Partnerships & Business Development Manager

• Partnerships & Business Development Manager

Partnerships & Business Development Manager

Job location: Remote working, candidates must be UK-based (you will be asked to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK if you are invited to interview)

Job type: Fixed term contract for 6 months

Hours: Part-time, three days per week

The Partnerships & Business Development Manager will drive adoption and active use of TCLP’s tools, ways of working, content and legal engineering model across the legal sector. Current priorities include TCLP’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) and benchmarking products, but the role will support adoption of TCLP’s wider and evolving portfolio of tools and approaches.

The role will identify, prioritise and develop high-impact partnerships and routes to adoption with legal technology providers, knowledge providers, law firms, in-house legal teams, corporate procurement / supply chain / ESG teams, NGOs and other relevant organisations. It will focus on identifying who could adopt or amplify TCLP’s work, developing effective approaches to engage them, and progressing opportunities from initial engagement through to implementation, adoption and active use.

Working closely with the wider TCLP team, the role will bring market insight, adoption and usage data, and partner feedback into TCLP to inform development and prioritisation and help grow the reach and use of TCLP’s work.

Key activities and responsibilities

Responsibilities include:

• Identify, prioritise and engage prospective partners and adopters across TCLP’s priority audiences, focusing on organisations and routes to adoption with the greatest potential to drive adoption and active usage of TCLP’s tools, content, products and approaches.
• Build and maintain strong relationships across the legal ecosystem, including legal technology platforms, knowledge and content providers, private practice law firms, in-house legal teams and other relevant digital infrastructure providers, representing TCLP effectively in external meetings and relevant sector forums.
• Develop and execute tailored partnership and adoption approaches for TCLP’s priority audiences, reflecting their different needs, decision-making processes and routes to adoption, and adapting how TCLP’s work is positioned accordingly.
• Own and actively manage the partnership and adoption pipeline from initial engagement through to agreement, implementation and active usage, maintaining clear priorities and next steps.
• Develop and negotiate partnership and adoption arrangements, establishing clear expectations, commitments and responsibilities and working with TCLP colleagues as required.
• Work with partners and the wider TCLP team to identify and address barriers to adoption, and, in collaboration with the Head of Communications, test and refine messaging, partnership propositions and engagement approaches based on what drives the strongest engagement and usage.
• Bring market insight, adoption and usage data, and feedback from prospective and existing partners into TCLP to inform the development, positioning and prioritisation of TCLP’s work, while maintaining an up-to-date understanding of relevant developments across the legal technology and knowledge ecosystem.
• Track and report on partnership activity, pipeline progress, adoption and usage, giving TCLP’s product and leadership teams a clear view of progress, opportunities, risks and lessons learned.

Qualifications, skills and experience requirements

We are looking for someone with the following skills and experience:

Qualifications

• No specific formal qualification is required. Relevant professional experience in business development, partnerships, legal services, legal technology or a related field will be considered.

Skills

• Sector and market understanding: Strong understanding of legal markets, law firm structures and/or legal technology ecosystems, with the ability to navigate complex organisations and identify the stakeholders, partnerships and routes to adoption most likely to drive meaningful usage.
• Strategic judgement: Able to identify and prioritise partnership opportunities based on their potential to drive adoption and usage, and to adapt approaches based on evidence and market insight.
• Relationship building and influence: Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to engage and influence senior stakeholders across law firms, in-house legal teams, technology platforms and other organisations.
• Partner development and negotiation: Able to develop and negotiate effective partnership and adoption arrangements, establishing clear expectations, commitments and responsibilities.
• Technical communication: Able to quickly understand technical products and communicate their purpose and value clearly to legal, technical and non-technical audiences. Prior knowledge of MCP is not required.
• Independent delivery: Confident working independently and comfortable operating in a newly defined role where approaches will need to be tested, refined and adapted.
• Organisation and prioritisation: Highly organised, with the ability to manage and prioritise a varied pipeline of opportunities across different audiences and stages of development.
• Collaboration: Able to work effectively across product, communications and other internal teams.
• A strong interest in climate, nature and the role of law and contracts in driving positive outcomes, alongside an understanding of and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Experience

• Sector expertise: A strong background in business development, partnerships or ecosystem development within legal technology or legal services, or demonstrably strong experience developing partnerships across the legal sector.
• Demonstrable experience developing partnerships or driving the adoption of products, services, tools or initiatives through partnership-led approaches.
• Experience developing opportunities from initial identification and engagement through to agreement, implementation and active usage.
• Experience building relationships and influencing senior stakeholders within complex organisations.
• Experience managing and prioritising a pipeline of opportunities, using evidence and insight to determine where to focus effort.
• Experience negotiating and establishing partnership, collaboration or similar arrangements, including agreeing responsibilities and commitments between organisations.
• Experience working collaboratively with product or service teams and translating external stakeholder feedback and market insight into actionable recommendations.
• Established knowledge of, or networks within, the UK legal technology ecosystem, law firms, in-house legal teams or legal knowledge providers.
• Experience supporting the adoption of a new or early-stage product, service or digital tool.
• Experience working with API-based, developer-facing, data or other technical products.
• Experience working in a mission-led, climate, sustainability or not-for-profit organisation.

Key deliverables for the role include:

• A qualified and actively managed pipeline of partnership and adoption opportunities across TCLP’s priority audiences, with clear progress, next steps and measures of success.
• Strategic partnerships and adoption arrangements progressed from initial engagement through to implementation and active usage, with a particular focus on organisations capable of driving meaningful reach, adoption and usage of TCLP’s work.
• Measurable progress in adoption and active usage of TCLP’s tools, content, products and approaches, including current priorities such as MCP and benchmarking, identifying barriers to adoption and working with partners and the wider TCLP team to address them.
• Based on the above, a prioritised partnership and adoption plan identifying the legal technology platforms, knowledge providers, law firms, in-house legal teams and other organisations and routes to adoption with the greatest potential to drive adoption and usage of TCLP’s tools, content, products and approaches.
• A tested and repeatable approach to partnership development and adoption, including effective propositions, messaging developed in collaboration with the Head of Communications, routes to adoption and market insights that can inform TCLP’s ongoing development, positioning and partnership strategy.

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