Business Development Manager

Practice Group / Department:

Norton Rose Fulbright is a global law firm with more than 3,000 lawyers advising clients across locations in the United States, Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East. We provide a full scope of legal services to the world’s preeminent corporations and financial institutions.

Our vision is to be a world class business, profitable, ambitious, cooperative and considerate, supporting our clients and people through our global business principles of Quality, Unity and Integrity.

With over 7,000 employees worldwide, our culture is the thread that connects us. Our strategy and culture are closed connected – defined by shared ambition, global collaboration and a one-team mindset. We believe pioneering work happens when people are empowered to think beyond boundaries, explore new opportunities and grow through diverse experiences. Alongside the right skills and experience, we are looking for people who are innovative, commercially minded, and motivated by the impact of the work they do – ready to share in our ambition and help shape what comes next.

Because while individuals can do well, together we achieve something extraordinary.

The Team

The Business Development Manager is a managerial role within the Marketing & Business Development (“MBD”) function and the Middle East region of Norton Rose Fulbright.

The post holder will proactively work with the Riyadh partners and with global and regional MBD teams to implement strategically aligned and value-added initiatives, ensuring key global, regional and office objectives are achieved. . This role is central to supporting the firm’s expansion strategy in the Middle East, with a strong focus on business planning, client development, marketing initiatives, and profile-raising across the Kingdom and the wider Middle East. The BD Manager will be required to develop a strong understanding of the legal market, our brand and proposition within the market and our growth ambitions and strategy.

The role is based in Riyadh, and reports to Senior BD Manager based in Dubai They will work in close cooperation with the Head of the Riyadh office, the local partners and the global marketing and business development teams.

The Role

Business planning

• Work with the partners to develop and implement annual business plans, budget proposals and campaign plans for the Riyadh.
• Oversee the BD activity of relevant practices to ensure regional objectives are met. This includes, but is not limited to, pitch management, event ideation and execution, marketing and communications and client development.
• Seek opportunities to drive cross-office and regional collaboration to increase efficiencies and speed to market.
• Plan for and monitor the relevant business development budgets.
• Help drive and implement firm-wide and/or regional BD initiatives within the Saudi and/or Middle East teams as appropriate.
• Support on marketing BD trips across the network, including facilitating internal connections and aiding in identifying relevant contacts.

Winning work

• Project manage transactional and strategic bids, provide input on approach, team formations; draft, review and edit content; manage document development where necessary; ensure adherence to branding requirements; ensure adherence to pricing procedures.
• Ensure follow up is sought from client following a pitch; track and act on actions which arise; assess how feedback can be used to drive behavioural change.
• Monitor panel appointments and drive realisation of opportunities presented.
• Develop high quality materials for use in bids to convey firm positioning, experience and sales messages to clients and targets. Ensure, for consistent messaging and capability presentation, that this content is replicated in appropriate systems and all communications channels.
• Analyse win/lose rates and make recommendations as to how to improve performance.

Profile raising

• Work with the communications team and PR to develop our profile in the Saudi Arabia and the Middle East through profile raising campaigns and supporting marketing activities, collateral and press.
• Systematically measure performance in directories and league tables; agree target rankings with the Middle East partners; facilitate contribution to directories and league tables using consistent positioning messages; report on changes in rankings and against targets set; refine approach as needed.
• Developing, managing and running key client events (seminars, roundtables) and other client-facing activities, and attending events where necessary.
• Ensure our materials are brand compliant and adopt our visual identity to deliver consistent materials to market.
• Ensure all communications channels are up to date and convey consistent messaging and capability presentation (including but not limited to web, collateral, bids, experience statements, directories, league tables, CVs).

Client development

• Drive the engagement of the region in our firm-wide key client programme.
• Develop a key client programme for Saudi Arabia.
• Support partners on specific key clients and conduct research and analysis on key clients in order to identify new opportunities.
• Facilitate participation in our client feedback programme; track and act on actions arising from interviews, and assess how feedback can be used to drive behavioural change.
• Maintain awareness of relevant global and local marketing products which can be used for client.

Best practice

• Adhere to and/or develop best practice to improve efficiency and transparency to fee earners.
• Effectively utilise and promote use of our New Castle hub for support on operational tasks.
• Encourage regional adherence to procedures and best practice with Norton Rose Fulbright systems including InterAction and Experience Management.

Skills and Experience Required

• The candidate must be bi-lingual in English and Arabic.
• Undergraduate degree or above in marketing, law, or business related discipline.
• Experience working in a legal and/or professional services environment.
• Excellent project management skills - this candidate must be able to demonstrate experience of managing multiple projects and transforming commercial issues into business development opportunities.
• Possess high level of conscientiousness, demonstrated through leadership qualities and the ability to build a strong reputation within the business and deliver excellent service.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Experience of working with clients and ability to be client facing.
• Sound working knowledge of Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

Our business principles are Quality, Unity, Integrity. The successful candidate will be expected consistently to demonstrate the following competencies:

• Communicates effectively
• Shows technical ability
• Contributes effectively at meetings
• Organised and meets deadlines
• Focuses on performance enhancement
• Develops and maintains relationships
• Focuses on strategic priorities
• Actively contributes to the team
• Demonstrates leadership orientation
• Treats people with dignity and respect
• Promotes and demonstrates our business principles

#LI-KM2

To attract the best people, we strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can bring their whole selves to work, have a sense of belonging, and realize their full career potential. 
Our new enabled work model allows our people to have more flexibility in the way they choose to work from both the office and a remote location, while continuing to deliver the highest standards of service. We offer a range of family friendly and inclusive employment policies and provide access to programmes and services aimed at nurturing our people’s health and overall wellbeing. Find more about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion here.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams. We strive to create an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all candidates. If you require any tailored adjustments or accommodations, please let us know here.