Business Development Manager (Bristol)

About Legal 500

Legal 500 is a global legal market research, data and intelligence business. Our research helps corporate clients make informed decisions about legal representation and gives law firms insight into their market position, performance, and clients.

Beyond research, we’re building a growing data, benchmarking, market-intelligence and subscription service offering. We bring the legal market together through a global programme of events - awards ceremonies, conferences and roundtables that convene leading law firms, in-house teams and their advisers. And through Legal Business, our journalistic title, we deliver independent news, analysis and commentary on the business of law and the strategy, performance and leadership of the world’s leading law firms.

We are a growing, multi-site organisation, with colleagues working across research, data, technology, product, journalism, commercial and events in London, Leeds and Bristol.

About the Role

This is a new role at Legal 500, created as a result of a period of growth due to acquisitons, new products and creating new research capability. We are, therefore, looking to hire two driven and commercially minded Business Development Managers to generate new subscription revenue across our product portfolio. by identifying, engaging, and converting prospective customers.

This role is ideal for a proactive sales professional with experience selling subscription-based products, information services, memberships, or recurring revenue products.

What you'll be doing:

New Business Development

• Identify and target prospective customers across legal market in the US

• Build and maintain a robust pipeline of qualified opportunities.

• Conduct outbound prospecting through calls and email

• Be unfazed by contacting C-suite decision makers across multiple international jurisdictions and confidently presenting and selling the product to marketing and legal professionals across the world’s leading law firms, as well as partners and senior lawyers.

Sales & Revenue Growth

• Manage the full sales cycle from lead generation to contract signature.

• Deliver compelling product demonstrations and presentations.

• Understand client needs and align subscription solutions to business challenges.

• Negotiate commercial terms and close deals to achieve and exceed revenue targets.

Market Intelligence

• Stay informed on industry trends, customer challenges, and competitor activity.

• Provide feedback to marketing, product, and leadership teams on market opportunities.

• Identify emerging sectors and growth areas for subscription sales.

Collaboration

• Work closely with marketing to maximise lead generation campaigns.

• Partner with customer success and account management teams to ensure smooth onboarding and handover.

• Contribute to sales strategy, pricing discussions, and go-to-market initiatives.

What we're looking for:

• Solid experience in business development, new business sales, or subscription sales

• Proven track record of achieving or exceeding revenue targets

• Experience selling subscription information, media, research, or membership products

• Strong consultative selling and negotiation skills

• Excellent communication and presentation skills

• Ability to manage multiple opportunities simultaneously

Even better if you have...

• Experience selling to professional services firms, legal, financial, or corporate clients

• Knowledge of recurring revenue business models

• Experience using CRM platforms (Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics, etc.)

• Experience with social selling and LinkedIn prospecting

• Understanding of customer success and retention principles

Role information

• This role can be based in either our London or Bristol offices

• This is a US-focused role - our working hours are 9.30am - 5.30pm but you will have flexibiliy to make your day work

• We operate a hybrid working policy - 3 days per week in the office and 2 days remote