Global Clients Associate Director, Technology

Baker McKenzie; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Baker McKenzie in Palo Alto seeks an Associate Director of Global Clients to drive demand generation and expand strategic relationships with high-value tech clients. You will partner with Client Service Directors and cross-functional teams to align client plans with firm priorities and deliver measurable outcomes.

This role requires deep sector knowledge, strong leadership, and the ability to deploy analytics and technology to inform strategy.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in business development and client relationship management.
• Educated to degree level with business qualifications/experience focusing on Business Development, Marketing, Communications, Sales, or related commercial subjects
• Strong leadership and communication skills, with ability to influence at senior levels

Responsibilities

• Drive demand generation for assigned tech clients and revenue growth.
• Lead client strategy alignment with practice priorities and grow wallet share.
• Develop deep sector knowledge and translate market insights into actionable plans.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams across the firm to deliver seamless client experiences.
• Track ROI and manage client reporting and budgets.

Skills

Business development

Client relationship management

Leadership

Strategic planning

Job description

The Global Clients Associate Director, Technology (AD) drives business development and marketing strategies to accelerate the growth of the tech sector globally. As an ambassador for the Client Program, the AD bridges sector, practice, and client strategies, serving as a strategic partner to a number of the Firm’s key tech clients.

Working closely with Client Service Directors (CSDs), broader client teams, and business services functions, the AD’s priority is client development (driving demand) for the firm’s high-value services, while also working to deepen client relationships and ensure operational excellence in managing client accounts. The AD is deeply embedded with their assigned internal client teams and directly connected to client contacts, building a comprehensive understanding of their business, priorities, and preferred ways of working.

Through the new Clients team structure, the AD works alongside a team of specialized tech-focused client business development professionals, cultivating a proactive, results-driven culture that elevates partner engagement in business development and establishes clear accountability for measurable client outcomes. Leveraging the Firm’s strategy and Client Program infrastructure, the AD will deploy advanced analytics and technology platforms to drive data-informed strategic decisions.

Main Responsibilities:

Demand generation:

• Client strategies and planning: Establish and drive both annual and long-term strategies and plans for assigned tech clients, ensuring commercial focus and alignment with firm’s goals and AOA Strategy, including driving revenue growth. Key will be identifying client opportunities based on other work that we are doing in the sector.
• Practice group alignment: Leverage insights from Clients practice group liaisons to ensure client plans are aligned with practice priorities to grow wallet share with assigned clients.
• Sector and client knowledge: Develop a deep understanding of assigned tech clients and the broader sector / sub-sectors in which they operate. Continuously assess how the Firm is facing the client organization, at what level and in what areas and determine what relationships need to be protected/ strengthened/ explored further in order to grow profitable revenues.
• Firm knowledge: Develop a comprehensive understanding of the Firm's overarching strategy, key strengths (including market-leading positions and awards), leadership, and core offerings (such as high-value products, CLEs, Pro Bono initiatives, Sustainability, and DEI) to confidently engage in discussions with clients on these topics.
• Market and competitive intelligence: Analyze sector trends, competitive dynamics, and market opportunities to inform positioning strategies; translate market intelligence into actionable business development plans and client engagement approaches. Leverage key tools such as Client Attractiveness and Sector Insights to uncover opportunities.
• Business development coaching and upskilling: Support the business development coaching for partners and associates through various programs (Activator, Empower) and support upskilling of the tech Clients team.
• High-value services: Employ predictive models and analytics to identify needs for tech clients for specific high-value services at the right times, improving the firm’s ability to early and proactively address client challenges and opportunities.
• Client-specific campaign strategy: In partnership with the BDMC team, execute client-specific BD campaigns that anticipate legal needs and deliver high-value solutions.
• High-impact engagement formats: In partnership with the BDMC team, design and support high-impact engagement formats that drive the firm’s market position – from C‑Suite roundtables for top clients to strategic thought leadership initiatives, key sponsorships and events, and client collaborations. Leverage the full value-added services available to assigned clients based on client tier.
• ROI: Assess ROI on marketing and business development initiatives and adjust investments based on analysis.

