Vero Recruitment has been exclusively engaged by McKilligan Financial, Rural Family Business Accountants, to recruit an experienced Senior Client Manager. The position will be office-based in Sylvadale, Cornhill, Banff, Aberdeenshire, with hybrid and flexible working offered.
Who is our client:
McKilligan Financial is a modern, rural family business accountancy practice based between Banff and Keith in Aberdeenshire, founded in 2020 by Elaine McKilligan and now trusted by over 500 clients ranging from sole traders and farming families through to partnerships and limited companies across sectors including agriculture, motor trade, construction, forestry, beauty, equipment hire and property.
This is not a traditional, transactional accountancy firm. The team are made up of people with real, lived experience of rural and small business life, and they pride themselves on being straight-talking, highly approachable and genuinely invested in the long-term success of their clients’ businesses. Their belief is simple: business owners should never feel in the dark about their tax position, and should always have clear, practical and proactive advice they can actually use.
At McKilligan Financial, compliance work such as accounts and tax returns is just the starting point. The real value comes from the ongoing advice, the conversations, the planning, and the support that helps clients grow, protect and better understand their wealth and business decisions over time.
The role:
As Senior Client Manager, you will take ownership of a portfolio of clients, ensuring the delivery of a consistently high-quality, proactive service that helps them make informed decisions and achieve the best outcomes for their business.
This is a senior, client-facing role that combines technical strength with commercial judgement and relationship building. You will act as a trusted adviser, supporting clients with practical, relevant advice while also identifying opportunities to improve their position through proactive tax planning and sound business structuring.
You will also play a key leadership role within the firm, supporting and developing colleagues, contributing to continuous improvement across systems and processes, and helping to shape a consistently strong client experience. This is a role for someone who enjoys responsibility, enjoys working closely with clients, and takes pride in delivering advice that genuinely makes a difference.
Key responsibilities:
You will lead the delivery of service to your own portfolio of clients, ensuring they receive a high standard of support, communication and advice at all times. You will act as a key point of contact, building trusted, long-term relationships and becoming a genuine adviser to your clients rather than simply a service provider.
A core part of the role will be proactive tax planning, including reviewing projected profits, calculating tax liabilities and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and structure. You will be confident in researching technical matters and translating them into clear, practical advice that clients can understand and act upon.
You will support clients with structuring transactions in a tax-efficient and commercially sensible way, and review and finalise tax returns, ensuring accuracy while also considering the wider planning opportunities available in each case.
Working closely with clients and their wider advisers, you will help deliver a joined-up, proactive approach to their financial and business affairs.
Alongside client work, you will take responsibility for supporting and developing team members through effective line management, feedback, coaching and day-to-day guidance, helping others to perform at their best.
You will work closely with the leadership team to help improve systems, processes and service delivery across the firm, contributing ideas and helping to continuously enhance both the client experience and internal working environment.
You will also use proposal tools to prepare fee quotes and engagement letters, ensuring scope, responsibilities and risk are clearly defined, and will liaise with clients and third parties to obtain the information required to deliver work efficiently.
An understanding of cloud accounting systems, particularly Xero, will be important in helping you relate to clients’ day-to-day business operations and challenges.
About you:
You will have strong experience managing a portfolio of clients within an accountancy or tax-focused environment, with solid technical knowledge across tax compliance and planning, and the ability to apply that knowledge in a practical, commercially aware way.
You will be confident reviewing work to a high standard, exercising sound judgement, and taking ownership of complex client matters. Experience in supporting, developing and line managing others will be important, as this role carries leadership responsibility within the team.
Strong interpersonal skills are essential. You will be someone who builds trust quickly, communicates clearly and enjoys working closely with both clients and colleagues in a collaborative, down-to-earth environment.
An understanding of the agricultural sector would be highly advantageous, given the client base, although a genuine interest in learning and developing expertise in this area is just as important.
Above all, you will be proactive, organised and commercially focused, with a genuine desire to deliver value, build relationships and contribute to a growing, values-led business.
Why McKilligan Financial:
This is a business built on genuine relationships, rural understanding and a very human approach to accountancy and tax. The culture is informal but highly professional, supportive but ambitious, and rooted in values that are consistently lived rather than simply stated.
The firm offers a competitive salary, pension, death in service cover, 36-hour working week, and 5.6 weeks’ holiday (inclusive). In addition, the team regularly benefits from additional time off when targets are met, alongside a culture that actively supports flexibility, development and wellbeing, with regular social events, small gestures of appreciation and a strong sense of team connection.
This is a rare opportunity to join a growing, values-led firm at a genuinely exciting stage of its journey, where your expertise will be valued, your leadership will matter, and your work will have a direct impact on clients, colleagues and the future of the business.
To find out more, in confidence, please speak with Andrew Ferguson of Vero Recruitment: andrew@verorecruitment.com