Senior Client Manager

Role summary

This six-month contract is for a senior client-facing professional to act as the main contact for a portfolio of drinks, luxury, and hospitality accounts. The position combines relationship ownership with hands-on delivery, so you will be expected to contribute at both a strategic and operational level. You will be involved in trade advocacy, brand experience, and strategic campaign work, bringing commercial judgement, creative input, and delivery discipline to each project. The role reports primarily to Leila Ghazai, Associate Director, and works closely with Steve Sandom, Client Director, plus the Creative, Production, and Advocacy teams.

About the company

Sweet&Chilli is a creative and experiential agency with offices in London, Sydney, Los Angeles, Singapore, Sao Paolo, and Paris. Established in 2003, the business has a long history of working with major names across drinks and hospitality, while continuing to expand into new sectors, services, and client partnerships through strategy, content, and advocacy-led campaigns. The UK team is organised around two client-facing areas, Event Production and Creative Strategy, with support from Client Services, Finance, and Logistics. The business places strong emphasis on its people, collaboration, bold ideas, fresh thinking, and an inclusive culture that helps keep the agency competitive in a fast-moving marketing environment.

What the role involves

You will be expected to manage clients and projects as one connected responsibility rather than as separate tasks. A successful person in this role will be comfortable leading a client discussion in the morning and building timelines, budgets, or reconciliations in the afternoon. The work is office-based at the London headquarters, with substantial time spent in client meetings, on site visits, and at live events.

Responsibilities

• Act as the senior contact for assigned clients and guide the relationship with confidence and authority.
• Develop a strong understanding of each client’s business, including their strategy, competitors, market shifts, and commercial priorities.
• Lead meetings, set agendas, direct discussions, and make sure actions and ownership are clearly recorded.
• Communicate in a proactive and precise way so clients get the information they need without unnecessary noise.
• Create persuasive proposals, briefs, and post-campaign reports that reflect strategic insight and sector knowledge.
• Spot opportunities to deepen client relationships and expand the scope of work.
• Run projects from initial brief through to final reconciliation across strategy, advocacy, and brand experience work.
• Manage timelines, critical paths, and trackers, and address risks before they become problems.
• Maintain all core project documents, including briefs, budgets, status updates, running orders, and supplier purchase orders.
• Coordinate delivery across internal teams, clients, suppliers, venues, and freelancers.
• Take a leadership role on site during live events and ensure delivery meets agency standards.
• Reconcile budgets accurately and provide financial updates internally and to clients.
• Maintain control over budgets, billing schedules, profitability, and resource allocation.
• Build budgets for both straightforward and more complex projects.
• Track spend and resourcing to prevent overspend and confidently explain financial status to clients.
• Follow all finance-related procedures, including system updates and supplier documentation.
• Collaborate with department heads on resourcing and delivery across multiple live workstreams.
• Contribute ideas in creative brainstorms and support new business thinking.
• Help uphold internal processes and the standard of working expected across the client services team.
• Keep your manager updated on account status, risks, and opportunities.

Requirements

• Experience in an agency client services role, ideally within creative, experiential events, or integrated marketing.
• Industry experience in drinks or hospitality is essential.
• A proven history of handling complex campaigns and live events end to end, from brief to completion.
• Confidence in senior client communication, including meeting leadership, strategic input, and expectation management.
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to manage budgets and identify ways to grow accounts.
• Excellent organisation and the ability to prioritise across several projects and stakeholders at once.
• Comfort with being both strategic and highly hands-on in day-to-day delivery.
• Good working knowledge of Office 365.
• Experience using Scoro or a similar project management system would be beneficial.
• Strong genuine interest in drinks, hospitality, and brand experience.

Perks and benefits

• Discount package that includes 50% off drinks and 25% off food for up to four guests at Nine Lives, the company’s neighbourhood cocktail bar.
• Paid volunteer and inspiration days.
• Team drinks at Nine Lives.
• Office stocked with fruit and coffee.
• Flexible working pattern with three days in the studio and two days from home, plus flexible start times at the manager’s discretion.

Working pattern

Standard working hours are Monday to Friday, 09:30 to 18:00. The usual rhythm is in the office on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and working from home on Wednesday and Friday, although internal and client meetings take priority over the home-working arrangement. The role is primarily based at the company’s London office, with regular time spent at client meetings, site visits, and live events.

Application instructions

Applicants should send a CV and a short covering letter by email, and answer the two screening questions provided in the job brief. The closing date for applications is Tuesday 7 July 2026. Recruitment agencies are not being used for this vacancy.

Screening questions

• Describe a client relationship you managed from start to finish and explain what value you added beyond simply delivering the work.
• Share an example of a project that went off track and how you handled the situation with both the client and your internal team.

Additional information

The agency describes itself as people-focused, collaborative, and committed to diversity and inclusion. This position is intended for someone who can combine senior client presence with detailed delivery capability and contribute to both account growth and day-to-day execution.