Relationship expansion:

• Go-to support for CSDs: Act as central point of contact globally assigned client(s), working closely with the relevant Client Service Director(s) to identify and capitalize on opportunities to expand existing relationships and cultivate new high‑value client connections.
• Client listening: Design and lead client listening to drive continuous improvement and resolve relationship or service issues, ensuring a close‑loop process to the client. Leverage the insights from client listening from tech clients to identify opportunities to grow relationships.
• Assess and flag relationship risks: Continually monitor for and assess relationship risks, which could range from client dissatisfaction to declining fees / new mandates or key departures (either partners or client contacts). Flag any perceived relationship risks to the Clients Lead, Tech and support resolution of issues where possible.
• Secondment & alumni management: Coordinating with the Clients, Growth Enablement team, support secondments for assigned accounts both internally and directly with the client. As needed, conduct pre‑and post‑secondment briefings and ensure that client secondments are strategic and fully maximized for value.
• Leverage digital platforms: Maximize value of tools and networks (e.g. LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Baker CI) and sector events to enhance partner, client team, and sector visibility and generate qualified leads.
• Contact management & client mapping: Utilize client mapping and diagnostic tools to identify growth opportunities and deepen institutional relationships, including senior legal counsel, C‑Suite and Board levels.
• Zipp relationships: Build direct relationships with assigned clients with a focus on facilitating connections for partners, broadening and deepening relationships across the client organization and increasing referrals to our transactional teams. Develop and maintain a deep understanding of clients' industries, business challenges, and strategic priorities, allowing for the offering of proactive solutions and demonstrating a deep commitment to help.
• Lateral partner integration: Support the integration of lateral partners with key partners in the Firm by integrating into tech client relationships.

Operational excellence:

• Cutting‑edge technology: Leverage technology and data analytics to understand how tech clients are engaging with the firm and uncover client demand.
• Leverage AI: Maximize use of available AI tools to reduce administrative processes within the Clients team, and potentially more broadly.
• Cross‑functional collaboration: Orchestrate cross‑functional teams to deliver seamless client experiences across practice areas, working closely with Finance, Billing, Legal Assistants, Human Resources, Operations and beyond.
• Client financial performance: Implement metrics‑driven approaches to track and improve client financial performance indicators, working with Finance to optimize work‑in‑progress, accounts receivable, and matter profitability.
• Budget management: Manage any BDMC budget(s) for assigned client(s), ensuring that all business development initiatives are effectively coordinated to extract maximum return on investment.
• Client reporting: Manage all required and proactive reporting to assigned clients.

Skills and experience:

• Significant experience in business development, and client relationship management with an international law firm or other professional services environment
• Required sector experience and deep relationships / connections to the sector. Ideally located in sector hub city
• Educated to degree level and ideally with an additional business qualification/experience focusing on Business Development, Marketing, Communications, Sales, or related commercial subjects
• Deep business acumen and understanding of strategic and business planning gained through experience in mid‑to‑senior level business roles, as well as strong financial acumen
• Proven track record of delivering on client relationships and revenues, as well as developing and delivering on metrics
• Leadership experience ideally, with strong experience managing a Business Development department
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to interact and influence at senior levels of the Firm
• Fluent written and spoken English is required with strong writing skills
• Outstanding Leadership skills, high IQ and EQ, with an ability to coach and inspire others
• An appreciation of, and experience in matrix management across multiple offices/countries
• A collegiate approach and ability to work collaboratively with colleagues, management, and leadership across the Firm
• An ambassador of change
• A confident, calm, and credible style with the ability to work well under pressure and manage multiple concurrent projects
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Respects and enjoys the diversity of cultural, social, and academic backgrounds found in the Firm

Location: Palo Alto or San Francisco

Reports to: Global Head of Clients

Travel requirements: Flexibility to travel occasionally to networking events, mostly locally. There are likely to be 2-4 trips required each year to attend client meetings, possibly in conjunction with regional and Firm‑wide partner meetings.

Position type: Specialist

Development framework: Associate Director