, and quality expectations.

• Monitor milestones, deliverables, dependencies, risks, scope, and resource issues, taking timely action to keep engagements on track.

• Provide substantive performance feedback regarding assigned consultants and collaborate with Services and Resource Management leaders on capability, availability, performance, and staffing needs.

• Manage engagement economics, including forecasting, revenue recognition, utilization, scope, expenses, delivery efficiency, and gross margin performance.

• Maintain accurate workplans and forecasts, identify financial or delivery variances, and proactively communicate risks that could affect engagement performance.

• Identify emerging client needs and qualified opportunities for additional value, supporting account strategy, proposal development, solution design, and business development activities as appropriate.

• Contribute insights from client engagements, project outcomes, and lessons learned to improve service delivery, methodologies, tools, and professional services offerings.

• Represent client needs in cross-functional discussions and collaborate effectively with Client Engagement, Services, Resource Management, Commercial, and other teams.

• Travel to client sites as needed and take on additional responsibilities aligned with business requirements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.

• At least 5 years of experience in professional services, consulting, project or program delivery, or comparable client-services leadership, including responsibility for multiple concurrent engagements.

• At least 5 years of experience working in higher education or with organizations serving higher education institutions.

• Demonstrated ability to develop and manage project workplans, schedules, deliverables, risks, budgets, forecasts, and engagement economics.

• Experience leading and directing matrixed project teams, including consultants who do not directly report to you.

• Strong experience managing senior client relationships and communicating directly with executives and institutional decision-makers.

• Strong business and financial acumen, including knowledge of professional services revenue, utilization, forecasting, scope management, project economics, and gross margin.

• Ability to identify client needs and potential business opportunities while maintaining clear boundaries between delivery leadership and commercial ownership.

• Strong understanding of higher education trends, challenges, operating environments, and opportunities.

• Experience leading transformation initiatives within higher education or similarly complex organizations is preferred.

• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, facilitation, and executive communication skills.

• Strong judgment, problem-solving ability, and comfort navigating competing priorities, organizational dependencies, resource constraints, and complex client situations.

• Demonstrated ability to influence across organizational boundaries, establish accountability, collaborate effectively, and escalate issues appropriately.

• Strategic, results-oriented mindset with the ability to connect project execution to client outcomes, organizational performance, and long-term client value.

• 10+ years of progressively responsible professional services, consulting, client engagement, or higher education leadership experience is preferred.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation.

• Comprehensive benefits for full-time employees.

• Professional development opportunities.

• Fully remote and virtual work environment, with opportunities to work directly with clients when needed.

• Flexible work arrangements designed to support work-life balance.

• Exposure to a diverse range of projects, assignments, and client organizations across the United States and Canada.

• Meaningful work supporting higher education institutions and initiatives that can positively affect students and educators.

• Opportunities to contribute to charitable and community-focused initiatives.

• Significant visibility and influence across complex client engagements.

• Opportunity to develop professionally while working across varied consulting and transformation initiatives.

How Jobgether works:

We use an AI-powered matching process to ensure your application is reviewed quickly, objectively, and fairly against the role's core requirements. Our system identifies the top-fitting candidates, and this shortlist is then shared directly with the hiring company. The final decision and next steps (interviews, assessments) are managed by their internal team.

We appreciate your interest and wish you the best!

Data Privacy Notice: By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Jobgether will process your personal data to evaluate your candidacy and share relevant information with the hiring employer. This processing is based on legitimate interest and pre-contractual measures under applicable data protection laws (including GDPR). You may exercise your rights (access, rectification, erasure, objection) at any time.

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We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.