Marketing and BD Specialist (Hybrid)

VANRATH are delighted to be assisting a leading law firm in Belfast City Centre with the recruitment of a Marketing and Business Development Specialist.

This firm has a fantastic reputation and is renowned to be one of the best working environments in the UK for Legal Professionals.

This role is based in the firm's Belfast City Centre office (Monday - Friday) - Hybrid working after training is completed.

Our coordinated business development, marketing and communication teams contribute to the setting and achievement of the firm’s business objectives, which includes improving our client relationships, increasing the visibility of the firm globally, and supporting our partners and associates in their pursuit of becoming our clients’ trusted advisers.

This role is a 12-month fixed-term contract.

Salary

(Fully negotiable) + Great benefits & Flexibility on working hours.

Responsibilities

As a BD Specialist, you will be a primary contact for the day-to-day business development support for fee earners and will form part of a core team focused primarily on supporting the BD efforts in the US.

Key responsibilities will include working with BD colleagues and fee-earners on pitch opportunities; providing practical marketing support for profile-raising activities, such as drafting submissions to legal directories, organising appropriate client events and working with colleagues to develop a strong external profile for the selected product area; and other ad-hoc business development support.

This includes:

• Proposals – provide support to the team in preparing proposals, pitch presentations and credentials statements. Input into documents prepared by other practice groups and offices requiring the relevant product/sector expertise. Work with colleagues to capture client feedback, capture proposal outcomes and prompt fee earners to act upon feedback.
• BD programmes and initiatives – work with the BD team on business development issues and projects and take a lead role in executing BD initiatives and projects.
• Client account management – assist the client relationship manager, partners, associates and BD colleagues in the development of strategic client relationships.
• External communications – preparation of awards and directory and leagues table submissions, from producing initial drafts to procuring partner sign off, ensuring deadlines are met and maximising positive recognition for the firm.
• Market and client research – research and analysis of clients, targets, and competitors to tailor marketing and client relationship activities and support client account planning.
• Internal communications – encourage sharing of market/client intelligence (e.g. major cases, regulatory developments, major players, key client contact moves and developments) to partners and associates. Maximise usage of internal communications channels eg, intranets, blogs.
• Events - assisting with internal and external events.
• Client listening – support client listening programmes as appropriate; participate in client listening sessions with key clients. Assimilate the feedback into reports for the relevant partners. Proactively work with BD colleagues and the partners to ensure that the feedback in the report is actioned appropriately.
• BD tactics – responsible for the timeliness, consistency and quality of BD tools: work with PAs to maintain updated collateral, credentials, contact cards and CVs; and track and ensure experience information is regularly and accurately captured in the firm’s experience system, EPiC.
• Sector and practice expertise - development of own knowledge of various industry sectors, economic trends/drivers and clients.

The Ideal Person

• Three years’ experience in a professional services, banking and financial services, consulting services or law firm environment.
• Degree-level qualification in Marketing or related field or substantial equivalent experience.
• Excellent communication – both written and oral - and inter-personal skills, in order to manage expectations of various stakeholders including partners, legal team members, Business Development etc.
• High attention to detail and a commitment to quality.
• Ability to work to deadlines, juggle multiple projects and deliver under pressure. Ability to plan ahead, anticipate one’s own workload and knowing how to work with busy fee earners, balancing conflicting priorities and does not over-commit to unrealistic deliverables – always manages expectations.
• Enthusiasm to develop an understanding of the practice groups (in terms of the market, the cases/deals, the key players, the competition, and the actual structures and approaches involved in these areas).