Principal, Accounts

Job Description

London

3 days in the office, 2 days wherever

Why this job matters

We’re in an exciting period of transformation as we build our in-house creative agency to deliver world-class work across our brands.

As our Principal of Accounts, you’ll lead and shape how we partner with stakeholders and drive impact. You’ll ensure exceptional service, strategic partnership, and flawless execution. This is a unique opportunity to influence the future of our creative capability and play a pivotal role in our success story.

What you’ll be doing - your accountabilities

• Strategic Leadership & Direction- Lead and shape the agency’s account management strategy and vision, champion client service excellence, and build strong stakeholder relationships to deliver creative solutions aligned with business objectives.
• Team Leadership & Development- Leading, developing and managing account teams, ensuring successful project delivery, and fostering strong senior stakeholder relationships.
• Stakeholder Relationship Management- Build and maintain strategic relationships with senior leaders, act as a key escalation point, champion agency value, and navigate organizational complexity to drive success.
• Business Performance & Accountability – Drive commercial performance and delivery excellence by leading account teams, ensuring projects meet time, budget, and quality standards while optimizing resources and identifying growth opportunities.
• Strategic Planning & Prioritisation - Drive strategic planning and resource alignment by partnering with brand stakeholders, prioritizing work based on business impact, balancing competing demands, and forecasting capacity needs with operations.
• Agency Positioning & Reputation - Drive the agency’s reputation as a strategic partner by showcasing successes, ensuring exceptional client service, representing externally, and identifying growth opportunities.
• Process & Service Excellence - Lead the development of best-in-class account management and project delivery by defining standards, driving continuous improvement, and ensuring seamless stakeholder communication and service delivery.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration - Build strategic alignment and foster seamless collaboration across creative, operations, brand, and production teams to drive an integrated, high-performing agency culture.
• Problem Solving & Escalation Management - Manage complex stakeholder relationships, resolving conflicts, mitigating project risks, and making strategic decisions to protect priorities, resources, and organizational reputation.

The skills and experience you'll have under your belt

• Considerable expertise in account management, client services, or partnerships, including senior leadership of account teams and large portfolios
• Experience in in-house agency leadership across multiple brands or business units, including transformation or scaling capabilities
• Demonstrated success in driving business results and managing multi-million-pound client relationships or budgets, ideally in telecoms, technology, or complex B2C organisations
• Exceptional ability to build trust and influence senior stakeholders across complex organizational dynamics; skilled in managing competing priorities and navigating sensitive conversations with diplomacy.
• Strong business and financial understanding, including P&L management, financial accountability and ROI delivery.
• Ability to connect creative and brand strategies to business outcomes and anticipate future market needs.
• Excelling in communication across all seniority levels, presenting compellingly and inspiring confidence in agency capabilities.
• Commitment to delivering exceptional client service and driving continuous improvement.
• Understanding agency operations, resource management, and workflow to balance creative excellence with efficiency.
• Experienced in coaching and mentoring senior leaders, succession planning, and fostering inclusive team culture.
• Natural collaborator who builds bridges across teams and respects creative processes while representing business needs.
• Skilled in presenting to boards or executive teams, with industry recognition or thought leadership in account management and active engagement with industry trends and professional networks
• Degree-level education in business, marketing, communications, or related field; MBA desirable

Benefits

• Annual on target bonus 15% (based on both personal and company performance)
• Private healthcare for you and your family
• £5500 car or cash allowance
• BT Pension scheme; minimum 5% employee contribution, BT contribution 10%
• 25 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays with the option to buy up to one week's work of your contracted hours. This will also increase with service.
• 2 weeks carer’s leave
• From January 2025, all parents welcoming a new child will be eligible for our new Family Leave policy. You will receive 18 weeks at full pay, eight weeks at half pay and 26 weeks at the statutory rate. It is for all parents, no matter how your family is made.
• Enhanced women’s health support: including help with menopause symptoms, cancer screenings, period care and more.
• Life Assurance (4 x life cover pay)
• Exclusive colleague discounts on our latest and greatest BT broadband packages
• 50% off EE mobile pay monthly or SIM only plans and 50% discount for friends and family on EE SIM only plans.
• My Discounts gives colleagues access to unbeatable savings on everyday purchases at hundreds of retailers.
• Discounted EE TV including TNT Sport and the NOW Entertainment membership.
• Option to join the Healthcare Cash Plan or other benefits such as dental insurance, gym memberships etc.
• Volunteering days so you can give back to your local community.
• Brand new electric vehicle salary sacrifice arrangement, known as ‘My EV.’
• 24/7 private virtual GP appointments for UK colleagues

About us

BT Group was the world’s first telco and our heritage in the sector is unrivalled. As home to several of the UK’s most recognised and cherished brands – BT, EE, Openreach and Plusnet, we have always played a critical role in creating the future, and we have reached an inflection point in the transformation of our business.

Over the next two years, we will complete the UK’s largest and most successful digital infrastructure project – connecting more than 25 million premises to full fibre broadband. Together with our heavy investment in 5G, we play a central role in revolutionising how people connect with each other.

While we are through the most capital-intensive phase of our fibre investment, meaning we can reward our shareholders for their commitment and patience, we are absolutely focused on how we organise ourselves in the best way to serve our customers in the years to come. This includes radical simplification of systems, structures, and processes on a huge scale. Together with our application of AI and technology, we are on a path to creating the UK’s best telco, reimagining the customer experience and relationship with one of this country’s biggest infrastructure companies.

Change on the scale we will all experience in the coming years is unprecedented. BT Group is committed to being the driving force behind improving connectivity for millions and there has never been a more exciting time to join a company and leadership team with the skills, experience, creativity, and passion to take this company into a new era.

A FEW POINTS TO NOTE:

Although these roles are listed as full-time, if you’re a job share partnership, work reduced hours, or any other way of working flexibly, please still get in touch.

We will also offer reasonable adjustments for the selection process if required, so please do not hesitate to inform us.

DON'T MEET EVERY SINGLE REQUIREMENT?

Studies have shown that women and people who are disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse or from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification and criteria. We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace where everyone can be their best, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement on the Job Description, please apply anyway - you may just be the right candidate for this or other roles in our wider team.