Account Director

 Sodexo Live! has a fantastic opportunity for a talented Account Director to lead our prestigious London cultural venues, the Royal Academy of Art and the Wallace Collection.You will guide, cultivate, and support direct reports throughout the venue cluster.  You will serve as the strategic liaison between our operational management teams and our clients and establish strong relationships with our partners that are based on trust and their confidence in Sodexo Live! delivering the optimum service. You will identify growth and development opportunities that deliver commercial success and strengthen venue partnerships. Your focus will be to balance operational service excellence with achievement of financial targets.We’re experience makers and food fanatics. Our experiences are unique, and so are our people. Bring personality, your background and your desire for delighting others. In return we’ll give you all you need to thrive, because at Sodexo Live! we’re so much more. Be part of something greater.MAIN RESPONSIBILITIESDrive innovation and continuous improvement of food, service, people and process.Maintain a customer focused approach to offer development that is defined by the quality of food and experience.Maximise the profitability of the contracts our operations, achieving financial and service level targets.Ensure a safe, compliant environment for our teams and customers by ensuring processes are followed and gaps identified and escalated to resolution. Support our business development function - prospecting, identifying growth opportunities, offer development for bids, mobilising contract wins.THE IDEAL CANDIDATEYou will have the drive to embrace the ethos and culture of Sodexo Live! in our London cultural venues and identify growth and development opportunities. You will have previous experience and the ability to manage multi-site operations with a blend of service styles. You will be an inspiring creative leader able to drive your team’s performance.  Strong senior operational experience will be key to your success as will your passion for food and exceptional service delivery.You will also have:Proven operational knowledge and experience in managing multi-site/multi service operations in a food and hospitality environmentExperience of working within a cultural destination would be an advantage but not essentialGood Excel and variance analysis skillsExcellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate with people at all levels of the businessStrong analytical and data-driven thinking A solid background in working with key stakeholders internally and externally to achieve targets and attending internal and external review meetings to present strategy and ongoing activity reportsExperience in financial reporting and commercial understandingProven experience in managing P&L accountsThe ability to achieve set standards and operate to performance criteria; for example health and safety, hygieneDesirableIOSH managing safely qualificationCIEH Level 3 qualification WHAT WE OFFER In return for your commitment and expertise you will be rewarded with a highly competitive salary starting from £65,000 dependant on experience, plus access to our extensive benefits package, which includes: Performance-related annual bonusFlexible benefits fund of £1300 per annumContributory pension scheme of up to 6% days holiday (FTE) + bank holidays– rising to 28 days after 3 yearsA buy and sell holiday scheme of up to 3 days (FTE)Volunteering days via our charity partner STOP HUNGERNumerous voluntary benefits, including dental care, gym discounts, retail / hospitality, and more