Travers Smith is a leading full-service law firm, with a wealth of experience in its areas of specialisation. The firm has a market-leading reputation for its international expertise in Asset Management, M&A and Dispute Resolution & Investigations. Clients include asset managers across the alternative asset classes (private equity, venture, credit, infrastructure and real estate), publicly listed and private companies, financial institutions, and other business enterprises involved in large and complex UK and cross-border matters, transactions and disputes. Our purpose is to provide the highest quality of service to our clients whilst enabling our people to achieve professional fulfilment in a supportive, inclusive and enjoyable working environment.

Department

The Business Development, Clients, Marketing, Events and Communications team consists of 33 people who focus on increasing the profile of the firm and the brand through a variety of channels to create leads and opportunities that can increase profitable revenues. The department is at the forefront of several key strategic firmwide initiatives. Priding itself on achieving strategic aims while ensuring a collaborative, inclusive and rewarding team dynamic.

The Role

Reporting to the Senior Business Development Manager, Transactional the role plays a central role in helping to develop and execute the firm's business development strategies and plans across the Finance Practice Group and nominated initiatives.

With an ability to collaborate across several distinct practice areas, the BD Manager will have the confidence to constructively lead and challenge on topics such as BD strategy and execution. The role has high visibility and daily interaction with partners and other key people across the firm, and is both strategic and operational, focused on executing each group's business plan and always delivering an overall first-class service.

The Finance Practice Group

The Finance Practice Group consists of nine partners and over 40 associates, trainees and paralegals. The role will work closely with the Head of Department, Partners and Senior Legal Operations Manager to deliver on the business plan across all elements of our service offering.

The Finance practice comprises six distinct sub-practices, each of which has its own clients, products and BD & Marketing plan. Partners typically specialise in only one or two of these areas and so all six plans run in tandem. These areas are:

In addition, many of the partners advise on matters of General Corporate Lending.

Key Responsibilities

Business and Client Planning

• Develop close working relationships with the partners and wider lawyer team, providing support to implement and refine business plans, demonstrating a deep and thorough understanding of the respective practice areas, helping to identify market and client trends, and growth opportunities from existing and new potential clients.
• Create targeted business development and marketing activity plans that flow from the business plans, to help achieve the financial, client and market positioning and penetration objectives set in the respective group's business plan. Monitor, analyse and report on activity against objectives including ROI as appropriate.
• Work closely with the firm's Head of Client Relationships to ensure that client action plans are created, monitored, supported and actioned for the most significant clients. A key component will be identifying common elements with action plans for other clients across the firm as well as coordinating the intersection with firm wide client initiatives.
• Work with the wider Business Development team to ensure that activities are aligned across practice groups and cross-firm initiatives to ensure a 'one firm' approach to clients and to business development activities.
• Develop a deep and broad understanding of the key client relationships and practices which includes specific partners and areas of specialism, and competitor and market trends to make recommendations to impact revenue and client growth, cross-selling with other practices and client service improvements.

Business Development and Marketing Activities

• Create an annual BD and marketing plan for each practice group and nominated 'horizontal' initiatives and ensure that each is executed well. Plans to include all elements of the marketing mix, including marketing brochures and materials, pitch documents, thought leadership articles, social media pages and content, website content, lawyer biographies, events and corporate hospitality.
• Provide market and practice insights to support the Communications team in developing a media and PR plan. Together determine how best to utilise PR and media plans as a complementary business development tool and to position the practice groups to further the objectives of the business and marketing plans.
• Work with the Events teams to ensure that all client facing events, and referral events for the group are planned, organised and delivered to the highest standards.
• Work with the Events team to assess the value and relevance of various sponsorship, events and other corporate hospitality opportunities to ensure best value for the firm and our clients.
• Work with the KLs and Communications team to plan and deliver targeted thought leadership to clients to raise the profile of the practices' priority areas through targeted materials on the website, through email marketing, on LinkedIn and other appropriate channels.
• Assist the Pitch team in supporting, pitching and winning new business as required including providing practice, partner, client and market- specific insights to target and tailor each opportunity.
• Take responsibility for managing the practices' directory and awards submissions in line with the firm's directory process, creating high quality content that delivers results.
• Be the InterAction champion for the practice groups and 'horizontal' initiatives working closely with the Digital Marketing team, the department PAs and lawyers in the practices to ensure that all contact and BD activities are regularly updated.
• Manage and track the business development budgets for the groups and initiatives responsible for.
• Participate in delivering firm wide client initiatives and marketing programs including client listening, post pitch reviews and the TS Change programmes.

Other Responsibilities

• Assist in developing the BD team's expertise through active engagement in team meetings and team initiatives, including proactively sharing best practices from previous firms, other industries, training and original research.
• Work with the Chief Marketing Officer and legal Heads of Department to plan and manage annual business development budgets.

Personal Specification - Experience, Knowledge & Skills

• 6+ years' experience, with at least one to two years at Manager level, working in a Business Development role in a professional services environment, preferably within a law firm.
• Commercially astute with a strong track record in growing existing and new business.
• High level proficiency in systems skills - Word, Excel, PowerPoint and InterAction.
• Ability to understand macro-economic issues and use them to define appropriate business development plans and activity.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills - able to speak with confidence and influence change both internally with senior leadership and externally.
• Experience of managing, mentoring, and motivating team members.
• Comfortable providing recommendations and advising with confidence to senior level stakeholders, even when there is ambiguity involved.
• An ability to quickly gain confidence and challenge and change behaviours where required.
• Able to inspire a team through a personal and energetic approach - active involvement in getting work done yourself as well as delegating to other team members.
• Strong team player with a positive attitude - a natural coach and mentor.
• Strategic and analytical thinker, able to set and measure the success of programmes across business development.
• Proactive in generating high quality strategic ideas to help the firm grow.
• Ability to build strong relationships with internal and external clients.
• Excellent work management skills - capable of managing and coordinating a broad and demanding, fast-paced workload in an organised, controlled and efficient manner with the ability and confidence to prioritise as required.

We are excited to be moving from our London headquarters in Snow Hill, to a brand-new building in the City - Stonecutter Court. The move is expected to take place in early 2026.

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Support and Adjustments for candidates : At Travers Smith, we are committed to ensuring that people who are disabled or have a long-term condition are empowered in their identity, valued equally, and listened to. If we can adjust the recruitment process to make it more accessible, please let us know. For further information please visit our website: Recruitment - Support and adjustments for candidates | Travers Smith