Strategic Accounts Manager

About Us

Clayco is a full-service, turnkey real estate development, master planning, architecture, engineering, and construction firm that safely delivers clients across North America the highest quality solutions on time, on budget, and above and beyond expectations. With $8.1 billion in revenue for 2025, Clayco specializes in the "art and science of building," providing fast track, efficient solutions for mission critical, industrial, life sciences, power & energy, aviation, commercial, institutional, residential and sports & entertainment related building projects.

About Consolidated Distribution Company (CDC)

• Clayco’s Consolidated Distribution Company (CDC) uses its extensive relationships to secure competitive pricing and product availability. By negotiating with top brands and manufacturers, CDC provides cost-effective solutions for construction equipment, materials, and finishes. It excels in managing complex projects through strategic sourcing and mass purchasing, offering integrated design, and purchasing power for both internal and external clients.

The Role We Want You For

The Strategic Account Manager — Business Unit and Projects serves as the primary point of contact and relationship owner between CDC and the client’s project leadership team for assigned Business Unit and Projects. The Account Manager provides the client with a single, accountable point of contact for all CDC-provided products and services, eliminating the need for the client to navigate CDC’s organizational structure to obtain answers, resolve issues, or understand delivery status.

The Account Manager coordinates across CDC’s Mechanical, Architectural, Electrical, Structural, and Rental procurement, and supporting functions to ensure CDC’s commitments remain aligned with the project’s scope, schedule, budget, quality, and delivery requirements. The role brings the appropriate department directors and subject-matter experts together, establishes accountability, drives issue resolution, and provides the client and CDC leadership with a consolidated view of project health.

The Account Manager also serves as the strategic owner of the client relationship for the assigned account, establishing an account plan, mapping key stakeholders, understanding the client’s broader business and procurement strategy, and ensuring CDC’s internal priorities remain aligned with the client’s evolving needs and future project pipeline.

The role is expected to balance client advocacy with CDC’s commercial interests by maintaining visibility into account performance, contractual commitments, changes, risks, opportunities, and customer satisfaction, while partnering with the appropriate functional leaders for technical, commercial, and procurement decisions.

The Specifics of the Role

The Strategic Account Manager is the front door to CDC for the assigned Business Unit and Projects and the connective point between the client, CDC department directors, and executive leadership. The Account Manager should establish a predictable governance model for the relationship, including stakeholder mapping, meeting cadence, escalation paths, account reviews, decision logs, and clear ownership of client commitments.

Client Relationship & Single Point of Contact

• Serve as the primary CDC point of contact for the client’s project leadership team.
• Own the day-to-day strategic relationship with key client stakeholders, including project executives, project managers, procurement leaders, construction managers, and other decision-makers.
• Establish a clear communication channel so the client has one reliable contact for CDC-related questions, issues, commitments, and escalations.
• Understand the client’s overall project objectives, priorities, expectations, and critical success factors.
• Represent CDC’s capabilities, commitments, and value proposition to the client.
• Proactively monitor client satisfaction and address concerns before they escalate.

Cross-Functional Project Leadership

• Coordinate CDC’s Mechanical, Architectural, Electrical, Structural, and Rental procurement, and supporting departments around the requirements of the assigned project.
• Work with department directors to establish clear ownership, deliverables, responsibilities, dependencies, and deadlines.
• Ensure each CDC function understands how its deliverables affect the broader project schedule and downstream construction activities.
• Drive alignment when project requirements cross organizational or departmental boundaries.
• Ensure CDC communicates a consistent position and coordinated response to the client.

Product, Procurement & Delivery Management

• Maintain overall visibility of CDC products, materials, equipment, and services required to support the project.
• Partner with department directors and procurement teams to ensure products are properly specified, approved, released, ordered, manufactured, shipped, and delivered in accordance with project requirements.
• Track critical procurement, production, logistics, and delivery milestones against the project schedule.
• Maintain visibility into long-lead items and other materials or services that could affect the critical path.
• Identify procurement, manufacturing, transportation, or delivery risks before they affect project execution.
• Coordinate recovery plans when products or deliverables are at risk of missing required dates.
• Ensure changes to project requirements are communicated to the appropriate CDC teams and incorporated into delivery plans.
• Maintain visibility into procurement constraints, supplier capacity, lead times, pricing movements, and other market conditions that could materially affect the client’s project or CDC’s commitments.

Project Schedule & Milestone Accountability

• Develop and maintain a clear understanding of the client’s master project schedule and CDC’s associated commitments.
• Translate major project milestones into specific CDC deliverables, dependencies, and required completion dates.
• Establish and maintain a CDC-specific milestone plan aligned with the client’s schedule.
• Lead regular cross-functional reviews of upcoming milestones, deliverables, procurement status, and potential constraints.
• Monitor performance against critical milestones and proactively identify schedule risk.
• Coordinate recovery strategies when CDC deliverables fall behind plan.
• Ensure CDC priorities remain aligned with changes to the client’s overall project schedule.
  

