Upstream Solutions Group
National Key Account Manager
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Key Account Manager
Plant & Equipment Hire | £80,000 – £95,000 | National Role
Our client is a well-established, family-owned plant hire business with over 40 years’ history, supporting major infrastructure and construction projects across the UK. They work across highways, energy, utilities, defence, aviation, rail and civils, and are trusted suppliers to some of the country’s largest Tier 1 principal contractors.
As part of continued growth, they are looking for an experienced Key Account Manager to own and develop their single largest customer relationship – a major Tier 1 principal contractor delivering large-scale infrastructure and construction projects nationwide. This is a highly visible, senior-facing role: you will represent our client directly to key stakeholders across the account, and your insight will directly shape board-level thinking on how the relationship is grown and deepened.
The Role
You will be the primary point of contact for this key account, responsible for the commercial performance of the relationship and for ensuring the effective supply of plant, equipment and associated services across multiple live projects and business units.
- Act as lead relationship owner for the account, engaging procurement, project, site and commercial teams, and building genuine credibility and trust with senior stakeholders.
- Grow revenue across existing and new projects, identifying opportunities for increased utilisation, contract extensions and additional services across each of the account's business units.
- Support tenders, framework agreements and pricing negotiations, balancing competitiveness with margin protection.
- Work closely with depot, transport, service and operations teams to ensure on-time delivery, correct specification, and fast resolution of operational issues.
- Promote a zero-harm safety culture and ensure compliance with LOLER, PUWER, emissions standards and project-specific requirements.
- Monitor account KPIs – revenue, margin, utilisation and service performance – and produce regular account reviews and forecasts.
- Feed strategic account intelligence back to senior leadership, directly informing how the business approaches deals, contracts and partnership opportunities to deepen the relationship and drive revenue.
- Support long-term partnership initiatives around sustainability, low-carbon plant solutions and digital plant tracking.
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Experience We're Looking For
This is a specialist account management role and requires a genuine background in plant hire, construction logistics, or infrastructure supply chains. Candidates without direct experience in one of these areas will not be considered.
- Proven experience in a Key Account Manager, Account Manager or senior Business Development role within plant hire, construction logistics, or infrastructure supply chains.
- A strong commercial track record – negotiating pricing, frameworks and tenders, and protecting margin while growing revenue.
- Charismatic, switched-on and commercially astute, with genuine credibility presenting to and influencing senior stakeholders – this person will be a direct reflection of our client to their biggest customer.
- Strategically minded and genuinely engaged with industry and market developments.
- Ideally, a strong working knowledge of the infrastructure sector.
- Experience managing a relationship with a Tier 1 principal contractor, ideally on major infrastructure, highways, energy, utilities or civils projects.
- Working knowledge of health & safety and compliance requirements relevant to plant and equipment (e.g. LOLER, PUWER).
- Comfortable managing multiple projects and stakeholders simultaneously; organised, proactive and solutions-focused.
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Salary & Location
£80,000 – £90,000 base salary, dependent on experience.
This is a national role covering the South of England through to Scotland.
Location is flexible for the right candidate; regular travel to client sites nationally will be required.
How to Apply
This search is being handled on a confidential basis by Upstream Talent Solutions. The client company will not be disclosed at initial application stage. To apply or find out more, please submit your CV or get in touch directly.
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