Senior Director of Client Engagement

Description

Essential Job Duties:

Client Engagement Leadership:

• Own the successful delivery of professional services projects and interim leader engagements within assigned accounts, ensuring contracted services, deliverables, quality standards, timelines, and expected client outcomes are achieved. 
• Lead all aspects of engagement initiation, including transition from contract to delivery, workplan development, project launch, establishment of delivery expectations, and coordination of assigned resources. 
• Develop and maintain clear, actionable workplans aligned with the statement of work, client priorities, project milestones, resource requirements, and expected outcomes. 
• Define engagement resource requirements and collaborate with Resource Management and Services leadership to identify appropriate resources and make adjustments as client or project needs change. 
• Orient, lead, and coach assigned project teams throughout the engagement, providing clear direction regarding project objectives, client expectations, deliverables, schedules, and work quality. 
• Monitor engagement performance, milestones, deliverables, risks, dependencies, and client issues and take timely action to keep projects progressing toward expected outcomes. 
• Identify and address project delays, scope concerns, client dependencies, resource issues, and other conditions that may affect successful delivery. 
• Manage project closeout, including confirming completion of contracted outcomes, capturing lessons learned, and identifying opportunities to improve future delivery. 
• Manage a portfolio of concurrent client engagements while appropriately balancing client priorities, project complexity, delivery risk, and organizational commitments.

Client Relationship Management:

• Serve as the primary point of contact for client stakeholders regarding professional services delivery within assigned accounts. 
• Build trusted relationships with client sponsors, executives, project leaders, and other stakeholders through regular communication, sound judgment, responsiveness, and a clear understanding of institutional priorities. 
• Lead regular client meetings and project reviews to communicate progress, confirm priorities, gather feedback, address concerns, and maintain alignment between client expectations and contracted services. 
• Understand clients' evolving needs and challenges and adjust engagement plans, within the boundaries of the contracted scope, to ensure work remains relevant and produces meaningful outcomes. 
• Help clients resolve barriers that may delay project progress, decisions, access to information, or achievement of expected outcomes. 
• Review project deliverables and work products to ensure they meet client expectations, demonstrate appropriate quality, and clearly communicate the impact and value of the work. 
• Act as a trusted advisor by helping client leaders connect project activities and recommendations to their broader institutional goals.

Project Team Leadership and Performance:

• Direct the work of consultants assigned to professional services engagements in alignment with the statement of work, project plan, client expectations, and CampusWorks standards. 
• Establish clear expectations for assigned project team members regarding responsibilities, deliverables, deadlines, client interaction, communication, and work quality. 
• Maintain regular communication with project team members to monitor progress, resolve barriers, ensure accountability, and support successful project delivery. 
• Provide timely, candid, and substantive performance feedback regarding assigned consultants to the appropriate Services leader for employees and Resource Management for independent contractors. 
• Promptly identify performance, capability, availability, or fit concerns that may affect engagement outcomes and work with Services and Resource Management leadership to determine appropriate action. 
• Partner with Services leadership regarding consultant capability and readiness while recognizing that formal supervision, professional development, and employee performance management reside within the Services organization. 
• Participate, as appropriate, in the identification, interviewing, and selection of consultants needed to meet specific client or engagement requirements.

Engagement Economics, Forecasting, and Resource Utilization:

• Manage the financial performance of assigned engagements within the levers available to Client Engagement, with a focus on timely revenue recognition, accurate forecasting, delivery efficiency, scope management, and gross margin performance. 
• Ensure engagements begin promptly and effectively following contract execution so that delivery and revenue recognition are not unnecessarily delayed. 
• Maintain accurate engagement workplans and forecasts and proactively manage conditions that may create revenue or delivery variance. 
• Monitor assigned consulting hours against the workplan and collaborate with project teams, clients, Resource Management, and Services leadership to address significant variances. 
• Manage project-specific utilization of assigned resources by ensuring consultant time is aligned with planned work, client availability, engagement milestones, and evolving project requirements. 
• Protect engagement economics by actively managing scope, avoiding unnecessary non-billable activity, monitoring travel and other project expenses, and promoting efficient delivery.
• Identify opportunities to deliver contracted outcomes more efficiently while maintaining quality, client satisfaction, and the integrity of the engagement. 
• Monitor gross margin performance against expectations established at contract signing and proactively identify and communicate risks that may affect financial performance.

Client Growth and Business Development Support:

• Listen for emerging client challenges, priorities, and unmet needs during normal delivery activities and identify opportunities where CampusWorks may be able to provide additional value. 
• Communicate qualified business development leads and client needs promptly to the appropriate Client Engagement or Commercial leader. 
• Provide delivery expertise, client context, and subject matter support to Client Engagement and Commercial teams as they evaluate potential opportunities. 
• Participate in client meetings, proposal development, finalist presentations, solution design, and other business development activities when delivery or subject matter expertise is needed. 
• Support account strategy in partnership with the Vice President of Client Engagement by providing insight into client priorities, organizational dynamics, project outcomes, emerging risks, and potential areas of future need. 
• Maintain appropriate separation between delivery leadership and commercial ownership. The Senior Director identifies and supports opportunities but does not own commercial negotiations, Salesforce opportunity management, contracting, or booking.

Portfolio and Service Improvement:

• Identify recurring delivery challenges, client needs, project risks, and successful practices across assigned engagements and share those insights with appropriate Client Engagement, Services, and organizational leaders. 
• Use project outcomes, client feedback, and lessons learned to recommend improvements to service delivery, engagement practices, tools, and supporting processes. 
• Contribute practical client and delivery insight to the continued evolution of CampusWorks' professional services offerings. 
• Collaborate across Client Engagement, Services, Resource Management, Commercial, and other functions to improve client outcomes while maintaining clear functional accountabilities. 
• Represent client and engagement needs in cross-functional discussions and proactively surface risks when organizational dependencies may affect client commitments. 

Additional Responsibilities

Travel to client sites, as needed
Other duties, as assigned.

Required Skills/Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to lead and direct matrixed project teams, including consultants who do not directly report to the position. 
• Demonstrated ability to provide clear direction, candid performance feedback, and effective coaching in a professional services environment. 
• Experience managing senior-level client relationships and working directly with executives and other institutional decision-makers. 
• Strong business and financial acumen, including understanding of professional services revenue, utilization, project economics, forecasting, scope management, and gross margin. 
• Demonstrated ability to identify client needs and business opportunities while maintaining appropriate boundaries between professional services delivery and commercial ownership. 
• Strong understanding of higher education trends, challenges, operating environments, and opportunities strongly preferred.
• Experience leading transformation initiatives within higher education or similarly complex organizations preferred. 
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, facilitation, and executive communication skills. 
• Strong judgment and the ability to navigate competing priorities, organizational dependencies, resource constraints, and complex client situations. 
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across organizational boundaries and achieve results through collaboration, influence, clear accountability, and timely escalation. 
• Strategic and results-oriented mindset with the ability to connect project execution to client outcomes, organizational performance, and long-term client value. 

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree, in a related field.
5+ years professional services, consulting, project/program delivery, or comparable client-services leadership experience, including responsibility for multiple concurrent client engagements.
5+ years experience working in higher education or in an organization serving higher education institutions.
Demonstrated experience developing and managing project workplans, schedules, deliverables, risks, budgets, forecasts, and engagement economics.

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressively responsible professional services, consulting, client engagement, or higher education leadership experience.
• Experience leading transformation initiatives within higher education or similarly complex organizations.

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