Client services director salary · salary and package, 2026
What a client services director earns, by region and by agency
A client services director salary in a London or South East agency runs from £90,000 to £150,000, with an average of £110,000 for digital, integrated and branding agencies, on ADLIB’s 2026 guide.
In the South West, the North and the East Midlands, ADLIB’s range is £65,000 to £100,000, with an average of £80,000.
Ultimate Asset’s 2026 survey of emerging-media businesses puts the median at £110,000.
Both publishers are recruiters, and their figures cover agency and media seats.
When you hire a client services director through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a client services director
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Client Services Director candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Client services and revenue roles jobs on the board
No Client services and revenue roles roles on the board right now.
We only show real vacancies from the last three months, each marked whether we could confirm it is still open — we never pad the board. New Client services and revenue roles roles appear here as our pipeline finds them.
Client services director roles on the board
Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a Client Services Director brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.
01/ the role
What a client services director does, and what sets the pay
A client services director runs an agency’s client relationships and the account teams that serve them.
The seat sits above account directors and group account directors, and below the managing director.
In software and subscription businesses the same work is often called customer success; the board-level customer seat is the chief customer officer.
The ladder shows in the pay.
Gabriele’s 2026 guide puts an account director’s average at £60,000–£70,000, a client services director’s at £90,000–£110,000 and a managing director’s at £150,000–£200,000.
Hanson Search puts a group account director at £70,000–£90,000 in a digital agency, and a client services director at £100,000–£160,000.
Region sets the pay first.
ADLIB’s 2026 guides put the average at £110,000–£120,000 in London and the South East, against £80,000 in the South West, the North-West, the North-East and the East Midlands.
The agency’s discipline comes next.
In London and the South East, ADLIB puts a CRM agency’s client services director at £100,000–£150,000 (average £120,000), a PR agency’s at £95,000–£140,000 (average £120,000), and a digital, integrated or branding agency’s at £90,000–£150,000 (average £110,000).
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a client services director
1. Scope the book before the salary
Write down what the seat owns: the client list and its revenue, the account team, renewals and growth in existing accounts, and whether new business sits with it.
A seat that carries the agency’s largest clients needs someone who has held accounts of that size.
The Institute of Customer Service, the professional body for customer service, publishes the UK Customer Satisfaction Index, a useful outside read on what clients expect.
2. Benchmark by region and discipline
Use the band for your region and your kind of agency, not a single national figure.
The tables below set out each publisher’s range.
ADLIB’s ranges include bonuses, so compare like with like.
3. Set base, bonus and incentives together
Hanson Search’s 2026 guide says equity, long-term incentives and performance-linked structures are appearing more frequently in senior packages, particularly where they are linked to business development.
Decide what share of the package rides on client retention and growth before you make the offer.
4. Put the terms in writing
Pay, bonus terms and notice belong in the contract.
Every employee is entitled to a written statement of employment particulars, and a bonus scheme that is not written down is hard to enforce on either side.
Acas sets out how notice periods work when an employee resigns or is dismissed, which matters for a seat that holds client relationships.
What we do on a client services brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary client and commercial leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
For a part-week seat, hire a fractional client services director.
03/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional client services director.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional client services director holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim client services director.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim client services director takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent client services director after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim client services director holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent client services director.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
04/ rates by stage
Client services director salary by source, region and agency type
Permanent client services director pay as each publisher states it, all 2025–26. ADLIB publishes lowest, average and highest salaries, including bonuses; Gabriele publishes low, average and higher bands; Hanson Search publishes a minimum and maximum; Ultimate Asset publishes lowest and highest data points and a median. All four are recruiters, and every figure is for agency-side or media seats.
05/ economics
What the salary costs the agency, beyond the base
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).
On a £110,000 salary that is £15,750 a year (our arithmetic).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings (GOV.UK).
Many schemes pay more.
The bonus is pay too.
HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll, so budget employer’s National Insurance on the bonus as well as the base.
ADLIB’s ranges already include bonuses; the other publishers’ do not say.
06/ vetting
How we vet client services directors
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Client Services Director tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
07/ client services director salary uk
Average client services director salary across the UK, side by side
No single source covers the whole client services director salary UK market.
ADLIB’s 2026 average is £110,000–£120,000 in London and the South East and £80,000 in the South West, the North and the East Midlands.
Gabriele’s average band is £90,000–£110,000 for London and the UK creative, design and brand industry.
Ultimate Asset’s median is £110,000 for emerging-media businesses.
The four measure different things.
ADLIB publishes lowest, average and highest salaries including bonuses; Gabriele publishes indicative bands; Hanson Search gives a minimum and maximum; Ultimate Asset reports lowest and highest data points with a median.
Read each figure as one recruiter’s view of its part of the market.
For an official view, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings reports employee earnings by occupation.
None of its occupation codes is the client services director seat, so we do not quote an ONS figure for it.
08/ client services director salary london
Client services director salary London, and the regions
The client services director salary London agencies pay sits at the top of every source.
ADLIB’s 2026 London and South East guide gives £90,000–£150,000 in digital, integrated and branding agencies, £95,000–£140,000 in PR and £100,000–£150,000 in CRM.
ADLIB says South East salaries are more aligned than ever with London.
Outside London, ADLIB publishes the same band for the South West and for the North-West, North-East and East Midlands: £65,000 to £100,000, with an average of £80,000.
On ADLIB’s averages, a London or South East seat pays £30,000–£40,000 more a year (our arithmetic).
No source we can cite publishes a figure for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or the West Midlands.
For a role there, start from the regional band and adjust for the size of the book.
09/ director of client services salary
Director of client services salary in media and digital businesses
Some businesses use the title the other way round.
Ultimate Asset’s 2026 survey of emerging-media businesses (the creator economy, social-first and digital media) puts the director of client services salary at £90,000–£130,000, with a median of £110,000.
Its median for client services and project management roles as a group is £95,000.
Professional bodies on the agency side include the IPA, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, which runs learning and CPD for member agencies, and the Chartered Institute of Marketing, whose qualifications lead towards Chartered Marketer status.
For the management side of the seat, the Chartered Management Institute offers management and leadership qualifications.
10/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or retainer: the other ways to fill the seat
Read this sectionClose this section
A permanent salary buys a client services director every day, with notice on both sides.
An interim covers the seat full-time for a fixed period on a day rate; a fractional director works part of the week on a day rate or retainer.
No UK source we can cite publishes an interim or fractional client services director day rate, so this page quotes none.
For this salary spread across working days (our arithmetic, not a market rate), see interim client services director salary and fractional client services director salary.
For a part-week seat, see fractional client services director jobs.
If the seat is the board-level customer role, see chief customer officer salary.
11/ questions
Client services director salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a client services director.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