Issue Resolution & Escalation

• Own the coordination and resolution process for client issues involving multiple CDC departments.
• Serve as the escalation point when an issue cannot be resolved at the functional level.
• Bring the appropriate department directors and subject-matter experts together to develop solutions.
• Establish clear action owners, deadlines, and follow-up for significant project issues.
• Track open issues through resolution and communicate status to the client.
• Proactively identify emerging issues rather than waiting for the client or project team to raise them.

Scope, Change & Commercial Awareness

• Maintain a working understanding of CDC’s contracted scope and deliverables for each assigned project.
• Ensure CDC teams understand changes to project scope, requirements, and client expectations.
• Coordinate internally when changes may affect cost, schedule, procurement, manufacturing, or delivery.
• Identify potential out-of-scope requests and ensure they are appropriately communicated and addressed.
• Partner with CDC leadership on change management, commercial opportunities, and potential project exposure.
• Maintain visibility into project-level financial and commercial performance where applicable.

Project Communication & Reporting

• Establish a consistent communication cadence with the client and internal CDC leadership.
• Lead or participate in regular project coordination and executive-level meetings as appropriate.
• Provide consolidated status updates covering milestones, procurement, product delivery, open issues, schedule risks, changes, client concerns, and required decisions.
• Ensure CDC leadership has an accurate and timely view of project health.
• Maintain appropriate documentation of key decisions, commitments, risks, action items, and escalations.
• Develop and maintain an executive-level account dashboard covering customer priorities, project health, commitments, risks, commercial exposure, open issues, key decisions, and upcoming milestones.
• Establish recurring executive business reviews with the client when appropriate, using agreed performance measures and action plans to strengthen transparency and accountability.

Risk Management

• Proactively identify risks that could affect CDC’s ability to meet project commitments.
• Maintain visibility into critical risks across all CDC departments supporting the project.
• Evaluate potential impacts to cost, schedule, quality, delivery, and client relationships.
• Develop mitigation strategies with the appropriate functional leaders.
• Ensure significant risks are communicated to CDC leadership and, when appropriate, the client.
• Monitor mitigation plans through completion and verify that corrective actions are effective.

Internal Leadership & Accountability

• Establish a culture of accountability across the project-supporting functions.
• Create clarity around ownership of major project deliverables and commitments.
• Hold cross-functional teams accountable to agreed milestones and action plans through influence and coordination.
• Facilitate decision-making when multiple departments are involved.
• Ensure the project receives the appropriate level of CDC leadership attention based on size, complexity, and risk.
• Serve as the conduit between the client, project team, department directors, and CDC leadership.
• Ensure internal teams understand not only what must be delivered, but why the commitment matters to the client’s construction sequence, business objectives, and overall project success.

Strategic Account Development

• Identify opportunities for CDC to support additional projects, services, or business needs.
• Maintain continuity of the client relationship across multiple projects.
• Use lessons learned from current projects to strengthen future project execution and client relationships.
• Develop and maintain a strategic account plan for assigned Business Unit and Projects, including client objectives, key stakeholders, relationship health, growth opportunities, competitive considerations, risks, and action plans.
• Map and strengthen relationships across multiple levels of the client organization, including executive leadership, procurement, engineering, construction, operations, finance, and other influential stakeholders.
• Maintain visibility into the client’s capital program, upcoming procurements, bid opportunities, and project pipeline to support early engagement and coordinated business development.
• Partner with business development and leadership on pursuit strategy, client presentations, proposals, negotiations, and account expansion opportunities as appropriate.

Contract, Compliance & Governance Coordination

• Maintain awareness of required client documentation, approvals, submittals, certifications, insurance/compliance requirements, and other account-level obligations that could affect delivery or commercial standing.

Accountability & Organizational Alignment

The Account Manager provides project-level coordination and client leadership without replacing the functional authority of CDC department directors. The role is designed to connect CDC’s functions and create a single point of accountability from the client’s perspective.

Account Manager Owns

• Client relationship and primary communication
• Overall CDC project coordination
• Cross-functional alignment
• Project-level milestone visibility
• Issue coordination and escalation
• Consolidated project status and risk visibility
• Ensuring the right CDC leaders are engaged
• Strategic account plan, stakeholder map, account governance and customer experience
• Account-level opportunity visibility and coordination of growth pursuits

Department Directors / Functional Leaders Own

• Technical and functional execution
• Functional resources and staffing
• Technical decisions and subject-matter expertise
• Department-level plans and processes
• Resolution within the functional discipline
• Functional quality and operational performance
• Functional procurement / production decisions
• Functional strategy and execution within each discipline
• Technical/commercial ownership of specific proposals, bids, contracts and scopes

Business Unit & Project Leadership Expectations

• Coordinate multiple CDC departments simultaneously across a complex construction environment.
• Understand the relationship between procurement, manufacturing, logistics, delivery, and the overall construction schedule.
• Operate effectively in a high-pressure, schedule-driven environment.

