Senior Business Development Manager

Husch Blackwell LLP is a full-service litigation and business law firm with multiple locations across the United States, serving clients with domestic and international operations. We believe that diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams lead to better outcomes and are committed to retaining, recruiting, developing, and promoting talented professionals with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Our firm fosters an engaged, diverse, and inclusive team culture of accountability and purpose.

About the role

The Senior Business Development Manager (“SBDM”) is responsible for the performance of business development and marketing strategy across a portfolio of business units, including collaborative development and management of key initiatives. This role drives client development and growth conversations, bringing deep experience and critical thinking to complex, strategic opportunities. The SBDM sets the direction for the BD team across assigned units, introducing differentiated approaches to business development while maintaining high standards of service delivery.

This position may be filled remotely or in any of our firm locations.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership across a portfolio of business units through direct business development leadership for assigned groups and oversight of business development support for other groups.
• Ensure successful execution and accountability of business development and marketing initiatives, aligning with business unit strategies to drive revenue growth and brand visibility with measurable outcomes.
• Leverage deep knowledge of key clients, markets, and firm capabilities to act as a trusted advisor to colleagues and leadership, shaping practical and actionable growth strategies.
• Translate client, market, and competitor information to identify business development priorities and create initiatives that help the firm stay ahead of opportunities.
• Introduce and scale differentiated approaches to client development, benchmarking against leading firms, piloting new ideas, and building repeatable playbooks for success.
• Set direction for thought leadership and client programming across assigned groups, partnering with BD, communications, and events teams to ensure alignment with business plans and measurable impact.
• Drive pipeline development and opportunity management, ensuring consistent identification, prioritization, and advancement of high-value pursuits.
• Establish and reinforce best practices, tools, and processes that improve the efficiency, consistency, and scalability of business development efforts.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key internal stakeholders, earning credibility and trust to influence decisions and advance strategic initiatives.
• Serve as a mentor and subject matter expert across the team, modeling best practices and fostering a strong service mindset that reinforces responsiveness, quality, and a high-value stakeholder experience.

Requirements

• 4-year degree with major coursework in marketing, business, communications, or related field; or a combination of education and commensurate work experience.
• 10+ years of progressive marketing and business development experience at advancing levels, with experience in a law firm or professional services organization required.
• 5+ years of management experience with demonstrated ability to manage and develop Manager-level professionals.
• Proven track record of developing and implementing BD plans across complex, multi-group portfolios that produced measurable commercial results.
• Strong business development abilities, including priority-setting, strategic planning, organization, follow-through, delegation, and negotiation skills; proven ability to build, manage, and track budgets and analyze ROI.
• Ability to motivate attorneys to engage in business development and work with them to develop and implement business development plans across multiple practice and industry groups.
• Creative, forward-thinking mindset — brings new ideas, challenges convention, and avoids defaulting to repeating past approaches.
• Relentlessly proactive and accountable — anticipates needs, surfaces issues early, drives work forward without prompting, and meets every deadline.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills; ability to write and produce compelling proposals, client presentations, collateral, and research reports.
• High level of maturity, judgment, and executive presence necessary to interact with firm leadership, senior partners, and sophisticated clients.
• Excellent computer skills with knowledge of Microsoft Office products; familiarity with CRM and experience management tools (e.g., InterAction, Foundation, or equivalent).

Pay

Compensation is commensurate with skill and experience. The expected compensation ranges for this position in various states and jurisdictions are as follows:

• State of California: $151,000 - $308,000
• State of Colorado: $139,000 - $248,000
• State of Illinois: $136,000 - $265,000
• State of Maine: $103,000 - $237,000
• State of Massachusetts: $151,000 - $289,000
• State of Maryland: $146,000 - $222,000
• State of Minnesota: $151,000 - $250,000
• Jersey City, NJ: $164,000 - $297,000
• State of New York: $141,000 - $304,000
• State of Vermont: $149,000 - $286,000
• State of Virginia: $98,000 - $286,000
• State of Washington: $146,000 - $278,000
• Washington, D.C.: $195,000 - $286,000

The above salaries do not include a discretionary bonus, which is non-guaranteed and dependent upon individual and firm performance.

Benefits

Full-time employees receive the following benefits:

• Medical and dental coverage
• Life insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Pre-tax flexible spending account for certain medical and dependent care expenses
• Employee assistance program
• Paid Time Off
• Paid holidays
• Participation in a retirement plan program after meeting eligibility requirements