Panel of directors supporting career (9)
I believe the answer is:
dashboard
'panel' is the definition.
(dashboard is a kind of panel)
'directors supporting career' is the wordplay.
'directors' becomes 'board' (I've seen this before).
'supporting' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, some letters go below others).
'career' becomes 'dash' (both can mean to move chaotically).
'board' after 'dash' is 'DASHBOARD'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for dashboard that I've seen before include "What has controls in place" , "control panel" , "Car's instrument panel" , "Part of estate, maybe" , "Instruments found here" .)