Totum Partners
Senior Business Development Manager
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Senior Business Development Manager – Life Sciences & Trade Marks
Leading IP firm
London
Hybrid working
An excellent opportunity to shape strategy and influence growth.
My client is a leading intellectual property firm with an established presence across the UK, Europe, and the US. The firm advises clients on complex and commercially significant IP matters and has a clear growth strategy. Its collaborative partner group values specialist business development input and is receptive to informed ideas, practical advice, and constructive challenge.
The firm is strengthening its Clients and Markets function, creating clearer business development and marketing specialisms and giving the team greater access to senior leadership. As part of this change, it is looking to appoint a Senior Business Development Manager to support its Life Sciences and Trade Marks practices.
The successful candidate will join while the firm is establishing a more focused and commercially rigorous approach to business development. They will have meaningful scope to influence priorities, introduce improvements, and help determine how the firm develops important client relationships and approaches new opportunities.
Working directly with partners across Life Sciences and Trade Marks, the Senior Business Development Manager will need to understand the distinct clients, markets, and commercial drivers of each practice. The role combines responsibility for practice-level business development with involvement in broader initiatives across the firm. It requires someone who can advise partners on strategy, bring greater focus to client development, and remain close enough to the work to deliver directly when required.
Key Responsibilities:
- Work with Life Sciences and Trade Marks partners to agree clear commercial priorities and maintain momentum around agreed activity.
- Help the practices make more of established client relationships by identifying unmet needs, connecting relevant expertise, and creating opportunities for broader engagement.
- Give partners the insight and practical support required to approach priority clients, prospects, and referrers with greater focus.
- Improve how new opportunities are identified, progressed, and reviewed, creating clearer ownership and visibility across the pipeline.
- Support international business development activity, including research, preparation, and follow-up connected with US clients, targets, conferences, and partner travel.
- Help establish practical approaches to key client development, client feedback, and market intelligence.
- Support significant pitches and new business opportunities, ensuring the firm’s positioning responds directly to the client’s priorities.
- Help fee earners build confidence and consistency in their approach to business development through practical guidance, coaching, and shared learning.
- Use relevant data and commercial insight to assess progress, guide decisions, and improve the focus of business development activity.
- Work closely with colleagues across marketing, finance, systems, data, and people functions to ensure client initiatives are coordinated and commercially relevant.
- Support and develop junior business development colleagues, providing clear direction while encouraging initiative and sound judgement.
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The Successful Candidate:
- You will bring substantial business development experience from a law firm, accountancy practice, management consultancy, or another professional services environment.
- You are also likely to demonstrate:
- Experience leading client development or business development initiatives from initial thinking through to practical adoption.
- A clear understanding of key client management and the factors that make client programs effective within a partnership.
- The credibility to advise senior partners, offer a substantiated view, and challenge thinking constructively.
- Strong commercial judgement, including an understanding of client profitability, pricing considerations, and the importance of client mix.
- The ability to use market, client, and competitor information to sharpen targeting and support better decisions.
- Confidence working with performance measures and reporting, using evidence to improve activity rather than treating reporting as an administrative exercise.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex issues clearly and adapt your approach for different audiences.
- The judgement and interpersonal awareness to build support across a partnership while continuing to move work forward.
- A willingness to combine strategic input with practical delivery within a relatively lean team.
- An adaptable and collaborative working style, with the resilience to operate effectively while new approaches are being developed.
- Previous intellectual property experience is not essential. Experience supporting a substantial US client market, contributing to CRM development, or working within a wider commercial change program would be useful.
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The successful candidate will report directly to the Director of Clients and Markets, providing clear visibility and the opportunity to contribute to decisions about how business development operates across the firm. The successful candidate will be able to influence developing approaches rather than inheriting a fixed way of working.
This opportunity will suit an established Senior Business Development Manager seeking broader ownership. It could also provide progression for a high-performing Business Development Manager with the commercial judgement, stakeholder credibility, and program leadership required to step into a more senior position.
Equal Opportunities
As a responsible business, it is important that we represent the diversity of our people, our clients, and our communities. We believe that the firms that thrive are those with the most diverse team; that's why we work so hard to source the best talent from the broadest pool possible. As an equal opportunities employer, we strive to accommodate anyone who may have specific needs. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made during the selection process, please talk to a member of the recruitment team so that any required adjustments can be made in advance.
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