www.clearygottlieb.com

Business Development Manager – EMEA, Capital Markets and Finance (12-Month Fixed Term Contract)

Cleary Gottlieb’s capital markets practice represents issuers and market participants worldwide on disclosure and corporate governance matters, corporate and securities regulatory issues, and transactional structuring.

Cleary lawyers have helped formulate the vocabulary of debt and equity techniques that today routinely move business transactions – we regularly advise clients on company-critical and precedent-setting financings, which span the spectrum of capital markets transactions.

Cleary is a pioneer and global leader in debt finance transactions, advising clients on a broad range of financing matters. We have been also advising on structured finance for decades, having pioneered many of the key products used widely in today’s markets. In 2023 and 2025, the firm won the Finance Team of the Year Award by Legal Business.

Purpose

The Business Development Manager will serve as a strategic adviser to the practice group leader and partners across the capital markets and finance practice groups in EMEA. The role requires a high degree of autonomy, commercial judgement, and the ability to operate as a trusted business partner to senior lawyers. The successful candidate will lead the development and execution of practice group plans, drive client development and cross-selling initiatives, and ensure the firm’s capital markets and finance practices are positioned competitively across the EMEA region.

Practice Support

  • Serve as a strategic adviser to practice group leaders and partners on market positioning, competitive dynamics, and commercial priorities across EMEA.
  • Develop, execute and monitor EMEA Practice group plan(s).
  • Liaise with BD counterparts in other EMEA offices (e.g., Frankfurt, Brussels, Milan, Abu Dhabi) to ensure alignment on practice group priorities and client strategies.
  • Analyse and track key clients and targets.
  • Lead the organisation of partner meetings, including preparing agendas, documenting actions and following-up on actions agreed.
  • Pro-actively identify opportunities for profile raising and thought-leadership initiatives and work closely with the Marketing Communications and PR teams.
  • Lead/coordinate awards and submissions work within the Practice groups.

Pitch Support

  • Lead the preparation of credentials and pitches, tailoring materials for individual clients and opportunities.
  • Develop and maintain key messages, standard slides, credentials, and pitch materials for key practices.
  • Support partners in the preparation of pitch meetings, rehearsals, strategy discussions, and post pitch follow-up.
  • Ensure that standard text, materials, bios and deal databases are stored, tracked and kept up to date.
  • Ensure consistency and quality of pitch material, driving continuous improvement.
  • Support client presentations.
  • Share best practice within the EMEA BD team.

Client Relationship Management

  • Lead on client feedback initiatives and ensure insights are acted upon.
  • Analyse data on clients, people and markets, working together with the Global Competitive Research Team.
  • Keep partners informed of developments at key clients, offering a strategic perspective and actionable recommendations.
  • Create products and touchpoints to be used with clients to deepen relationships.
  • Manage data held on key clients, especially on the CRM system (Dynamics) and client development meeting databases.

League Tables and Rankings

  • Maintain and oversee accurate deal tracking across the capital markets and finance practice groups, ensuring timely capture of deal data for league tables, credentials, and internal reporting.
  • Lead the UK submissions process for key legal directories (Chambers, Legal 500), including drafting submissions, coordinating referee process, and managing researcher engagement.
  • Lead and coordinate awards submissions within the practice groups.

Client Events

  • Identify speaking opportunities in line with the objectives of the practice or to promote individual lawyers.
  • Maintain a good understanding of relevant event organizers and industry forums.
  • Supervise the creation of invitee lists and manage the invitation process.
  • Create project plans for events, overseeing logistics, content, and follow-up.
  • Lead reporting and follow-up activities to ensure events deliver measurable outcomes.

Marketing and Communication

  • Oversee a content and thought-leadership strategy for the practice groups, including client alerts, publications, webinars, and digital campaigns.
  • Work with the Marketing and PR team on the implementation of the relevant objectives from the Practice Group plan.
  • Work with the PR/Media team on promotion of publications/client reports.
  • Support and advise lawyers regarding the publication of articles and speaking engagements.
  • Work with the marketing team to optimise the use of the firm’s website, LinkedIn, and other digital channels for practice and individual lawyer visibility.
  • Oversee contact lists and mailing lists for key clients and practices.
  • Support on promotion via social media channels.

Skills and Competencies

Education/Experience

  • Educated to degree level or equivalent depth of experience.
  • A minimum of seven years’ business development experience in an international law firm or professional services environment.
  • Experience supporting capital markets, finance, or related transactional practice areas is strongly preferred.

Skills

  • Strong commercial awareness and knowledge of the capital markets and finance landscape, including an understanding of deal processes, market dynamics, and the competitive environment.
  • High level of attention to detail.
  • Excellent oral and written communications skills; with the ability to produce high-quality pitch materials and client-facing content.
  • Excellent analytical and research skills; and the ability to process and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources.
  • Strong team player, fostering collaborative environments and contributing to collective success.
  • Ability to effectively communicate, interact and build relationships at all levels, across various functions, offices, ensuring seamless collaboration and alignment of business strategies.
  • Excellent time management skills, with the ability to manage multiple responsibilities amid competing priorities, tight deadlines, and changing business demands and opportunities.
  • Organized and methodical approach to problem solving and decision making.
  • Flexibility and adaptability to work cross-functionally and across borders, embracing diverse challenges and opportunities.
  • Ability to build credibility and gain buy-in from senior stakeholders.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), CRM systems (Microsoft Dynamics preferred), and familiarity with deal databases and experience management tools.

If you are interested in applying, please submit a CV and short cover letter to the London Human Resources Team, LON-HR@cgsh.com.