Measures of Success

• The client has one clear and reliable point of contact for CDC.
• CDC departments are aligned around project priorities, commitments, and critical milestones.
• Critical products and services are delivered in accordance with project requirements.
• Procurement, production, logistics, and delivery risks are identified and addressed before they impact the project.
• CDC consistently meets or recovers critical project milestones.
• Client issues are resolved quickly, with clear ownership and communication.
• Cross-functional issues are escalated appropriately and do not become recurring problems.
• The client experiences CDC as one coordinated organization rather than a collection of individual departments.
• Strong client relationships support repeat business and future project opportunities.
• Account health, customer satisfaction, strategic opportunities, and key relationship risks are visible to CDC leadership.
• Client executive reviews result in documented actions, decisions, and measurable follow-through.
• The account generates actionable intelligence on customer needs, upcoming projects, procurement strategy, and market opportunities.

Preferred Qualifications & Experience

• 10+ years of experience in construction, engineering, manufacturing, procurement, project management, account management, or a related industry.
• Experience supporting large-scale construction projects, complex capital projects, or other highly coordinated project environments.
• Demonstrated experience managing senior client relationships and serving as a primary point of contact.Strong understanding of project schedules, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, and construction delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple departments and influence leaders without direct authority.
• Strong problem-solving, communication, negotiation, and escalation-management skills.
• Ability to interpret project requirements, identify risk, and translate client expectations into actionable internal commitments.
• Experience with project management, ERP, procurement, scheduling, or reporting systems is preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in construction management, engineering, business, supply chain, or a related field is preferred.
• Experience managing strategic or national accounts, enterprise customers, or clients with complex procurement and governance structures.
• Experience working directly with general contractors, construction managers, owners/developers, EPC firms, or other major construction stakeholders.
• Demonstrated understanding of construction procurement processes, including RFP/RFQ activity, bid evaluation, supplier/subcontractor coordination, long-lead materials, change management, and delivery risk.
• Experience developing account plans, executive business reviews, customer dashboards, CRM pipelines, or similar account-governance tools.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, including the ability to understand pricing, margin, contract exposure, forecasted revenue, and account-level performance without being the functional owner of those activities.
• Proficiency with ERP, project management, scheduling, and reporting platforms; advanced Excel or equivalent data-analysis capability preferred.

Leadership Behaviors

• Client-focused — anticipates needs and builds trust through reliable communication and follow-through.
• Accountable — takes ownership of outcomes and does not allow issues to fall between departments.
• Collaborative — brings the right people together and builds alignment across functional boundaries.
• Proactive — identifies risk early and acts before issues affect the project.
• Decisive — drives timely decisions and escalates appropriately when authority or resources are required.
• Strategic — understands the broader project, client relationship, and long-term business opportunity.
• Transparent — communicates status, risk, and issues clearly and without delay.
• Commercially aware — protects the company’s interests while maintaining a strong, transparent client relationship.
• Executive-minded — communicates effectively with senior leaders and understands when an issue requires executive attention.
• Data-informed — uses account, project, procurement, financial, and customer-performance information to prioritize action.

Some Things You Should Know

• This position is an office-based role.
• Regular travel will be required.
• No other builder can offer the collaborative design-build approach that Clayco does.
• We work on creative, complex, award-winning, high-profile jobs.
• The pace is fast!

Why Clayco?

At Clayco, we don't just build world-class structures; we build thriving careers. Grounded in our mantra, "Beyond These Walls," we are consistently recognized as an industry leader and a premier employer across North America. Our recent accolades include:

• Consistently Named a "Best Place to Work" across major metropolitan hubs, including Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.
• Top-Tier National Contractor: Annually ranked by ENR as a Top 3 Data Center Contractor, a Top 5 Design-Build Firm, and a Top 5 Green Contractor.
• Regional Industry Leader: Regularly named the \#1 Midwest Contractor by ENR.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position considers a wide range of factors in making compensation decisions including but not limited to: Education, qualifications, skills, training, experience, certifications, internal equity, and location. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for the role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.

Discretionary Annual Bonus: Subject to company and individual performance.

Comprehensive Benefits Package Including: Medical, dental and vision plans, 401k, generous PTO and paid company holidays, employee assistance program, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability coverage, learning & development programs and more!