Senior Business Development Manager

The role

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced, commercial, ambitious Senior Business Development Manager, motivated by driving change, who would relish the challenge to join us to play a leading role in developing and delivering our business and client development strategies for the firm’s Technology, Media & Entertainment (TME) sector. Some work has started, but there is much to do and the ambition is significant.

Our market-leading Technology, Media, and Entertainment (TME) team supports some of the world’s most innovative platforms, media companies, and entertainment providers.

This role will form an integral part of the senior BD leadership team, reporting into the Associate Director, Business & Client Development. You will directly manage a BD Manager and BD Executive, who will also manage their own respective practice areas and clients with guidance and strong leadership from you.

You will be joining the firm at an exciting time when there is a great deal of strategic focus on our sectors and ambition within the business and client development function and the wider firm. The firm’s marketing and business development function is seen as pivotal in making achievement of our strategic priorities a reality.

The role is highly visible and works strategically with the partnership, a crucial part of our ambition around accelerating revenue growth through our priority sectors across the firm. It is front and centre in the new Managing Partner’s strategy for profitable growth.

Key responsibilities include:

Strategic planning

• Work with the Sector Partner lead and Advisory Groups, design and deliver a long-term overarching marketing and business development strategy for the sector to achieve sustainable profitable growth
• Design and execute annual and long-term marketing and business development plans - coupled with financial, BD and resourcing targets - which support the sector strategies
• Use data and market insights to identify opportunities, monitor trends, and adjust strategies for revenue growth
• Set targets and KPIs to track the effectiveness of the TME sector strategy and BD efforts

Client development

• Work closely with the Partner Sector Lead, senior stakeholders and colleagues across the firm to develop, manage and implement the commercial strategy for identified high-potential clients within the TME sector, fostering a commercial, collaborative mind-set and addressing barriers to client development success
• Regularly review the TME sector’s client portfolio and performance against strategic objectives to ensure alignment with firm objectives and sector developments
• Lead and manage BD and client-targeting initiatives and firmwide integrated campaigns for the TME sector, focusing on high-potential clients and key audiences
• Working alongside the Client Development team, conduct client listening interviews and leverage insights from the firm’s client listening programme to identify opportunities and drive a culture of client service excellence at both an individual client and group level
• Provide regular reports to senior leadership on progress against targets, successes, challenges, acting as an ambassador for a market and client focused mindset

Bid management

• Collaborate with the pitch teams to create compelling proposals and strategic approaches to winning work, coaching lawyers, and ensuring pitch feedback is shared and acted on.
• Act as a ‘champion’ for best practice bid management within the TME sector team
• Lead on the management and drafting of ad hoc opportunities as required
• Improve and continuously refine standard content and materials to support the bid process

Team collaboration and leadership

• As a member of the BD Leadership, collaborate with colleagues across the Brands, Clients and Markets team, acting as a mentor and support to more junior members of the team
• Foster collaboration across teams, in London and internationally, to drive cross-selling, share best practices, and ensure a coordinated approach to client targeting
• Develop close relationships with marketing communications colleagues in support of BD plan implementation
• Lead and collaborate on wider projects outside of the TME sector scope where necessary

Knowledge and training

• Act as a coach, role model and mentor toward direct reports - Manager and Exec - providing constructive guidance, support, encouragement, feedback, communication and a commitment …