Orchard - VP, Client Services & Digital Transformation

The VP, Client Services and Digital Transformation owns end-to-end accountability for an account or account group: strategic and creative direction, client leadership and growth, and the program governance and commercial control needed to deliver against it. This role combines what was previously split across a Group Business Director (strategy, client relationship, new business) and a Programme Lead (release planning, dependency mapping, delivery governance, commercial rhythm), consolidating strategic ownership and delivery governance into a single accountable lead.
Responsibilities
Strategy & Growth
Write proposals, strategies and briefs that inspire great work and meet clients' overall business and marketing objectives.
Understand the business needs and identify opportunities to shape the digital transformation roadmap spanning CX, data, and platforms.
Lead planning and forecasting of client plans, aligned to the digital transformation or integrated roadmap.
Advise clients and agency teams on the latest digital and AI-enabled innovations.
Inspire creative thinking, judge creative ideas, and hold the bar on quality of thinking as well as delivery.
Program Governance & Delivery
Own the integrated roadmap and release calendar across UX, engineering, content, analytics, and agency partners.
Run cross-program cadences; maintain decision, dependency, and change logs.
Keep all projects on schedule and within scope, partnering with strategy and delivery teams day to day.
Identify and embed new ways of working that let the team deliver quality work faster and more cost-effectively.
Build a delivery model that scales across multiple brands and stakeholders without becoming person-dependent.
Quality & Release Readiness
Align non-functional requirements, security, analytics, and QA readiness across streams.
Institutionalise go-live checklists and DNP (do-not-proceed) tracking; drive post-release retrospectives.
Regulated Digital Delivery
Lead delivery in environments where review cycles, compliance requirements, and approval workflows are critical, ensuring plans account for regulatory and legal review, stakeholder sign-off, and market-specific complexity.
Maintain high standards of documentation, decision tracking, and change visibility across all workstreams.
Balance speed and quality with client-led compliance processes.
Commercial & Resourcing Management
Align team capacity to the roadmap; manage forecasts, invoicing rhythms, and revenue phasing.
Standardise estimation practices and enforce change control across workstreams.
Own budget and resource planning, allocation, and management, in association with Directors.
Ensure clients are efficiently and accurately charged for work performed.
Own portfolio financial health including forecasting, burn tracking, margin awareness, and early identification of budget, timeline, or margin risk, with recovery plans in place.
Spot and qualify new work opportunities early, shaping scope and commercial approach before a formal brief lands.
Client & Stakeholder Leadership
Maintain a single program-level source of truth: RAG status by track, KPIs, runway, and key decisions.
Operate across multiple business units and brand teams within a single enterprise client, translating fragmented stakeholder agendas into one coherent ecosystem vision.
Partner with Project Management on scope, commercials, and senior stakeholder alignment.
Provide communications counsel and strategic advice to each client; develop strong relationships with senior client stakeholders.
Solve client service problems before they escalate, and communicate concerns to the agency team where needed.
Have the presence and skill to present and sell agency ideas and work at a senior level.
Team Leadership & Capability
Manage and direct the account and delivery team to consistently deliver brilliant work.
Train, support, mentor, and develop the professional competencies of the wider team; drive group performance.
Maintain an effective, collaborative team culture and a climate of creativity and innovation.
Run regular team meetings to review progress, surface problems, and correct course.
Operate across multiple projects and clients at once without losing quality or control.
New Business & Account Growth
Proactively grow the accounts allocated under remit.
Seek opportunities for additional service offerings within the current client portfolio.
Lead and drive new business efforts in response to new client briefs and pitch opportunities.
What You’ll Bring
Must have
Extensive experience leading complex digital delivery in an agency or consulting environment; 10+ years.
Strong track record managing large portfolios with multiple concurrent workstreams and senior stakeholders
Working knowledge of digital platforms, CMS-led delivery, CRM ecosystems, content production, and integrated campaign execution.
Comfortable working at the intersection of strategy and technical architecture with demonstrated ability in asking sharp questions, learns fast, and translates technical constraints into client-ready narrative and back again.
Strong commercial judgement with confidence in forecasting, scoping, change control, opportunity shaping, and proposal development.
Highly regarded
Experience in regulated or approval-heavy environments such as health, pharma, animal health, or similarly complex sectors.
Ability to translate ambiguity into clear plans, structure, and team actions.
Confident client operator who can handle senior stakeholders with calm, clarity, and credibility.
Strong leadership skills with experience developing delivery talent and raising standards across a team.
High attention to detail without losing sight of the bigger commercial and delivery picture.
A pragmatic, hands-on leadership style: structured, collaborative, and accountable.

Employment type
Full-time

Work arrangement
Hybrid