Account Manager & Account Director Appointments for Anabas

About Anabas

Anabas is a facilities management service provider delivering integrated hard and soft services to clients in financial and professional services, media, technology and science, from its base in Wigmore Street, London. Now a brand of Armonia, it specialises in premium corporate environments and delivers workplace services across more than 150 client locations nationwide.

For a service provider, account leadership is where the contract is won or lost. The account lead is the face of the provider to its client, responsible for the relationship, the delivery and the commercial health of the account at the same time, and has to hold the commercial line for Anabas while staying genuinely trusted by the client.

Our work with Anabas

• Account Manager for a high-profile corporate account (exclusive search)
• Account Director, a senior strategic leadership role

Account Manager

To support the growth of a key client account, Anabas appointed Maxwell Stephens on an exclusive basis to recruit an Account Manager. The role covered delivery of integrated FM services across a high-profile corporate account: leading site-based teams, acting as senior client contact, driving operational performance, managing contract budgets, preparing business cases, developing continuous improvement initiatives, monitoring KPIs, SLAs and contract compliance, leading change programmes, health and safety compliance, and account development.

Because cultural fit and leadership mattered as much as technical experience, we spent significant time with Anabas' senior leadership team to understand the organisation, its values and the expectations of the role before starting a targeted search. The process included detailed consultation to agree the brief, a targeted executive search across the FM sector, competency-based interviews on operational and contract management, assessment of leadership and commercial acumen, evaluation of client relationship skills, and screening for cultural alignment with Anabas and the client account.

We presented a shortlist of six qualified candidates. After two stages of interviews, Anabas appointed their preferred candidate, who brought extensive experience of leading FM contracts in corporate environments, strong client relationship skills and a record of improving operational performance. The role covers client relationships, operational performance and service delivery, team leadership, budgetary and commercial control, and health and safety and contractual compliance.

Maxwell Stephens Recruitment are not just another recruitment company! They have provided me with an outstanding service throughout the recruitment process. Their professional and yet personal approach is unique within the industry and I can highly recommend their business to anyone who is looking for a change/progression in their career or need to recruit.

Michael Schumacher
Account Manager, Anabas

Account Director

Anabas also asked Maxwell Stephens to recruit an Account Director: a strategic leader with a genuine interest in building high-performing teams and delivering a consistently high standard of service to clients. A strong operator who cannot hold a boardroom conversation, or a polished relationship manager without operational depth, will struggle in this role. Anabas needed both, and wanted someone who embodied its values and ethos rather than simply meeting the specification on paper.

We built the process around two questions: could the candidate lead the account to the standard Anabas expected, and would they fit the way Anabas works? After extensive screening and assessment, a standout candidate emerged who answered both.

The appointed Account Director brought a background in strategic facilities management and a track record of senior leadership. Their qualifications included membership of the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) and certifications in Health & Safety and Environmental Management.

The market for this role

Service providers compete for the same senior people as their clients, and retention is a recurring problem: the CIPD's 2024 Resourcing and Talent Planning report found that 56% of UK organisations say talent is more difficult to retain. For an Account Director, values fit is therefore more than a nice-to-have. Someone who shares the provider's way of working is more likely to stay with the account long enough to make a difference.

Feedback from a candidate Maxwell Stephens has placed:

Peter has always been my first ‘go to’ on the occasions where I’ve been job hunting. Peter and his team has helped me secure two fantastic senior roles over the past 5 years, both of which have been an excellent fit for my experience and my personality profile. I have found the team to be the best recruiters in terms of regular communication/updates/transparency etc when applying for roles they have posted and during the interview/negotiation stages. For job searchers, these are the most critical aspects we look for when working with a recruiter. Peter really understands his customers and will actively seek candidates who he knows will be the right fit for his clients.

Why It Worked

Both searches treated leadership and values fit as requirements rather than preferences, and assessed for them rather than assuming them. For the Account Manager, the time spent with Anabas' leadership team before the search began made it possible to find someone trusted by the client and commercially sound for the provider. For the Account Director, Anabas was clear that fit with its way of working mattered, and the process was built accordingly.

If you are recruiting an Account Manager, Account Director or another client-facing contract leadership role in FM service delivery, Maxwell Stephens can help you define the brief and find candidates who combine operational credibility with leadership. Get in touch with our team.