Senior Business Development Specialist, Real Estate

New York, NY

Summary

This is an excellent opportunity for a proactive and highly-organized professional to be part of a collaborative team and experience tremendous professional growth. As a Senior Business Development Specialist you will work in a dynamic, fast-paced environment to support the firm’s Real Estate Team.

The Senior Business Development Specialist, Real Estate will report to the Senior Business Development Manager for M&A (who currently supports real estate and is transitioning into a new role following her promotion) and work closely with the key stakeholders of the Real Estate Group to develop and implement the marketing and business development strategy for the practice. The role requires effective collaboration with the partners and business development colleagues on the delivery of efficient, timely and high-quality client pitches/new business proposals; participation in the global cross-selling efforts conducted across practice groups and industry teams; preparation of elite legal directory submissions and identification and coordination of client events, conferences, speaking engagements and thought leadership initiatives.

A successful Senior Business Development Specialist will be a self-starter and proactive in identifying new business development opportunities, knowledgeable about the legal industry and corporate real estate transactions in particular, and able to provide leadership and develop best practices to achieve effective business development results.

There may be opportunities in the future for the Senior Business Development Specialist to take on an additional practice group with synergies or cross over with the Real Estate group. 

Key Responsibilities

• Prepare and coordinate pitches, proposals and RFP/RFI responses for new business opportunities.  Evaluate requirements, participate in the development of a clear and targeted strategy, draft comprehensive responses, and collaborate with real estate partners and business development team members across practice groups, industries and offices as appropriate.
• Prepare submissions for legal directories and research guides (e.g., Chambers USA, Legal 500, other practice-specific directories), including the drafting and preparation of submissions, coordination of researcher interviews, and tracking of rankings and accolades.
• Develop, organize and maintain practice-specific marketing collateral and experience content. Update practice area profiles, brochures, matter lists and website and intranet content.  Maintain and/or build real estate specific contact lists in firm wide CRM system (InterAction).
• Conduct and summarize research on existing and prospective clients, competitive intelligence and market considerations, utilizing research tools such as Capital IQ and Thomson One, in preparation for client meetings, pitches/RFPs and other business development initiatives. Work with partners to identify potential thought leadership opportunities and lead effort to actualize implementation.  Lead bi-monthly administrative meeting attended by RE partners and counsel.
• Identify, plan and provide logistical support for all internal and external marketing events, speaking engagements and conferences.
• Assist with any special projects designed to raise the practice group’s profile and visibility in the market. Manage the practice’s annual marketing budget, with oversight by practice group leadership.
• Work with and delegate as appropriate to the Business Analyst who will be joining the Real Estate Group beginning the end of August.  The Business Analyst will be tasked with coordinating inventory management efforts, planning and organizing team meetings, and assisting the Senior Business Development Specialist with marketing efforts. 

Knowledge, Skills & Attributes

Communication Skills

• Exceptional verbal communication skills
• Excellent written communication skills
• Excellent presentation skills and an ability to engage audiences

Team and Independent Worker

• Ability to forge strong working relationships and work well across multiple functions within the organization
• Demonstrates a spirit of teamwork; experience working in a collaborative team environment

Time & Project Management

• Ability to prioritize and oversee multiple projects in a fast-paced environment
• Reasonably prompt attention and responsiveness to email and voicemail (including outside of normal business hours

Behavioral Traits

• Demonstrates a high degree of initiative with excellent problem solving, and follow-through skills to successfully manage multiple priorities simultaneously in a fast-paced and deadline-driven work environment.
• Ability to work collaboratively and effectively with partners, associates and business services personnel at all levels
• Adept at learning new information, applications, processes and procedures
• Self-starter, who maintains direction and focus through proactive planning and an organized approach to project management 

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree required
• Minimum of 6 years in progressively responsible business development roles in legal marketing or within the professional services industry.  Prior Real Estate industry/practice experience preferred.
• Significant experience managing pitches, legal directory submissions and the full range of legal marketing and business development services
• Advanced knowledge of MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel; familiarity with CRM platform InterAction is a plus