Senior Business Development Manager (Financing)

Slaughter and May; Greater London; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Slaughter and May in London is seeking a Senior Business Development Manager to support the Financing practice within the Business and Client Development team. The role focuses on helping partners win new business, maintain client relationships and deliver strategic BD initiatives.

You will lead campaigns, coordinate with Knowledge Lawyers and Partners, manage CRM planning in Microsoft Dynamics, and shape growth strategies across Banking and DCM.

Qualifications

• Relevant experience in professional services or similar organisations.
• Strong BD and marketing experience at manager or senior manager level in legal or professional services.
• Proven ability to communicate effectively with senior stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple deliverables within tight timeframes.
• Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Identify and pursue client development and targeting opportunities with partners and fee earners.
• Lead flagship initiatives and events to amplify the firm’s market visibility.
• Support pitch responses and maintain marketing documents and alumni lists.
• Develop BD strategy, CRM intelligence, and industry research to drive growth.

Skills

BD experience

Marketing experience

Stakeholder engagement

Communication skills

Tools

CRM (Microsoft Dynamics)

Job description

We are recruiting for a Senior Business Development Manager to support our award-winning Financing practice. The successful candidate will join our Business and Client Development team, which sits within the wider Clients and Markets function.

The Senior Business Development Manager will work with colleagues across Clients and Markets, as well as knowledge lawyers and other key stakeholders within our Financing practice, to support partners in winning new business, servicing existing clients and delivering a broad range of strategic business development initiatives.

Our Financing practice sets itself apart by focusing on client relationships rather than individual practice areas. This allows us to deploy smaller, more versatile teams that draw on the expertise of our Banking, DCM, Restructuring and Insolvency, Securitisation and Derivatives specialists to deliver a service tailored to the needs of our clients.

We are looking for a dynamic, strategically minded business development professional who can enhance our market profile, deepen client relationships, work closely with partners and colleagues across the firm to identify opportunities, shape growth strategies and articulate our market-leading proposition.

Key responsibilities

The Senior Business Development Manager will work closely with a Senior Business Development Executive to support our 14-partner Financing practice.

The role will offer the successful candidate the chance to deliver core business development services that support the continued growth and success of this practice, and provide a platform for them to work on a broad range of strategic projects and initiatives that are designed to amplify our offering in the market, to cross-sell services to other areas of the firm and devise and deliver strategies to reach targets and increase our client list.

The role holder will work closely with an experienced team of Knowledge Lawyers, and will act as the lead business development contact for our Banking and DCM practices. They will also provide support across the wider Financing practice, including coverage for other key sub-practices when the junior resource is away.

The nature of the role, and the range of services we provide to clients, requires a good understanding of the financing market and the key product areas within the practice.

This is a busy and varied role that demands adaptability, strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities. The successful candidate will also have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, enabling them to build strong relationships across the Financing practice and the wider firm.

Opportunity identification and client relationship development

• Work with and support partners in identifying and pursuing client development and broader targeting opportunities, including maintaining targeting intelligence, researching clients and markets for opportunities, pitching ideas to fee earners and ensuring actions are followed up.
• Oversee key flagship initiatives and targeted events, roundtables and webinars, partnering with Knowledge Lawyers to deliver our flagship Treasury Exchange series. Ensure a creative approach, helping to develop and evolve these initiatives and amplify our visibility and offering in the market.
• Advise and assist partners in determining how best to respond to pitch opportunities, where appropriate, liaising with the central Pitch team and providing strategic assistance. Manage and maintain the suite of Financing marketing documents, including pitch materials, credentials, targeting lists and alumni lists, and lead on the Financing group's directory and awards submissions.

Strategy and planning

• Working with partners, the Head of Business and Client Development and other key stakeholders, to create a BD plan for the Financing practice, to include the ownership and management of our CRM intelligence in Microsoft Dynamics.
• Devise and direct industry, market and competitor-focused research to ensure that the Financing practice is positioned to capitalise on the opportunities presented, to grow the client base and leverage internal relationships across the firm as part of a cross-selling drive and Client Relationship Management Programme.
• Oversee key Business Development initiatives for the practice, including the development of a content strategy (working with fee earners and Knowledge Lawyers), strategically important events and internal practice meetings with key stakeholders.

Business Development campaigns

• Managing our key client engagement initiatives, including target and invitee lists, the content and cadence of follow-ups, and the next steps required to ensure that the practice is well positioned to capitalise on our investment, primarily by ensuring that follow-up actions are completed.
• Work closely with the wider Clients and Markets team to design and oversee business development campaigns that amplify our Financing offering in the market. Within this, understand the relevant methods of ROI measurement for all BD campaigns, ensuring clear alignment with the practice’s commercial goals.
• Further develop internal communications channels that support the Financing practice, including internal events, training, announcements and campaigns.

The key responsibilities of this role will include some or all of the above. You may be required, on occasion, to work outside our normal working hours of 9:30am to 5:30pm.

Candidate profile

Candidates for this position must be/have:

• Relevant experience in professional services or other organisations.
• Strong BD and Marketing experience, most recently at a manager or senior manager level in legal or professional services.
• The ability to communicate effectively and build relationships with senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrable experience and confidence in developing strong working relationships with the partners, associates, Knowledge Lawyers and members of the Clients and Markets team.
• Able to demonstrate sound judgement in respect of managing information and understanding the commercially sensitive nature of our work.
• Proven ability to manage multiple deliverables within a tight timeframe and deliver high-quality outputs, including the ability to manage and analyse large amounts of data and identify opportunities within it.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (written, spoken and presentational) and excellent attention to detail.
• Willingness to foster an inclusive team culture and a high level of professionalism and integrity, displaying the highest standard of professional ethics at all times.

We are a Disability Confident Committed employer and will offer an interview to applicants with a disability or long-term condition who best meet the minimum or essential criteria for our Business Services roles. If you would like to apply through the Disability Confident 'Offer An Interview' commitment, please apply via our online application form and not via LinkedIn. You are disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a 'substantial' and 'long-term' negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. For more information about the Disability Confident scheme, please see the government website here.

We welcome applications irrespective of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, belief or marital status.