Ropes & Gray is a preeminent global law firm. The firm has been ranked in the top three on The American Lawyer's prestigious A-List for eight consecutive years and #1 on Law.com's UK A-List twice in the past three years - rankings that honor the "best of the best" law firms.

The firm has approximately 2,500 lawyers and professionals serving clients in major centers of business, finance, technology, and government in Boston, Chicago, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.

The firm has consistently been recognized for its leading practices in many areas, including asset management, private equity, M&A, finance, real estate, tax, antitrust, life sciences, health care, intellectual property, litigation & enforcement, privacy & cybersecurity, and business restructuring.

Ropes & Gray is an equal opportunity employer.

About Business Development at Ropes & Gray: 

The Business Development department’s commercial objective is to grow firm revenue and take market share, grow existing client relationships, and develop new client relationships in alignment with firm and practice goals and our industry and client teams.

Business development works in collaboration with partners, other attorneys and business support colleagues to achieve these objectives and is part of a broader business support organization in a collaborative work environment. The business development team is a specialist business support function with a range of offerings focused on business development in the firm’s practice groups.

The Senior Business Development Manager (SBDM) will serve as a trusted advisor to practice group leaders, attorneys, and other business support colleagues, and provide strategic, commercial, and practical support on the implementation of strategic cross-practice business development priorities.

A primary focus for this role will be to support the firm’s commercial AI priorities. The SBDM will be responsible for developing and executing integrated cross-practice marketing and business development plans to support and grow the firm’s multidisciplinary capabilities, increase the firm’s brand visibility, attract new clients, and drive client satisfaction and loyalty.

Responsibilities:

• • Develop and execute AI-related business development and marketing efforts to generate new business and improve market visibility for the firm’s AI adoption and innovation in its legal offerings.
  • Establish and maintain effective AI-focused internal reporting and communication frameworks to track progress, share outcomes, and support management reporting across practice groups and affiliated teams.
  • Champion AI initiatives within the firm by highlighting success stories, gathering and disseminating use cases, and articulating the strategic benefits of AI adoption.
  • Lead cross‑functional collaboration with AI leadership, practice group partners, global client teams, and business support colleagues to execute AI‑centric growth strategies for priority clients, manage and expand key relationships, and orchestrate pursuits for new engagements that grow revenue and deepen relationships, including:
  • Organizing internal business development meetings, creating agendas, capturing and circulating action steps, and proactively driving follow-up and making connections to other global business development colleagues.
  • Developing expertise in how AI is deployed across industries, including by commissioning and conducting business research and analysis to support business development strategy.
  • Project managing the delivery of client, market, and competitor research, and tailoring the data for partners or clients; share insights from other practice groups and offices for collaborative initiatives.
  • Monitoring and identifying market opportunities and AI innovation-driven trends and themes for client engagement.
  • Drive pitching and new business generation by:
  • • Maintaining and developing up-to-date AI-focused pitch content, practice materials, client information, and matter and experience tracking.
    • Leading and contributing AI-focused subject matter expertise to pitches, proposals, and RFPs; identify opportunities to differentiate our AI capabilities from competitors; draft key sections; and serve as a trusted advisor to attorney teams and affiliated business support teams in preparation for both in-person meetings and pitches.
    • Packaging internal AI use cases into client-ready narratives, case studies, and value propositions, in collaboration with marketing and technology teams.
  • Maintaining accountability for the timely and accurate completion and submission of RFPs or pitches, ensuring proper document storage and tracking, and establishing and executing appropriate follow-up action steps post-submission.
  • Building a strong working knowledge of adjacent practice and industry group expertise and goals, and a clear understanding of the firm’s AI strategy and priorities.
  • Lead efforts with the marketing team and business support colleagues to:
  • Identify appropriate client and target opportunities to create and implement integrated AI-focused branding and profile-raising campaigns, including creating an AI thought leadership calendar (webinars, alerts, client roundtables, podcasts, speaking engagements).
  • Assess and execute conference and sponsorship opportunities, including by advising the lawyers on selection and participation.
  • Project manage client and firm events to support AI innovation and strategy.
  • Support the development of AI business development training and internal communications that educate attorneys, marketing and business development colleagues, and other firm stakeholders on the firm's AI offerings. Contribute to other firm-wide business development initiatives requiring cross-practice coordination as the role and firm needs evolve.
  • Manage and develop junior members of the business development team, fostering a culture of teamwork, accountability, continuous improvement, professionalism, and integrity. 

Qualifications:

This position requires a professional, highly motivated individual capable of functioning in an international, fast-paced legal environment:

• • Demonstrated proficiency with generative AI tools.
  • Superior client service skills.
  • Able to quickly establish credibility with lead partners and key stakeholders by balancing a confident, measured, and persistent approach.
  • Work effectively and efficiently as a team player with an enthusiasm for developing relationships. Able to engage with and support colleagues and stakeholders across all aspects of the business.
  • A confident leader and self-starter in a dynamic environment.
  • Commercially minded and solutions oriented.
  • Excellent organization, communication, and project management skills.
  • Attention to detail and accuracy in all aspects of the role and responsibilities.
  • Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with all levels of attorneys and business professionals.
  • Experience writing in a professional services environment.
  • Able to set clear goals and priorities, multi-task and meet multiple deadlines.
  • Creative and flexible when managing individual and team workloads and priorities, taking colleagues’ time into account.
  • Respond quickly and positively to shifting demands and opportunities.
  • Able to demonstrate creativity and initiative by continuously looking for areas to improve and ways to implement positive change to all aspects of the role and responsibilities.
  • Ability to thrive in a challenging and dynamic environment.

Education and Experience Required:

• Bachelor's degree.
• MBA or JD helpful but not required.
• Professional experience, including management of direct reports.
• Minimum of eight years of experience in business development within a professional services firm or corporate environment.

Ropes & Gray is proud to offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package to our business support team members. The firm also offers comprehensive health and well-being benefits, personal and professional development, career growth opportunities and a collegial and supportive culture. The anticipated pay range for this role is listed below and represents our good faith and reasonable estimate of the starting salary range at the time of posting. In addition, this role is eligible for a discretionary bonus based on performance. The actual offered rate for this position will be determined based on job-related, non-discriminatory factors, including qualifications and experience, geographic location, education, external market data and consideration of internal equity.

Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C.:$150,100 - $240,150

New York:$161,000 - $257,600

San Francisco:$167,800 - $268,450

This position requires hybrid on-site presence as an essential function of the role. Consistent and predictable on-site presence is required for ongoing business continuity, professional development and effective collaboration with colleagues and management.