Strategic Legal Business Development Operations Manager

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary operational liaison between assigned Practice Group Co-Leaders and the Marketing & BD department, facilitating go-to-market strategy, client targeting, and annual SMART goal development.
• Cook up and maintain all program infrastructure, including the Practice Group Playbook, onboarding sequences for new co-leaders, and SMART goal tracking across the portfolio.
• Manage scheduling, preparation, and documentation for annual practice group check-ins, Advisory Committee sessions, and GTM Refresh Workshops.
• Collaborate with BD Leads to coordinate new partner and lateral integration into relevant practice groups within established timelines.
• Support BD Lead continuity by maintaining documented transition protocols and active goal summaries when Practice Group assignments change.
• Manage overlap across practice groups with shared client targets, ensuring messaging consistency and coordinated outreach.
• Execute against defined standard operating procedures for pursuits, RFPs, pitches, experience management, and cross-selling workflows across the firm's practice group portfolio.
• Support adoption of CRM/ERM tools among Practice Group Co-Leaders, attorneys and BD Leads through training, troubleshooting, and ongoing guidance — ensuring contact records, matter experience, and pipeline activity are current, accurate, and accessible to attorneys and BD teams.
• Apply and uphold quality standards and messaging frameworks established by the Director for RFPs, pitches, and pursuit materials — ensuring consistency, differentiation, and alignment with practice group positioning.
• Identify process gaps and recommend improvements to the Director; contribute to the ongoing standardization of tools, templates, and workflows across the department.
• Maintain KPIs for assigned practice groups tied to SMART goal progress, pipeline activity, cross-selling outcomes, and business development engagement.
• Build and maintain practice group performance summaries, supporting a consistent and data-informed view of where groups are succeeding and where course corrections are needed.
• Track and report on legal directory and rankings submission status, thought leadership placements, event participation, and other market-facing activities.
• Coordinate with MarTech and analytics resources to surface relevant reporting and ensure dashboards reflect current practice group data.
• Maintain and update practice group web content in coordination with the BD and Communications teams, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and alignment with current positioning.
• Collaborate with marketing leadership to align practice group campaigns and promotional content with revenue priorities and market positioning strategy.
• Support internal firm communication efforts, including quarterly practice group highlights distributed through the firm Portal.
• Serve as a day-to-day mentor and resource to junior BD colleagues supporting practice group activity.
• Support the Director in delivering structured onboarding and capability-building programming for Practice Group Co-Leaders, including GTM workshops, peer cohort sessions, and annual refresh workshops.
• Contribute to a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement within the BD department.

  Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree required; four or more years of business development and/or marketing experience within a law firm or comparable professional services organization.
  • Demonstrated experience supporting or managing structured programs at scale, with the ability to maintain consistency and quality across multiple concurrent work streams.
  • Strong command of business development operational standards, including RFP and pitch processes, experience management, CRM/ERM data governance, and pursuit workflows.
  • Proven project management skills, including planning and executing conferences, events, cross-functional initiatives, and complex proposal responses.
  • Highly organized and detail-oriented; able to balance competing priorities, make sound decisions independently, and adapt to shifting demands in a fast-paced environment.
  • Collaborative and relationship-oriented; comfortable working across departmental and geographic lines to facilitate strategy, coordinate deliverables, and drive results.
  • Strategic thinker with an understanding of market positioning, messaging consistency, and competitive differentiation in a professional services context.
  • Self-starter with the discipline to translate long-term strategic priorities into structured, day-to-day execution without close supervision.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to develop polished deliverables including business plans, pitch materials, marketing collateral, and thought leadership content.
  • Experience with Foundation or comparable knowledge management and CRM platforms is preferred.
  • Technology-savvy; proficient in relevant software and eager to learn and adopt new tools.