Client Director – Public Health

About Softwire

Softwire is one of the UK’s leading digital technology consultancies, offering services in data, AI, cloud, CX, innovation, design and software engineering. We deliver high-profile, mission critical, and transformational projects for household names across the public and private sectors.

Softwire was founded on one simple idea: be the outstanding place to work for smart, passionate technologists who want to make an impact. Attract the best, create a culture where people thrive, and offer our customers access to capabilities that are truly market leading.

And it seems to be working – We were recently voted number 1 company to work for in the UK at the Best Company awards; we employ outstanding people across all capabilities (typical destinations after Softwire include Google, DeepMind, start-up founder, algorithmic trading, and AI research roles); and we have helped our clients deliver some of the hardest, most interesting tech programmes, across private and public sectors.

A big part of this is our culture and values and we are looking for people who share our core beliefs about what makes a great place to work:

That by being trusting and trustworthy as an organisation and as individuals we can dispense with tedious bureaucracy and rules

• That if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly
• That work should be fulfilling but can also be fun
• That kindness matters and should be extended to employees and clients alike
• That by being trusting and trustworthy as an organisation and as individuals we can dispense with tedious bureaucracy and rules

The role

We are looking for a Client Director – Public Healthcare to grow our presence in the NHS and public health sector. You will form part of the Public Sector Senior Leadership Team, working alongside the Delivery Director. You’ll report to the Director of Public Sector, and will input in to and execute on our Public Sector strategy. Collectively, this team is responsible for a growing portfolio of £30m+ per year.

We have a mature and successful offering with strong relationships across wider public sector, and successful multi-million pound engagements delivering high quality outcomes for citizens and government. We have a good foothold within public health, and plan to significantly expand both our capabilities and our scale. We are looking for someone to lead this exciting opportunity for growth.

We are currently on the Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) framework, GCloud, TS3 (via a partner), DCFH2, and the DALAS framework (HMRC). We plan to expand to other frameworks in the future.

You Will Be Responsible For

Portfolio approach and execution

• Maintaining and expanding our access to the market via frameworks and partnerships, including proactively mapping and identifying new opportunities and leading application processes.
• Define and execute a strategy for growth within public health, identifying target customers and new areas of work both as an individual contributor, and through direction-setting wider efforts
• Working with the Director of Public Sector to define our strategy for expanding and extending our capabilities and service offering in response to market opportunities and changes in buyer needs.
• Agreeing and delivering on overall performance targets, including maintaining a substantial pipeline of upcoming work

Relationship development and thought leadership

• Building our network within public health
• Leveraging this network and contacts to deliver better value, establish Softwire’s reputation for quality, and ultimately to win more work.
• Leading our thought leadership and brand building efforts in the public health sector.

Bid strategy and major account management

• Leading cross-functional bid and pitch teams. Being the focal point for our bid and pitch strategy, win themes, overall content and quality, and the success of the bid.
• Overseeing presales including supporting training, capacity planning, and day to day management.
• Owning senior relationships at major accounts and taking personal responsibility for client spend, loyalty and growth. You may also lead and support others to do the same.
• Working alongside our delivery team on account management to ensure clients receive a great service and experience.
• Monitoring and hitting our margin and profitability goals, including leading strategy for rate cards.

You will be measured against the scale, growth, and profitability of the Central Government portfolio.

About You

• You have 8+ years of experience in client commercial roles and at least 5 years experience working within public health in a commercial role.  You have a strong empathetic understanding of key ways-of-working, problems, and trends within government and can have peer level conversations about what ‘great’ looks like.
• You have strong bid and pitch skills and have a track record of leading and winning high-margin £1m+ bids and pitches for design and technology services in central government.
• You are comfortable leading bid teams to identify win themes, envisioning what great looks like for this client, tailoring our services and offering to them, and then creating compelling narratives that explain how we will help and why they should choose us.
• You have demonstrated that you can build relationships with senior stakeholders based on trust and credibility
• You are collaborative and your default approach is to work as a team, openly sharing information, resources and comms. You are comfortable in a culture which values and rewards collective success over personal attribution and that takes a “One Team” approach to everything we do.
• You take a can-do approach and don’t mind getting your hands dirty and leaning into issues and opportunities that you identify. You don’t need a perfect environment to thrive and where there are problems, you take a positive approach to making them better.

What We Offer

Package

Softwire operates transparent pay scales and a profit share scheme based on role and overall company performance.

• Highly competitive base salary based on experience in a similar role and ranges based on experience.
• You can expect to receive a substantial profit share based on company performance.
• Pension: Additional 5% of salary.

Additional benefits

• 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy 10 and sell 5)
• 3.5 days additional days off for company-wide morale activities
• AIG income protection
• Travel card loan scheme
• Zero emission car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme 
• Enhanced maternity/paternity pay
• Time off for charitable activities
• Sabbatical available on request
• Payroll charity donations
• Headspace plus
• Free annual eye test
• Long service awards

Flexible working options and patterns

• (Flexible Working: The role is suitable for people who want to work 4dpw)
• (Hybrid Working: Generally able to work at least 2dpw from home)

Flexibility

We are a flexible employer who understands that being committed to a job is not the same as sacrificing everything for it: a holiday is a holiday; if you need flexibility for life stuff that’s not a problem; and we don’t expect (or want) long hours – we believe in a good work/life balance.