Marketing & Business Development Assistant - International Retail & Consumer and Competition Law Groups

The opportunity

We are looking for a talented Marketing & Business Development professional to join Bird & Bird’s International Retail & Consumer and Competition Law groups, to drive forward their MBD activities. The successful candidate will work closely with the two Business Development Managers for these groups, reporting into the Retail & Consumer Business Development Manager, and will develop good working relationships with partners, lawyers and other MBD colleagues worldwide.

You will get great on the job training and experience as part of our high functioning and experienced central MBD team. You will be eligible for professional training courses offered by our external training partners and our internal Learning and Development team. You will work with stakeholders at all levels across our international firm. You will be part of a friendly and supportive Business Services team who will help to guide and support your career development. And you’ll be working for a top international law firm with strong market presence and a reputation for being tech focussed, with a cutting-edge approach and a friendly and supportive culture.

The firm

Bird & Bird opens up a world of possible for lawyers and professionals everywhere. Here you can advise major enterprises and high-growth businesses on matters that are often transformative in nature, and alongside people who are truly collegiate in the way they work with everyone at Bird & Bird. We are one international firm, where over 70% of our work involves teams from across our firm. And that is only going to increase. It is this common purpose and shared approach that makes for a more productive, and collaborative place to work.

Our promise

Bird & Bird is committed to maintaining an inclusive working environment and we are an equal opportunities employer. We will actively support and supervise your professional development. For those with the necessary attitude, experience and skills, we will ensure that the firm is a first-class platform on which you can develop into an industry leader. We support an agile working environment and are happy to discuss flexible working.

We are a disability, neurodiversity and mental health inclusive employer and want to ensure that candidates have a barrier-free recruitment experience. If you need reasonable adjustments for any of your interviews or assessments, please email us at [email protected] for confidential advice. Alternatively, you can call on +44 20 3017 6867 to discuss this.

The team

You’ll be joining our Central Marketing & Business Development (MBD) team who work in partnership with senior stakeholders across the firm to set the strategy and shape the tactics to build our firm's profile. They help to win new work and strengthen and deepen client relationships, using a data driven and sales focused approach. The team is mostly based in London and is made up of over 60 specialists in marketing communications, business development and client service.

As a central team we lead global activities while working closely with our network of MBD colleagues based across our international offices. Whether it's driving a new content strategy, pitching for cutting-edge work, building our brand, or contributing to the development of our client relationships, we're committed to providing exceptional service to the firm and are known for leading the way when it comes to new technology and solutions. Energetic, creative and global, we're looking for people who have a passion for MBD and are keen to take a fresh approach.

What you'll do

You’ll support the implementation of the international MBD plans for our Retail & Consumer and Competition Law groups. This role will largely focus on the marketing/operational activities, covering the entire portfolio and supporting the BD Managers and Client team-members who will have a greater focus on the BD, winning new work and client relationship activities. Your role will include:

• Supporting on marketing implementation to execute MBD plans for the groups
• Supporting business development and client focused activities involved in winning new work and the client relationship journey
• Helping to encourage lawyer involvement in marketing activities by clearly communicating the value and rationale of various strategies and initiatives

Reputation and positioning: going to market in an effective and efficient manner

• Supporting the execution and implementation of the MBD plans for the two groups.
• Supporting the facilitation of cross-selling opportunities with other appropriate sector/practice/country teams, including client/industry research, reporting and advising on key findings.
• Helping produce excellent and up-to-date marketing materials (e.g. brochures, flyers, social media posts etc).
• Leading on the creation of regular newsletters and ad hoc client alerts.
• Supporting the coordination of key digital marketing tools such as blogs, apps, videos, podcasts and online resources.
• Supporting pitches, bids, and tenders, adhering to the firm's best practice guide.
• Supporting on event preparation (including Bird & Bird-led seminars/webinars, as well as industry conferences), ensuring that value is derived and recorded (e.g. creating targeted lists and assisting with follow-up actions).
• Assisting in the preparation and co-ordination of legal directory and awards submissions and publication of rankings and client testimonials
• Working to periodically recommend updates to the group’s website and pitch content.
• Updating content in the groups’ apps and helping create new apps if necessary.

Infrastructure, process and principles: delivering first time every time with consistent and rigorous standards

• Developing and maintaining key MBD-related infrastructure, including the intranet, CRM (contact management system), Loopio (credentials database) and pitch related content.
• Attending and preparing for all appropriate group meetings, contributing to the agenda and following up regarding relevant initiatives.
• Supporting with the preparation for group retreats and group/strategy meetings.
• Helping ensure that outcomes from initiatives are monitored and reviewed effectively.
• Helping insure that client/industry knowledge, intelligence and team news is shared within the groups.
• Supporting with the management of the marketing budget, including providing data to help understand the ROI, value, and opportunity cost of initiatives.
• Monitoring and responding to general BD queries.

About you

We’re looking for someone who is interested in the world and emerging trends, is curious and loves solving problems. Someone who is driven to achieve and improve, who sees opportunity in change and knows sometimes it’s more art than science. You should be able to build long lasting and effective relationships easily and when it counts, just roll up your sleeves and get on board. This is a great opportunity for someone looking to develop a career in Marketing & Business Development.

Your education and technical skills:

• Demonstrated passion for marketing and business development. In addition, a university degree in Marketing, Business, Communications or related field (or equivalent experience), would be preferred
• Previous experience (such as an internship or student job) in professional services environment, ideally with international exposure, would be a plus
• Experience supporting senior stakeholders would be helpful in this role
• Excellent time management and organisational skills
• Strong commercial awareness, including experience of/an interest in the key legal and commercial issues affecting the sector/practice groups
• Strong writing skills, editing ability and proficiency in MS applications including Teams, Word, PowerPoint and Excel
• Experience with other platforms such as Salesforce/Vuture etc. would be a bonus
• Willingness to learn to use new tools and AI-powered legal technology to improve efficiency and workflow processes
• Excellent communications skills, both written and verbal, as well as excellent interpersonal skills
• An understanding of social media’s benefits and application.

Other desired attributes:

• Business development experience is a plus, including in relation to pitching and targeting campaigns
• An open, pro-active mind-set, willingness to learn and desire to deliver high quality work
• Ability to work flexibly in a fast-paced environment with changing deadlines
• Ability to multitask, to prioritise projects and respond quickly to urgent requests with tight deadlines
• A positive, enthusiastic and flexible attitude
• Driven to achieve and improve with a desire to develop skills and knowledge relevant to the role
• Takes responsibility for their own tasks and shows integrity
• Attention to detail

The main responsibilities of this role are outlined above; however, this description is not exhaustive, and the job holder may be required to undertake additional duties from time to time to ensure the smooth running of the department. The role may require some working outside our normal working hours of 9:30am- 5:30pm.

Bird & Bird is committed to creating and sustaining a diverse and inclusive environment. We are delighted to confirm that we have achieved Mansfield UK Certification. This certification was achieved by considering at least 30% women, lawyers from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, lawyers with disabilities and LGBTQ+ lawyers for at least 70% of UK fee earner and leadership positions. We are committed to continuing to participate in Mansfield Rule UK and continue to work towards ensuring a diverse pool of candidates are considered for our roles, in line with the Mansfield Rule. You can read more about this here.