Associate Director, Marketing & BD Management and Strategy

White & Case LLP•New York, NY

9d•$188,000 - $282,000

About The Position

Our Business Development & Marketing team plays a critical role in enhancing the Firm’s reputation, expanding its client base and driving revenue growth. This team develops and implements strategic marketing plans to promote the Firm’s legal services, leveraging digital and traditional marketing channels to reach target audiences. They conduct market research to identify industry trends and client needs, positioning the Firm competitively within the legal marketplace. The team also manages client relationships, orchestrates business development initiatives, and seeks opportunities for partnerships and networking. Through compelling content creation, event planning and public relations efforts, they ensure that the Firm maintains a strong market presence and continues to attract and retain clients. Position Summary The Marketing & Business Development (M&BD) Management and Strategy role will be a key contributor and implementation partner to the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) on the overall day-to-day running of the M&BD function. This role will partner closely with the rest of the Marketing & BD leadership team on advancing strategic initiatives and operational priorities of the function; driving talent and culture initiatives; orchestrating the delivery of significant cross-functional workstreams; and planning engagement with Firm management and peer business-side leaders, i.e. Technology, Innovation, Strategy, HR, and more. Equal parts sounding board, trusted advisor, project driver, strategist, and internal communicator, the role will be responsible for ensuring the success of M&BD initiatives through coordinating stakeholders across the function and connecting across the rest of the firm. They will also play an important role in socializing the transformation of the function across the partnership as well as the rest of business services. The role may also maintain a portfolio of workstreams that are by nature cross-functional and support the collaboration and integration that are at the core of this role, including initiatives such as the Alumni Program, engagement with outside industry orgs, and select Client Development initiatives. This portfolio will likely depend on the background and interests of the selected candidate, as well as business needs as they evolve over time.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and approx. 8 years of relevant experience; whether across chief of staff/C-suite operating roles; marketing and business development; and/or talent management and communications.
Experience delivering and managing strategic and operational activities within a professional services environment, working closely with leadership to translate strategy into execution.
Experience or strong familiarity with functional Marketing & BD disciplines (e.g., pitching, client planning, market positioning, brand and comms); examples of directing and influencing a leadership team of subject matter experts around a shared objective.
Proven experience leading projects and coordinating cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality outcomes within agreed scope and timelines.
Demonstrated ability to identify and implement process improvements that enhance efficiency, quality, and consistency for a function.
Strong commercial awareness and understanding of market and client dynamics, applied pragmatically to support growth and competitiveness.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and judgment skills, with the ability to address complex operational challenges.
Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with partners, functional colleagues, and other business services teams.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with the CMO and senior leadership to support the development and implementation of the Marketing & BD 2028 strategy.
Support the development and maintenance of strategic roadmaps, ensuring alignment with business objectives; develop and update "off-the-shelf" strategy documents for use in presentations and briefings.
Identify areas to improve collaboration and team integration, whether through new processes, roles, structures, or other levers.
Model cohesive, “Firm-first” thinking and behaviour to support the function’s transformation and breaking down of silos and legacy approaches.
Collaborate with the Office of the Chair and Strategy teams around the overall W&C business strategy, particularly where it intersects with M&BD areas of focus.
Support the CMO and their leadership team, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness by coordinating activities across teams and stakeholders to support project delivery, meet deadlines, improve integration, and enhance overall output.
Evaluate and structure the right operational rhythms, team meeting routines, and project documentation to promote transparency, integration, quality output, and speed-to-market.
Support initiatives to optimize workflows and processes to improve productivity and collaboration.
Support the strategic planning and delivery of firm-sponsored events and sponsorships, ensuring the appropriate teams are aligned and informed throughout the lifecycle of each initiative to maximize engagement, business impact, and ROI.
Lead key relationships with major legal industry organizations such as IBA and marketing industry organizations such as ANA.
Support the CMO in defining performance expectations for the Marketing & BD team, fostering a culture of high performance, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Identify and address training and development needs within the team.
Facilitate regular team meetings, ensuring clear communication of goals, updates, and expectations.
Support talent acquisition, onboarding, team culture, and retention initiatives, helping ensure the team is composed of top-tier professionals.
Own and continue to develop the messaging and channels for functional communications, including town halls, leadership meetings, all-hands, CMO monthly emails, and more.
Develop materials, talking points, and other preparation materials for the CMO’s meetings with the Chair, the Executive Committee, various partner committees or gatherings, and Leadership team members as needed.
Propose and implement improvements to broaden communications and connectivity out to other business services functions who partner with and/or are clients of the M&BD team.
Structure opportunities for broad involvement, participation, and feedback across the function.
Serve as a liaison between the Marketing & BD teams and other business services units, facilitating collaboration and communication.
Coordinate and drive cross-functional initiatives and workstreams, supporting successful execution of key projects.
Champion ongoing connectivity and information-sharing across functions, and the Firm as a whole.
Maintain close relationships with the Office of the Chair team, the Regional COOs, and peer roles (or equivalents) in other functions.
Support budget planning and tracking activities, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities.
Partner with the Data & Analytics team to track and analyze marketing and BD expenditures, identifying opportunities for cost savings and efficiency improvements.
Partner with Finance and the expense management committee to support improvements in spend management and visibility into ROI.
Partner closely with the Data & Analytics team around the dashboard of KPIs used to track the success of marketing initiatives.
Prepare and coordinate regular reports for senior leadership, highlighting achievements and areas for improvement.
Support a culture of data and measurement across the senior Marketing & BD team.