Senior Account Manager - Education

About The Role

Hippo is looking for a proactive and commercially strong Senior Account Manager to help shape and grow our Education client partnerships, including work within one of our largest and most high‑impact accounts, the Department for Education, with an annual run‑rate of c.£20m across multiple call‑off contracts. This role will manage part of that portfolio and report to the Client Director, Education.

You will combine sales ownership (leading smaller bids and expansions, and supporting major pursuits) with day‑to‑day commercial excellence across existing work: SOW management (including a 6‑day SLA process), resourcing forecasting, contract hygiene, and monthly reporting that reflects commercial performance, Social Value progress and value‑add activity.

You’ll work closely with Delivery, Technical, Legal, Client Ops, Resourcing and the Social Value team to keep momentum across live work and proactively set up the next thing. Alongside the commercial responsibilities, you also help shape meaningful Social Value initiatives (apprenticeships, T‑Level support, community engagement) and value‑add activities that deepen client relationships and make a visible impact.

Commercial Delivery & Account Management

• Own day‑to‑day commercial performance for your accounts: forecasting, margin awareness, renewals/extensions, and commercial issue resolution.
• Build trusted, long‑term relationships with senior client stakeholders.
• Lead the coordination and return of Statements of Work, including those under a 6‑day SLA. Gather inputs from Delivery, Technical, Legal and Resourcing and consolidate them into clear, accurate and commercially sound responses.
• Maintain accurate account and pipeline information, ensuring reporting and CRM/commercial records are always current.

Sales & Growth Ownership

• Own and deliver a portion of the Education sector sales target (set by the Client Director), converting opportunities into sales orders.
• Identify expansion opportunities within existing accounts and drive them from early shaping through to contract/SOW.
• Over time, develop a strong understanding of Education sector priorities, policy context and client needs to support meaningful conversations and account planning.
• Contribute to bid responses and commercial shaping for a defined value range of opportunities (and support larger strategic pursuits led by the Client Director).

Resourcing & Onboarding

• Forecast capability demand across call‑off contracts and ensure the pipeline aligns with the roles and skillsets being hired or deployed. Facilitate SOWs starting on time with a team available.
• Work with Resourcing, Delivery and Client Ops to coordinate onboarding, ensuring start dates, checks and approvals are completed so teams can begin as planned.

Social Value & Value‑Add Delivery

• Work with Hippo’s Social Value team to ensure all Social Value commitments made at bid stage are delivered, tracked and evidenced.
• Coordinate engaging value‑add events and activities that bring teams together, build capacity. Communicate initiatives to clients, strengthening engagement with Hippo.
• Produce accurate monthly reports for clients capturing Social Value delivery, value‑add activities, KPIs and overall account performance.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Commercial or client‑facing experience in a professional services or public sector environment.
• Strong relationship‑building skills with senior stakeholders.
• Experience managing SOWs, contracts, renewals or similar processes.
• High attention to detail across documentation, commercial modelling and reporting.
• Ability to take ownership and work proactively within deadlines.
• Strong financial planning, budgeting or forecasting skills.
• Excellent communication skills: written, verbal and interpersonal.
• Comfort working with multiple priorities and stakeholders.
• Strong problem‑solving ability and willingness to collaborate.

Desirable

• Experience in public sector digital transformation environments (e.g., UCD, engineering, data, identity or cyber). Not required on day one, but you’ll be expected to develop this understanding over time.
• Education sector knowledge.