Client Success Lead

Kene Partners are award-winning R&D funding advisors who believe in client service excellence delivered through a blend of talent and technology. Kene Partners is a certified B Corp, member of the Chartered Institute for Taxation and a Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2024.

The government previously provided £7.6bn of support to the most innovative companies in the UK in the tax year 2021 to 2022 and announced plans to increase the support available to £39.8bn between 2022 and 2025. With this level of support available to companies, Kene Partners wants to continue to facilitate supporting innovative companies year on year.  

At Kene Partners, our vision is to empower innovative businesses in the UK to continue to grow and thrive. We want to maximise business owners’ ability to keep pushing boundaries and reinvesting in the futures of their businesses.  

This is an ambitious goal and achieving it requires an equally ambitious team. As such we’re looking for exceptional people excited by the prospect of building something that matters to join the team.

We are seeking a Client Success Lead to develop our Client Success Team at Kene Partners. In this role, you will be the primary point of contact for our clients, ensuring their success and satisfaction throughout their R&D claims process with us. Additionally, you will be responsible for growing the team's capabilities to explore our broader innovation services and foster relationships with our strategic partners. 

In this role, you should be an excellent communicator with a commercial mindset who is able to grasp customer needs and brainstorm ways to fulfil them. Your goal will be to help us safeguard our revenue whilst retaining our current clients and leveraging our world class consulting service to generate new business.  

The four pillars  

• Client Retention 
• Revenue generation – identifying opportunities for our other funding advisory products as well as generating referrals through our existing client base.  
• Client journey improvements, monitoring and feedback.  
• Team Collaboration & Support  

Day-to-day:  

 Collaborate with Key Teams: 

• Work closely with Management, Business Development, Consulting, Finance, and Strategic Project teams to leverage and strengthen relationships across the entire client base. Negotiate and agree renewal contracts to continuously build client relationships  

Business Development & Client Growth: 

• Proactively generate new business opportunities with existing clients by identifying areas for relationship expansion and upselling services. Explore potential for new projects and services that align with clients' evolving needs. Referral Generation: 
• Cultivate and maintain trusted relationships with clients to encourage referrals and develop referral opportunities. 

Client Lifecycle Engagement: 

• Engage clients proactively throughout their lifecycle, ensuring: 
• Regular check-ins to maintain fee levels 
• Clear communication to keep clients informed 
• Seamless transitions between different stages of the client relationship 
• Accountability on both sides for ongoing success and satisfaction 
• Develop trusted adviser relationships with key accounts, both internal and external stakeholders and partners 
• Clearly communicate the progress of monthly/quarterly initiatives to internal and external stakeholders 
• Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual reports and forecasts, tracking key account metrics 
• Assist with challenging client requests, disputes, complaints & feedback 

CSL Functions: 

• Setting and reporting on key metrics to stakeholders within the business   
• Share client lifecycle process improvements and areas for improvement  
• Developing strong relationships with our clients, be assigned prospects and seek out new opportunities
• Managing and improving the renewal CRM pipeline process  
• Post R&D claim processes and claim tracking
• Working closely with internal stakeholders to ensure effective collaboration for client service excellence  

• 2+ years of AM/Client Success experience
• Experience in financial services, SME’s, funding and/or partnership management is ideal
• Strong commercial awareness and great communication skills
• Strong ambition and self-motivation, capable of independently initiating and driving projects
• Experienced and capable of working to targets
• Exceptional organisational and project management skills with an attention to detail
• The flexibility to take on change, shifting tasks and priorities when circumstances dictate
• The will to make a marked impact on the UK innovation landscape

Finally, benefits! It wouldn't be a job description without a benefits section. We have some great perks to tell you about which relate to our core values, culture and mission:

Our Team – We're a positive, fun, energetic bunch who enjoy more than just the usual social drinks. You’ll find us getting together for fitness activities, company offsites, regular lunch-and-learns, and quarterly socials that keep things exciting.

One step ahead – We know our success is credited to our hard-working and talented employees, so

every employee is paid competitively, with regular, performance-related pay reviews.

Do the right thing – Your wellbeing and development are pivotal to being able to work effectively. We aim to guide you in your career with personal learning & development budgets, private healthcare including physical, mental, dental and optical care as standard.

Ready when you are – We offer generous holiday allowances, flexible working, the ability to WFH and parental leave policies to ensure you are well looked after. As a business with set deadlines, we counteract this by closing at three carefully selected points in the year to ensure all employees are rested and rejuvenated.

Working as one – Everyone at Kene Partners is working towards the same annual bonus scheme, aligning our goals with one another. The individual discretionary bonus is based on a scoring system factoring in areas such as company and individual performance.

We strive to respond to all applications within 2-3 business days but please be aware that during periods of high application volume, we may not be able to respond to all unsuccessful applicants. We appreciate your interest in joining our team. If you don't hear from us within 10 business days, please know that while we aren't proceeding with your application this time, we truly value your interest and hope to connect again in the future.

Kene Partners is committed to encouraging equality, diversity, and inclusion among our workforce, and eliminating unlawful discrimination.