Engagement Manager (Public Sector Accounts)

Industry: Tech Consultancy (Public Sector)

Location: Remote first, UK Wide, with one to two days a week on client sites or with teams (typically Leeds or London)

Salary: £130,000 to £150,000 + Benefits (potentially some wiggle room for the right person)

Clearance: SC clearance held, or eligible to obtain it

We're working with a brilliant tech consultancy built around a network of genuinely talented, highly experienced software consultants who specialise in agile software delivery. The average person in their network has around 17 years of experience. Their whole model is about taking the risk out of delivery by only trusting the very best people, forming small cross functional teams and working alongside their customers every step of the way.

Their public sector business is a big part of that story. They deliver for some of the UK's largest central government departments, with a portfolio of around five major contracts and roughly 900 people. They've been rated the best performing strategic supplier to one of those departments in three of the last four years, which tells you everything about how they work.

It's an independent business with no traditional hierarchy, no sales targets and no bench to sell. They're focused on doing great work for the long term rather than chasing growth for its own sake, and they plan to stay independent for decades to come.

They're now hiring one to two Engagement Managers for their public sector accounts. This is a crucial role. You'll be a senior partner to government customers, someone who builds trust with commercial, technology, product and executive stakeholders, understands how departments really work, and makes sure every engagement delivers genuine public value.

The Role

You won't be running a huge account on your own. Engagement Managers here work in teams of four to five across each large account, and those accounts are big, complex businesses in their own right. One of them supports work worth around £95 million a year. Part of the thinking is to give each account enough engagement management capacity that you also have room to build new relationships and help grow the wider public sector portfolio.

You'll be part strategic advisor, part delivery leader, part commercial lead and part pastoral lead, sharing ownership of the health, growth and profitability of your account. Specifically, you'll be:

Shaping strategy

• Working with departments to develop, iterate and implement their digital and technology strategy so it lines up with policy goals and public outcomes
• Making sure services are designed and delivered in line with the GDS Service Standard and Technology Code of Practice, and supporting teams through service assessments
• Analysing data and wider trends across government to inform your customers' decision making
• Knowing when to draw on the deep knowledge across the wider consultancy network to support the customer

Leading engagements and delivery

• Making sure delivery is consistent, cohesive and true to the values the business is built on
• Acting as a senior client side partner: spotting risks early, driving timely decisions and explaining issues clearly
• Being the escalation point for principals, technical leads and other delivery leaders, rather than managing every person on the account directly
• Talking credibly about future challenges and opportunities, not just the work in play
• Owning profitability and performance against agreed financial targets on multimillion pound engagements

Winning work and growing the relationship

• Shaping propositions, leading bids, writing winning proposals and developing statements of work through public sector procurement routes and frameworks
• Building trust with commercial, pre award, technology, product and executive stakeholders across the department
• Advising customers on what's genuinely best for them, even when that doesn't mean more work
• Running regular account reviews with customers and wider stakeholders
• Seeking out references and case studies to support marketing and business development
• Helping build new customer relationships and diversify the public sector portfolio beyond the largest accounts

Leading and supporting the team

• Providing pastoral care so people on your account are supported, progressing and delivering what's been agreed
• Partnering with the people team to manage staffing, including clearance requirements
• Getting involved in the recruitment of new consultants
• Using your trusted relationships to help teams navigate and resolve blockers
• Dealing quickly and collaboratively with any people matters that could affect an engagement

Learning and sharing

• Contributing to communities of practice and mentoring fellow Engagement Managers
• Helping create consistency and knowledge sharing across engagement management teams and accounts
• Regularly sharing both successes and challenges with the wider business

What You'll Bring

This is a senior role for someone who has done it before and done it well. You'll ideally have:

• At least ten years of senior delivery leadership experience, ideally in a digital or technical consultancy or a similar client services environment
• Experience leading complex, high value public sector engagements and managing multimillion pound budgets
• A solid understanding of how government buys and delivers digital services, including the GDS Service Standard, service assessments, spend controls and the agile delivery phases (discovery, alpha, beta and live)
• Experience working through public sector frameworks such as G‑Cloud and Digital Outcomes, and responding to government tenders
• Real commercial leadership: winning new work, shaping propositions, leading bids and writing statements of work. You don't need to come from a pure sales background, but you should be comfortable playing a big part in business development
• A gift for building trusted relationships where interests and priorities compete inside large, complex organisations
• Leadership that inspires and motivates, plus the communication skills to collaborate closely with multidisciplinary digital teams
• Strong analytical and financial skills, using data to communicate outcomes and make informed decisions
• Genuine presence: the kind of person customers want to work with and teams want to follow
• Comfort with autonomy, highly experienced teams and a flat structure where title progression isn't the main motivator

Security clearance: You'll need to hold active SC clearance or be eligible to obtain it. Eligibility usually means having lived in the UK for the last five years.

Nice to have: Experience in a smaller or growing consultancy where you've worn multiple hats and helped build the business is viewed really positively. Strong consulting leaders from outside the public sector who have worked with the government will also be considered.

Why This One Stands Out

You'll be backed by some of the most experienced delivery people in the industry, working on public services that millions of people rely on. There are no sales targets and no bench to fill, so the focus is on doing the right thing for the customer and the public. You'll be part of a close engagement team on a large account, with the time and support to build new relationships rather than firefighting on your own. And it's a genuinely independent business, built to last, where trust and great work matter more than job titles.

The Details

This is a full time permanent role paying up to £150,000 a year with a really strong benefits package on top. It's remote first and can be based anywhere in the UK. Expect to spend one to two days a week with customers or teams, usually in Leeds or London, though overnight stays won't be needed every week. They're open to flexible working where it still gives customers the cover they need, and building a diverse team is a real priority.

If you're a consultancy leader who loves building trusted relationships with government customers and wants to help shape public services that genuinely matter, get in touch. We'd love to talk you through it.

At Inara Talent, we believe everyone deserves a fair chance to shine. We connect great people from all backgrounds with opportunities where they can thrive making sure hiring is fair, inclusive, and genuinely diverse. No matter your background, we focus on what matters: your talent.