Client Development Manager

Kennedys is looking for a Client Development Advisor to join our Business Development team based in London. This role is responsible for delivering the ‘go to market' business development strategy for the UK Insurance Practice

Team

Kennedys' global Business Development & Marketing team drives profitable revenue growth through a client-centric approach to business development and marketing activity, which enhances our reputation globally.

The global functions include Client Account Management, Pitching, BD, Marketing Technology & Data, and Marketing and Communications. We have a BD presence in APAC, UK, EMEA, LATAM and the US.

Key responsibilities 

• Support the Senior Client Development Manager for the division to deliver the go-to-market strategy, taking the lead on the various workstreams and tactical BD delivery.
• Take a proactive role in BD planning and business planning for the different product groups and key initiatives - providing best practice BD advice to partners and fee earners. Play a key influencing role with partners regarding BD activities, projects and focus to ensure ROI.
• Take a proactive approach to driving profitable revenue growth across the division by leveraging BD tactics at a thematic and product level.
• Drive and facilitate collaboration on BD initiatives among partners within and across the division product groups as well as with other divisions, particularly the Liability Defence division.
• Build own relationships with partners and BD&M colleagues in adjacent practice groups/functional teams and around the world to enhance integration and collaboration.
• Be a role model in the BD team driving a culture of client centricity, capturing and sharing client insight across (and beyond) the division locally and globally, using insights to inform activity and focus.
• Understand your markets to spot emerging trends and opportunities, leveraging client and market data to run gap analyses and lead conversations among partners to capitalise on these opportunities.
• Develop a deep understanding of the group's key and prospective clients, taking on a Client Account Management role where required and supporting the global client relationship programme as appropriate.
• Work with the Clients Experience and Insights Manager and partners to identify and execute client insights meetings with clients.
• Working with the communications team look for opportunities to proactively raise the profile of the practice and increase the profile of leading individuals; actively increasing media engagement in trade publications and mainstream media around agreed areas of strategic focus.
• Work with our Content & Campaigns and Knowledge Management teams to develop compelling, multi-channel, integrated and cost effective local and global campaigns, integrating BD tactics to generate opportunities from the campaigns.
• Guide best practice and identify key commercial objectives to refine a program of impactful high-profile events (hosted by Kennedys or via external providers such as conferences) aligned to the group's strategy. Working with the Events team to ensure local and global coordination and maximising the value for money and ROI.
• Working with the internal comms team, to ensure execution and maintenance of a steady cadence of internal comms across the UK and global practice groups (e.g. upcoming events and conferences, case studies, key wins) as well as sharing in broader firm forums including presenting at internal meetings.
• Work with the BD team around you to maintain collateral, credentials, CVs and any other BD infrastructure as needed.
• Support on directory and award submissions ensuring key deliverables and milestones are maintained in a timely fashion.
• Undertake ROI analysis and manage budgets to ensure BD activity and expenditure is results driven.
• Ensure that best practice is shared, understood and implemented across all local and global BD team activities and deliverables, making suggestions and giving feedback where appropriate.
• Line manage junior team members and role model BD best practice as required. Provide training and support to enable them to deliver high quality, well thought through outputs.

Required experience 

• Strong experience of working in a global BD team within a professional services environment with a track record in BD initiatives, winning work and developing client relationships.
• Exceptional relationship building skills internally and with clients.
• Excellent organisation skills, with a proven ability to take initiative and responsibility for completion of work or projects.
• Highly organised and able to prioritise workloads, manage multiple projects and negotiate deadlines.

Please let us know if you require any additional support or adjustments to be made in order to submit your application to Kennedys. 

*where a level of experience is indicated, this is a guideline only and represents the amount of time we would usually expect a candidate to accumulate the requisite level of experience. This does not preclude applications from candidates with more or less experience.

About Kennedys

Kennedys is a global law firm with expertise in dispute resolution and advisory services. With over 3,000 people in 45 offices across 18 countries around the world we have some of the most respected legal minds in their field.

Our lawyers handle both contentious and non-contentious matters, and provide a range of specialist legal services, for many industry sectors but we have particular expertise in litigation and dispute resolution, especially in defending insurance and liability claims.

We're a fresh-thinking firm, and we're not afraid to bring challenging new perspectives to the table way beyond the traditional realm of legal services. We empower our clients with a diverse range of ideas, tools and technology to make their lives easier, as well as delivering exceptional results, every time.

What do we have to offer?

We welcome high-performing lawyers, business services professionals, secretaries, graduates and apprentices to join our rapidly expanding global firm. Whatever your role at Kennedys, you'll be involved in exciting and stimulating work, where your input will make a difference.

Our culture and values form a big part of who we are and we take them seriously. We make a difference by being approachable, straightforward, supportive, distinctive and ambitious. Our values are at the core of who we are and what make us a great firm to work with and for.

The Firm recognises the value of investing in our people's development and believes our culture and values contribute to the quality of our work and of our client relationships. With a culture of on-the-job and experiential learning, peer to peer learning, mentoring, resources and tools that enable you to drive your career, we can support your development in your current and future roles.  A variety of other opportunities are available including secondments to clients and our global offices.

We strive to celebrate diversity, empower our people and ensure everyone can bring their authentic selves to work.  We've created a culture based on client service, professional excellence, hard work and trust, where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a key priority.  We recognise that many of our people want to work for an employer that is aligned to their values, which is why we are building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations and supporting our people to thrive at work.  Our people are the key to driving this change and helping us to make a difference to our clients, our people and the communities in which we live and work.

Kennedys is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. We expect all employees to be aware of and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within their jurisdiction, including those relating to Information Security, Data Protection and Quality Management, refer any breach promptly to Risk & Compliance and to complete all mandatory training when requested.