Business Development Manager - Retail & Consumer in Bristol

Our Sales & Marketing team is looking for a Business Development Manager for our Retail & Consumer (R&C) sector, based in either our Bristol or London office. R&C is a fast-growing, international sector with a strong portfolio of interesting and big-brand clients and a dedicated, engaged team of legal specialists across OC's core markets.

The primary objective of this role is to identify and deliver internal and external BD activities that help identify, progress and capture growth opportunities across OC's key international markets. This will involve working with the R&C sector team and collaborating with closely aligned sectors and key service lines.

This role is responsible for driving income growth, profitability and improved client "stickiness" among our key client relationships, within an exciting and rapidly evolving market. You will work closely with the international sector leaders and key sector Partners and lawyers to set strategy and to ensure momentum and success in the delivery of the sector plans. You will also collaborate with our service line Marketing teams and our Communications and Marketing teams, in the UK and across our international offices, to plan and deliver targeted BD activities.

Key activities will include:

• Pipeline management (new client wins)
• Working closely with the Bids and New Business teams
• Client relationship development (cross-selling and internationalisation)
• Profile raising, particularly in those market segments offering the strongest growth opportunities
• Identifying market developments and aligning the legal and CRD teams accordingly
• Collaborating with other sectors to capture the benefits of sector overlaps, particularly those relating to our globally successful TMC team
• Collaborating with our service line Marketing teams to develop legal solutions in line with market and client needs
• Developing referral relationships with external organisations

Key responsibilities:

• Strategy development and delivery - work closely with the sector leadership team to agree an international sector strategy and budget, and then draft the UK country plan. Take responsibility for the implementation of these plans and budgets.
• Capturing new market disruptors - develop a dedicated programme to identify and capture new market disruptors, working in collaboration with the relevant service line Marketing teams.
• Improving quality of existing client mix, work with the sector leadership team and the CRD programme to improve the quality and profitability of the sector's client mix.
• Embed and manage CRD best practice across the sector's client base, with support from the central CRD team.
• Lead internal communications within the sector to support engagement and the effective running of the sector.
• Build collaborative relationships and activity to leverage expertise developed in other sectors, notably TMC.

What we’re looking for:

• Strong relationship-building skills are essential for success in this role, as there is significant interface with sector leadership, Partners, other BD teams, Communications and Marketing specialists, and international BD colleagues.
• Strong ability to initiate projects and see them through to successful completion, including breaking down problems and overcoming delivery challenges.
• Ability to role-model collaborative and solutions-focused behaviours, working flexibly across teams and adapting processes and approaches to improve BD effectiveness in the sector.
• A track record of delivering profitable growth through client relationship management and broader BD activity in a legal or professional services environment.
• Commitment to delivering objectives that are aligned to sector and firm strategies.
• Strong commercial judgement to assess opportunities, prioritise BD focus and ensure sector plans support profitable, sustainable revenue growth.
• Ability to use insight, data and market awareness to inform recommendations, shaping sector plans and campaigns with a clear, evidence-based rationale.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to build credibility and influence senior management and Partners.

Salary and benefits

We offer competitive salaries and generous benefits. We value the health and wellbeing of our people and our wide range of initiatives and benefits support this.

Our recruitment process

Please note that although we include closing dates for our roles as a guide, we review and progress applications on a rolling basis. At Osborne Clarke we do not make any recruitment decisions using automated decision-making. We are committed to providing an environment where you can perform to the best of your abilities at every stage of your recruitment experience and beyond. If you require adjustments to be made during the application stage, interview process, or when working with us, please let us know in confidence.

About Us

Osborne Clarke is an international legal practice with over 330 Partners and more than 1,260 talented lawyers in 26 locations. Our sector-based approach enables us to help our clients tackle the issues they are facing today, and prepare for the ones that they will face tomorrow. Advising them both comprehensively and commercially. We love working closely with our clients on new deals, products and solutions which will transform their businesses, markets and even sectors. And our unique approachable culture is not an added extra, it’s fundamental to our success. At Osborne Clarke we value difference and encourage applicants from all backgrounds. We want everyone to feel that OC is a place where you can be yourself and belong, and our range of interest groups and diversity networks - not to mention our great teams - are a part of making that a reality.