Exec Director of Client Service & Delivery

We are an award winning digital product studio with 125 people in 5 different studios across the globe (London, Malmö, New York, Lisbon and Tokyo).

For two decades we have been helping our clients grow by creating breakthrough experiences that have a positive impact on the world.

Humans are at the heart of everything we create and our processes and culture reflect this.

ABOUT THE ROLE

ustwo is seeking an exceptional and experienced Executive Director of Client Services and Delivery. This role will sit on the Executive Leadership Team and will be accountable for creating, driving and delivering the discipline and global ustwo strategy.

The role will be based in the US and will report into the CEO.

This is a new role and the first time we have combined Client Services and Delivery and we are excited to pull these roles together to ensure that we are best able to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

As a member of Executive Leadership, you will have a core set of responsibilities for the overall operational health of the business that overarch discipline-specific ones, the key responsibilities of which are : being a core member of business development activities, client relationship management, awareness of and accountability for near and long-term company financial goals, and accountability for company strategic initiatives.

Leading a Client Service team and a Delivery team you will be responsible for the overarching leadership, wellbeing and development of these distributed teams, in alignment with ustwo culture and values.

ABOUT YOU

• Experience in setting the strategic direction for delivery and client service discipline and overall company vision.
• You have substantial demonstrable experience in leading teams to deliver Agile projects and develop client relationships.
• Have proven success in managing, leading and growing senior BD teams in multiple locations. You know how to gain the best out of the people you work with and support individuals growth and development, deepening their skills and experience.
• Able to demonstrate that you are impactful in your communication style, a true storyteller. You know how to hold a room and how to convince more conservative stakeholders through empathy, insights and persuasion skills.
• You have strong commercial acumen, you can evaluate proposals put together by your team, spot areas of new opportunities as well as areas for concerns.

You understand how to make tradeoffs to achieve commercial objectives without undermining the quality of our work.

• You are client oriented, you have grown accounts from single projects, are well versed in client life cycles and understand how to offer value for clients over the long term.
• You understand the complexities of delivery, and are able to guide teams to deliver complex digital products on time and within budget.
• You have a deep appreciation for the value of strategy, design and product in all its forms. You have experience of working closely with other disciplines and will bring a mindset of learning together.
• You thrive in uncertainty and have the ability to create clarity for others when navigating difficult projects or relationships.
• You have past success in supporting teams in reaching their full potential and knowing what it takes to motivate a diverse and talented team.
• You are known in the market as a talented thought leader in your field.

LOCATION

This role is based in our New York studio in Brooklyn at 20 Jay Street. We currently have a hybrid policy in which you are required to be in the studio on our universal days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and are welcome to either work from the studio or from home for the rest of the week.

We are keen for you to be involved in studio culture so the more you can get involved in opportunities for in-person social interaction; the better!

CLIENT SERVICE SPECIFIC EXPERIENCE

• Ability to build strong relationships with client stakeholders, representing our teams, our brand, and our ways of working.
• Bring thought leadership for our clients - able to analyse market trends and foresee client needs in order to create insights to open new business opportunities.
• Serve as a senior point of contact for clients to address escalations, as well as ensuring their needs and expectations are met.
• Identify and roll out new value propositions for existing and new clients that will help us achieve our commercial goals and push ustwo's work into new territories.

DELIVERY SPECIFIC EXPERIENCE

• Be an expert voice and strong advocate for Agile delivery and team dynamics to ustwo, and for our clients.
• Collaborate on client pitches and proposals, advocating our ways of working.
• Hold, and support others in holding difficult conversations, helping teams to resolve conflicts.
• Lead and manage the delivery team, ensuring high performance, professional growth, and alignment with ustwo values.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement and Agile best practices within the delivery team.
• Instill a learning mindset in the team and continuously review delivery methods to optimise project outcomes and client satisfaction.

LEADERSHIP

• Collaborate with the other members of the Executive team to develop and execute strategic initiatives that drive business growth and operational efficiency, in support of our strategic OKRs.
• Work collaboratively with the executive team to make and execute decisions for internal and external projects.
• Be an executive sponsor for specific client projects.
• Coach the Delivery and Client Services on how to consistently convert opportunities into active work for the studio. Understand their strengths and how to pair up team members and clients for the best results.
• Promote a values-focused culture that prioritises people, diversity, equity and inclusion, championing cross discipline and cross-studio collaboration.
• Mentor ustwobies (formally or informally) and champion a culture of learning and knowledge sharing.
• Attend networking events to create and leverage opportunities to build awareness of ustwo.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

The base salary range for this full-time role is between $200,000 and $250,000. Actual salary amount within this range will be dependent on the candidate's experience, skillset, market knowledge, and salaries of current employees in similar roles.

We benchmark our salaries regularly against competitive market data so these ranges will be subject to change.

Full-time employees also qualify for ustwo's Profit Share Scheme, in which the studio group shares up to one-third of operating profits with all employees, subject to hitting certain safety thresholds and targets.

Additionally, all full-time employees are eligible for the following benefits :

• Fully paid Medical, Vision, and Dental coverage
• 401k with up to 5% company matching
• 20 Days PTO
• Up to 15 additional closed days per year, including the last week of the year
• Hybrid working model
• Transit and Health FSA programs
• Citibike membership
• One Medical and Talkspace Memberships
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave
• Annual Growth & Development Budget
• Monthly Wellness & Cell Phone Contributions

Interested but think your experience doesn't perfectly align with this job description? That's ok. Research shows underrepresented groups in particular are less inclined to apply for jobs where they don't meet 100% of the requirements listed.

We'd still love to hear from you if you feel passionate about this role!

We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for our colleagues, clients, community, and the users of our products.

We don't have all the answers but we're on a journey, and we are learning together.

About ustwo

ustwo combines expertise in product and service development, ventures and gaming to make a meaningful impact on the challenges companies and individuals face in contemporary culture.

Over the years, we have been carving out a reputation in the space between digital product development and new experience design.

Our deep product development knowledge, our design heritage and our leadership at the edges of technology and culture, means we are capable of providing fresh creative and strategic direction on genuinely new experiences, as well as deep technical expertise on implementation - never disconnecting strategy from implementation.

This combination of capabilities is rare and valuable, particularly in a market that's seeing ever-increasing convergence of entertainment, gaming, content, commerce, and platforms.