BD Executive

The Team

The Marketing Team is responsible for the development and implementation of the firm\’s marketing strategy, including profile and reputation, marketing communications, and business development. This also extends to all aspects of marketing planning, brand management, communications, events, CRM, business and market analysis, and business development, including pitches and tenders.

The role will provide business development support to the firm\’s Businesses pillar (Private Capital) and its associated sector groups. This is an excellent opportunity for a motivated and ambitious Business Development Executive to join a firm that is continuing to grow and actively investing in its marketing and business development capability.

Working as part of a small, collaborative team, the successful candidate will be expected to contribute effectively as a team player while also demonstrating the confidence and initiative to manage their own workload. The role offers genuine responsibility, with the opportunity to take ownership of business development support across a range of strategic initiatives and to develop close working relationships with lawyers and stakeholders across the firm.

Responsibilities

Planning & Budgets

• Working with the BDM to support the development, implementation and monitoring of sector BD plans (including; Family Businesses, Entrepreneurs, Tech and Professional Service Firms).
• Monitoring and reporting on budgets.

Research & Information Management

• Proactively provide market intelligence and client/prospect research.
• Review and analyse financial performance reports to support the monitoring of progress against plan.
• Monitoring competitor activity, keeping on top of industry trends through desk research and attendance of strategic industry events.

Pitches, credentials and fee quotes

• Managing the pitch process. This will include the full range of support from evaluating the opportunity, supporting the lead partner identify the pitch team, leading on the development of relevant tender documents/online portal response, coaching the team at the presentation stage and conducting an independent debrief. You will have the support of an experienced manager and mentorship from the Senior Pitch Manager.
• Working with Knowledge Management Lawyers and fee earners to ensure significant deals and case studies are being captured in the firm\’s pitch database.
• Reporting on pitch statistics, including analysis of any key themes and example best practice approaches.

Events and seminars

• Working with the Events Executive for the roll-out of flagship events/seminars to support the business plans.
• Responsible for planning, delivery and attendance of events for the relevant sector. This would include setting ROI objectives, conducting a post event analysis, creating the appropriate methods for capturing intel and BD opportunities.

Legal Directory & Award Submissions

• Managing directly the process for submissions to the legal directories; Chambers UK and The Legal 500 – in consultation with the fee earners and with support from the Marketing Communications team.
• Working with the BD Manager to critique award submission requests and to support completion of entries in consultation with the Marketing Communications team.

Thought leadership and new marketing campaigns

• Working with partners to identify client issues for briefings/thought leadership. You will have responsibility for the production of our monthly publication, The Future of Business.
• Working with the Marketing Communications team to manage the briefing/thought leadership process, including:
• Identifying target audience;
• Recommendations for appropriate format for distribution, including social media channels;
• Ensuring BD opportunities are captured;
• Reporting back on effectiveness of briefing/thought leadership; and
• Identifying cross-selling opportunities.
• Identifying new marketing campaign opportunities, including testing market opportunity with appropriate external research and coaching on development of key messages and positioning.
• Support on management of external enquiries inbox, directing new incoming enquiries to appropriate teams.
• Identifying speaker opportunities with key organisations/trade bodies.
• Assessing ROI for external speaking opportunities, including any negotiation on costs associated.
• Producing internal newsletter on a quarterly basis to provide updates to the wider firm on activity within the Businesses pillar, including recent client wins, events and external media coverage, as well as statistics in relation to pillar objectives (billing, mailing, website performance),
• Working with the Marketing team to identify good news stories for internal or external communication opportunities and promoting these across social media channels.
• Working with the Marketing team to monitor/review content on the firm\’s website for Businesses and Private Wealth (at both a practice group and sector level).

Skills and Experience

• Strong critical thinking skills, with the ability to analyse information and constructively challenge assumptions.
• Excellent research and analytical capability, with the confidence to draw insights and make recommendations.
• Highly organised, with the ability to manage competing priorities and perform effectively under pressure.
• A collaborative team player who builds positive working relationships across teams and levels of seniority.
• Outstanding written English, with exceptional attention to detail and a consistently high level of accuracy.
• Strong copywriting skills, with the ability to tailor content for different audiences and purposes.
• Confident and effective communicator, with well-developed interpersonal and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong IT capability, including experience of CRM systems (ideally Peppermint), and familiarity with Vuture, Zoom (for online events), Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Person Specification

• Naturally curious, with a strong interest in understanding how a professional services firm operates and a genuine appetite to learn and develop within a business development environment.
• Demonstrates sound judgement and the confidence to ask thoughtful questions, challenge constructively and seek to understand the commercial context behind requests.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build rapport quickly and work effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, including partners, senior lawyers and business services colleagues.
• Professional, positive and diplomatic in approach, with the credibility to establish trusted working relationships at an early stage.
• Proactive and self-motivated, with the ability to work autonomously while recognising when to seek guidance or escalation issues appropriately.
• Well organised and resilient, able to manage competing priorities and remain calm and effective in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Demonstrates a collaborative mindset and a willingness to contribute to team objectives, while taking ownership of individual responsibilities.
• Discreet and dependable, with an understanding of the importance of confidentiality and professionalism within a legal services environment.
• Open to using new tools and ways of working, including technology and AI, to improve efficiency, insight and quality of output.

Education and Qualifications

• Educated to degree level.
• CIM (or other equivalent) qualification (desirable).
• At least two years\’ experience in a business development assistant (or equivalent) role within a professional services environment, preferably a law firm.

Special aspects

Our standard working hours are 9.30am to 5.30pm. However, given the nature of the role, flexibility is required and candidates should be prepared to work beyond normal office hours when necessary to meet business demands.

The firm operates an agile working policy, allowing staff to work from home for up to three days per week. During the first three months of the induction period, the successful candidate will be expected to be office-based for three to four days per week to support effective onboarding, training and relationship-building.

If this job isn\’t quite right for you, but you know someone who would be great at this role, why not take advantage of our referral scheme? We offer £200 in shopping vouchers for every referred candidate who we place in a role. Terms & Conditions Apply. https://www.ambition.co.uk/refer-a-friend