Business Development and Marketing Manager (Dubai)

The Team

The global business development leadership team sets the strategy in consultation with the global strategy board and global practice groups. The business development (BD) and marketing teams (comprising business development, client development, pitches and pursuits, and marketing and communications experts) are led by regional heads of BD who are aligned to our regional boards: Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, North America, UK, and Europe.

Our strategy seeks to:

• Manage and develop clients and profile in our global sectors.
• Adopt a content and product led approach when growing our market profile.
• Prioritise the use of integrated digital marketing channels.
• Position our most senior staff as advisors to the business, supported by expert execution teams.
• Our principles dictate that the highest value clients and opportunities command the highest value BD attention and bespoke tactics.

The Role

This role is a part of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) BD and marketing team who work across our MEA practice and sector groups with a majority focus on engagement and conversion stages of the sales pipeline. You will be expected to facilitate the sales process; originate and coordinate high value marketing and communications activity; and provide advisory and execution services to our growth markets across MEA. Shaping and implementing initiatives, tailored to market and client nuances will be key to the success of this role. This role works closely with specialist client development, pitches and pursuits, marketing and communications, and centralised shared services teams.

Key Responsibilities

Business development

• Drive BD related development and implementation of regional growth strategies.
• Drive a connected and consistent approach to regional practices/sectors in line with our global practice group strategy.
• Develop clear strategies and BD plans, formulate aligned marketing campaigns and maintain a strong focus on growing key client relationships.
• Use analytics to identify and track leads and monitor performance of activity for maximum ROI, report back on effectiveness.
• Maintain an in-depth understanding of the relevant practices, sectors and markets to inform BD and marketing activities.
• Act as a conduit of information and collaboration to further connect the regional and international office network.
• Formulation of relevant BD budgets and management of the budget to ensure appropriate expenditure and that the firm receives suitable return on that investment.
• Undertake other projects as may be assigned by the regional or global leadership team.

Clients

• Contribute to regional and global key client programmes.
• Institute a "Clients first, client centric" mindset. All activity across the pipeline should have an intentional client impact and outturn which compliments the regional growth objectives.
• Work with regional partner groups to establish a market-leading reputation by promoting and selling capabilities of relevance to clients in our groups.

Pitches and pursuits

• Manage the production and delivery of bids and tenders, working in partnership with the relevant partners and BD team, such that bids accurately reflect the business proposition being presented and the related BD plans for that client, sector, or practice.
• Create, maintain, and improve pitch resources such as a credentials database, standard wording, and case studies.

Marketing and communications

• Support on the communication and marketing strategy, including executing multichannel marketing campaigns in coordination with the marketing and communications team.
• Coordinate and execute multichannel marketing campaigns in conjunction with the wider function, including the organisation of virtual and in person events.
• Support the strategy for improving recognition across the key legal directories in the region.
• Manage marketing materials and activities in support of the BD agendas including brochures, directory submissions, awards submissions, web pages, CVs, client articles, matter press releases, social media posts, newsletters, reports, events, sponsorships, podcasts, webinars etc.
• Work with the marketing and communications team to ensure PR strategies support BD plans and enhance campaigns.
• Champion the use of the firm's CRM database and manage regional marketing lists.

Maintenance of the operational standards of the BD and marketing team to ensure:

• our branding approach is implemented effectively
• communication materials effectively represent the positioning of each area
• our approach to pitches is informed by market and sector knowledge, and client insights
• the management of events is efficient and cost-effective
• PR strategies support BD plans and enhance campaigns

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will:

• Be educated to degree level (2:1 or above); or possesses equivalent experience.
• Have at least 5 years' experience as BD and marketing manager within a legal services organisation with experience in various practices and sectors.
• Possess a good understanding of the role that BD and marketing play within an international legal environment.
• Possess excellent IT skills with knowledge of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Internet research tools essential. Knowledge of common legal CRM and marketing systems for client mailings and webinars is preferrable.
• Have an understanding of client service standards and client relationship management.
• Have good interpersonal skills with the ability to persuade and influence others.
• Be able to develop effective working relationships with the wider team and across the business.
• Have strong organisational skills with ability to prioritise multiple tasks and projects, manage expectations of stakeholders and meet deadlines.
• Have excellent English language skills (written and spoken) and demonstrate attention to detail.
• Flexibility and willingness to adjust work schedule from time-to-time according to workload demands and/or planned events outside of core hours.

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