Director of Business Development

Cooley LLP; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 280,000 - 340,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Health Savings Account

Dental

Vision

Pre-tax commuter benefits

Life insurance

AD&D

Long-term care

PTO 25 days

Holidays 10

Parental leave

Fertility benefits

Job summary

Cooley LLP is seeking a Director of Business Development to lead the regional market strategy, working with Marketing and Client Development to drive growth. You will manage key client relationships, engage in strategic pursuits, and translate market intelligence into actionable plans to support firm growth.

The role emphasizes leadership of a BD team, cross-functional collaboration, and accountability for pipeline health and revenue trends within the region.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in marketing or business development, with 5+ years of management experience.
• Commercial instinct and proven relationship-building skills.
• Leverageable network with market presence.
• Willingness to travel as required.
• Strong leadership and presentation abilities.

Responsibilities

• Set BD agenda for each market, oversee pipeline health, activity, and revenue trends.
• Engage with priority clients and strategic opportunities to open doors.
• Adjust strategies and resources based on market conditions.
• Align BD with Marketing for coordinated outreach and campaigns.
• Lead and develop a high-performing BD team across the region.
• Collaborate with firm leadership to connect regional efforts to firm-wide priorities.
• Provide market feedback to inform strategic investments.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Relationship building

CRM (Salesforce)

Communication

Project management

Travel availability

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

iManage

CRM systems

Job description

Director of Business Development Cooley is seeking a Director of Business Development to join the Marketing and Client Development team.

Position summary: This role is part of the Business Development Team, which leads the firm’s business development efforts in the market, in close partnership with Marketing, to build relationships, generate opportunities, and support growth across priority clients, prospects, and sectors. Responsible for engaging directly with key clients, strategic pursuits, and firm leadership to drive business growth, strengthen market presence, and translate competitive intelligence into actionable strategies.

Position responsibilities

• Regional Strategic Leadership: Set the business development agenda for each market in alignment with firm priorities, maintaining total oversight of pipeline health, activity levels, and revenue trends across the region.
• Market Growth & Executive Engagement: Support priority client relationships and strategic opportunities by engaging directly in the market where senior business development involvement is required to open doors or advance complex work.
• Agile Resource & Strategy Management: Continuously evaluate results and market conditions to adjust strategies and reallocate resources, ensuring the team remains focused on the highest-value activities and growth levers.
• Integrated Marketing & BD Alignment: Drive total alignment between regional BD and Marketing efforts, ensuring that outreach, events, campaigns, and follow-up activities are executed as a single, coordinated motion.
• Execution Discipline & Follow-Through: Instill a culture of consistency across the region, implementing the structure and systems necessary to improve follow-through on leads and ensure reliable execution of the growth plan.
• Team Leadership & Talent Development: Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of BD professionals across the region, setting clear performance expectations and reinforcing rigorous accountability for results.
• Cross-Firm Connectivity: Partner with firm leaders, partners, and enabling teams to ensure regional efforts are seamlessly connected to broader firm capabilities and global strategic priorities.
• Market Intelligence & Feedback: Maintain high visibility in the market to stay ahead of competitive developments, sharing real-time client feedback and market insights to inform firm-wide investment and strategic decisions.
• Collaborative Market Coordination: Act as the primary bridge between regional activity and the firm’s centralized resources, ensuring a unified “one-firm” approach to client engagement and market-facing initiatives.
• People Leader: Serve as direct supervisor and mentor to direct reports Provide day-to-day supervision of direct reports, ensure compliance with assigned work hours and monitor for compliance with all firm and department policies. Manage staffing coverage, review and process time logs/time off requests Support business professional development and continued educational opportunities In collaboration with immediate supervisor and central HR, participate in hiring, performance appraisals, counseling, termination and other employee lifecycle events All other duties as assigned or required.

Skills and experience

• After orientation at Cooley LLP, exhibit proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, iManage and other firm applications
• Ability to work extended and/or weekend hours, as required
• Ability to travel, as required
• 10+ years of directly relevant exempt-level experience (e.g., marketing or business development), with 5+ years of management experience in relevant roles
• Market-facing presence including a leverageable network
• Commercial instinct and proven relationship building skills, including strong working knowledge of enterprise CRM ecosystems (e.g., Salesforce)
• Proven track record of effective leadership
• Bachelor’s degree

Preferred

• Prior legal industry or professional services experience

Competencies

• Entrepreneurial by nature
• Excellent attention to detail
• Approaches tasks through a lens of quality and consistency
• Approaches tasks through a digital first lens
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills with ability to facilitate and solve problems
• Ability to organize, prioritize and coordinate multiple activities often under tight timelines
• Takes a consultative approach to set goals, drive projects, and achieve outcomes
• Strong judgment
• Team-player with collaborative spirit
• Unwavering ability to handle and maintain confidentiality regarding firm information, projects, client data
• High level of professionalism at all times
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence and develop talent
• Proactive, analytical mindset
• Effective presentation skills

Cooley offers a competitive compensation and excellent benefits package and is committed to fair and equitable employment practices. EOE.

The expected annual pay range for this position with a full-time schedule is $280,000 - $340,000.

Please note that final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience and skillset of the candidate.

Benefits

• We offer a full range of elective benefits including medical, health savings account (with applicable medical plan), dental, vision, health and/or dependent care flexible spending accounts, pre-tax commuter benefits, life insurance, AD&D, long-term care coverage, backup care for children and/or adults and other parental support benefits.
• In addition to elective benefit options, benefited employees receive firm-paid life insurance, AD&D, LTD, short term medical benefits as well as 25 days of Paid Time Off (“PTO”) and 10 paid holidays each year.
• We provide generous parental leave and fertility benefits.
• New employees will attend a detailed benefit orientation to learn more about our many benefits and resources.