DLA Piper
Lead Commercial Finance Business Partner
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Role Overview
Support the firm’s profitability by contributing to greater commercial understanding at both client and matter inception (pricing), alongside ongoing assessment of client financial performance. Apply sector knowledge and experience to provide insight that supports decision-making across sectors, types of work, clients and matters.
Working under the direction of the Head of Pricing and Profitability, support the delivery of the firm’s pricing strategy. Provide practical, commercially focused pricing advice to partners to structure competitive, value-based pricing solutions that meet client requirements while enhancing profitability and margin discipline
Deliver high-quality, end-to-end pricing support, including:
- Leading and supporting pricing for new matters, panel appointments and client opportunities, including fee structuring, scenario modelling and negotiation support
- Supporting the annual international rate review process, ensuring a consistent, disciplined and market-aligned approach to rate setting and increases
- Designing and applying pricing strategies, including alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), fixed fees, retainers and discount structures
Drive the development, implementation and governance of pricing frameworks and policies:
- Promote adherence to pricing and discounting policies and provide challenge where required
- Continuously refine pricing methodologies to improve consistency, competitiveness and profitability outcomes
Leverage pricing data, tools and technology to enhance decision-making:
- Use pricing analytics to inform rate setting, matter pricing and client negotiations
- Support the adoption and optimisation of pricing tools to enable scalable, self-service pricing where appropriate
Act as a pricing partner to stakeholders:
- Work closely with partners, sector leads and client teams to embed pricing best practice at the point of sale
- Collaborate with Pitch, Legal Project Management and other client-facing teams to ensure pricing is fully integrated into go-to-market and delivery approaches
Support ongoing pricing performance optimisation:
- Monitor pricing outcomes (e.g. realised rates, discounting, margin performance) and feed insights back into future pricing decisions
- Contribute to continuous improvement of pricing capability across the firm through knowledge sharing and coaching
Main Duties and Responsibilities
- Act as a key business facing contact, building strong relationships and collaborating closely with senior stakeholders across Finance, the fee-earning community and other Business Services functions
- Work closely with Business Development and Pitch teams to support the preparation of the financial components of client Requests for Proposals (RFPs); collaborating with partners, firm leadership, senior management, Marketing, Finance and Service Delivery to understand client requirements and develop commercially sound pricing proposals with clear underlying assumptions
- Proactively engage with partners and client teams to encourage the consideration of pricing options, supporting the identification of opportunities to review client engagement terms and contributing to ongoing discussions to optimise commercial outcomes
- Support improved consistency and visibility of pricing arrangements by contributing to governance processes and providing insight to major client teams as required
- Contribute to the development and delivery of training sessions for partners and associates to enhance commercial awareness and pricing capability across the firm
- Support the application and ongoing refinement of firm-wide pricing policies and frameworks, including monitoring adherence where appropriate
- Assist in supporting partners with the development of negotiation approaches, providing insight and analysis to inform client discussions and, where appropriate, contributing to negotiations
- Maintain awareness of market and industry pricing trends, sharing insights with the wider team and stakeholders to inform decision-making
- Demonstrate a strong understanding of the firm’s client and sector strategy, and support Finance’s contribution to its successful delivery
- Contribute to the ongoing development and enhancement of pricing tools, as well as maintaining a knowledge base of pricing approaches, offerings and relevant information for use across the business
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About You
- A strong grounding and experience in commercial finance
- Solid experience in pricing, in either a law firm, other relevant professional services environment, or large corporate
- Working knowledge of legal service pricing, alternative fee arrangements, law firm profitability and costing of services
- Ensuring the team has the ability to analyse and model financial data and prepare concise reports to assist in pricing decisions
- The ability to lead and manage the application of systems and technology to the processes involved in critical pricing activities
- Experience of managing a successful team
- A continuous improvement mentality to support development of self, colleagues and business processes and interactions
- Excellent communication skills – both written and verbal
- Confident presence, and interpersonal skills that enable effective engagement and collaboration with the firm's most senior Partners and Directors
- Tenacity, resilience and patience when dealing with difficult and challenging issues and calmness under pressure
- Flexibility and able to adapt readily to changing requirements and circumstances
- Dynamic problem solving abilities; finding creative, commercial and pragmatic solutions, leading on initiatives in the Sectors, pricing and profitability areas
- The ability to work well and operate comfortably within a partnership structure / culture
- Ability to build relationships with, and influence, senior stakeholders to ensure our commercial perspective is clearly communicated
- Ability to flex working style to collaborate across functions and geographies and adapt to change
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About Us
We're a global law firm helping our clients achieve their goals wherever they do business. Our pursuit of innovation has transformed our delivery of legal services. With offices in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, we deliver exceptional outcomes on cross-border projects, critical transactions and high-stakes disputes.
At DLA Piper, we understand that inclusion is not a one-size-fits-all concept. We embrace and celebrate the range of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences that each individual brings to our firm. By fostering a culture that welcomes and appreciates all aspects of our individuality, we ensure that everyone has the opportunity to succeed.
Our commitment to inclusion and positive social impact enables us to provide exceptional service to our clients and communities, while nurturing a unique and inclusive culture for all our people. We welcome the unique contribution that you will bring to our firm and actively encourage applications from all talented people – however your talent is packaged, whatever your background or circumstance and regardless of how you identify.
We are committed to being accessible and accommodating any reasonable adjustments needed throughout the recruitment process to ensure an inclusive experience for all. If you need any support or adjustments, please let us know.
Where local legislation permits, we will conduct relevant pre-engagement screening checks prior to your first day.
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