Senior Manager, Business Development Operations

Job Description

Clifford Chance's Business Development (BD) function is central to delivering the firm's global strategy and driving sustainable growth. BD Operations brings together global capabilities to ensure efficient, high-quality delivery across our core offerings. As Senior Manager, BD Operations, you will lead the BD Operational Support Centre of Excellence, working alongside our Proposals and Events teams as part of the BD Operations Leadership Team. This role provides strategic and operational leadership to a global team, maximising the value of our hubs in Delhi and Warsaw, enhancing service consistency, and embedding continuous improvement.

Job Purpose
Lead the BD Operational Support Centre of Excellence, ensuring efficient, high-quality support to BD teams worldwide. Manage a global team to deliver flexible coordination and process support, oversee BD Process & Data Operations, and drive consistency and continuous improvement. As a key partner to the Global Head of Operations, you will help shape the BD operating model and ensure effective delivery of core services in line with the firm's business development strategy.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Leadership of the BD Operational Support COE

• Lead, develop and mentor a team of Coordinators, Senior Coordinators and Managers, primarily based in Warsaw and Delhi.
• Oversee day-to-day operations to ensure high‑quality, timely and reliable support across all BD Operational Support services.
• Manage global workflow allocation across products, sectors, practices and client teams, ensuring clarity of remit, service expectations and capacity.
• Foster a culture of flexibility, responsiveness and continuous improvement, supported by a developing global service catalogue.

2. Operational Delivery Across BD Activities

• Oversee delivery of a wide range of tactical and operational BD tasks, such as:
  • Client relationship management support;
  • Research and data gathering;
  • Pitch and matter-related coordination activities;
  • Marketing initiatives and campaign support;
  • General operational and administrative support required by BD colleagues globally.
• Ensure seamless coordination with practice and client teams, acting as a scalable extension of their capability.

3. Leadership of the BD Process & Data Operations Team

• Provide strategic direction and oversight for the BD Process & Data Operations team, whose remit includes:
  • Legal directory submissions;
  • Awards and league table processes;
  • Matter intake data management (Foundation);
  • CRM data management (InterAction);
  • Other repetitive or process‑driven BD tasks.
• Lead the repositioning of this team into a broader continuous improvement engine, identifying opportunities to streamline processes, standardise workflows and enhance the use of technology and automation.
• Encourage innovation, including exploration of new tools, prototype development and scalable process enhancements.

4. Continuous Improvement & Operating Model Evolution

• Play a key role in the ongoing evolution of the BD Operations operating model, ensuring global consistency, improved efficiency and strong alignment with the BD function's product‑aligned structure.
• Collaborate closely with Technology, Knowledge, HR and other Business Services teams to refine systems, enhance data quality and optimise BD operational processes.
• Contribute expertise to the build-out of the firm's operational hubs, especially in Warsaw and Delhi, ensuring they are equipped to support BD's future growth.

5. Strategic Partner to the Global Head of Operations

• Act as a senior deputy to the Global Head of Operations, providing leadership across broader BD operational initiatives.
• Support planning and execution of strategic programmes, resource build-out across hubs, and cross‑COE alignment.
• Represent BD Operations in firmwide or cross-functional initiatives where operational insight and leadership are required.

6. Governance, Quality and Risk Management

• Develop and maintain quality standards, intake processes and service-level expectations for Operational Support and Process & Data services.
• Establish effective KPIs, tracking mechanisms and feedback loops to ensure continuous enhancement of service quality.
• Ensure adherence to operational guardrails, risk controls and data‑related governance requirements.

Qualifications

• You will have experience of working in an administrative role, ideally within the professional services or equivalent experience in a client development/account management administrative role
• You will be highly motivated, a self-starter, committed to high performance
• You will be pragmatic and have strong project management and analytical capabilities
• You will need to be a strong team player
• You will need to manage and prioritise multiple projects and respond quickly to requests which have a short turnaround time
• You will need to be positive and flexible to ensure that the areas within your responsibility are well managed
• You will have strong interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written (including strong editing and proofing ability and attention to detail)
• You will be confident, resilient and focused
• You will be able to demonstrate a track record of being pro-active and delivering high quality work
• You will have strong general software skills (Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint)

Company Description

Clifford Chance is one of the world's leading law firms. The Firm's vision is to be the leader of the elite global law firms and aims to achieve this through its focus on client service excellence.  The firm has unrivalled scale and depth of legal resources across the key markets of the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. 

Clifford Chance is dedicated to creating advantage for our clients - on every matter, every time. Our Warsaw Hub exemplifies this commitment. We offer a competitive edge and empower the right people to be at the forefront of technological innovation, such as AI investment, legal automation, bespoke tools, to drive transformation at Clifford Chance and create more added-value, efficient solutions for clients and the wider industry.
Joining our team means you will be part of a high-performing culture, globally recognised for the work we do and the advantage we create for world-leading clients. You'll collaborate with the sharpest minds in the industry, working on some of the most critical legal and commercial business challenges and driving business support processes.
We focus on delivering operational excellence with specialist infrastructure and dedicated support such as, Finance, Legal and Executive administration support, , Risk and Compliance, Business Development, Branding, Marketing and Communications.

Additional Information

The Warsaw Hub is designed to help clients move faster, smarter, and with confidence. Joining us means becoming part of a dynamic and interconnected global network. Every day and on each project, you will connect with your colleagues across the world. You will learn, you will grow, and you will take your career in the direction you want.

We are closely integrated with the core business of Clifford Chance. This means frequent interactions with senior stakeholders, providing our team with invaluable insights. This close integration ensures that our work is aligned with the firm's overall goals and vision.

The Warsaw Hub requires individuals with advanced capabilities and the ability to engage in thought-partnering with Clifford Chance's lawyers and partners. This means that our team members are not just executing tasks but are actively contributing to the development of innovative legal solutions. This collaborative environment fosters professional growth and ensures that our team is always at the cutting edge of the legal industry.

You will work in the heart of the city. Warsaw is a friendly place to live and to work and has a cosmopolitan environment.

Equal opportunities

At Clifford Chance, we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families, our firm and society.

We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, social or economic background, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age.  This applies to recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment including pay, promotion, training, transfer and every other aspect of employment.

We have a variety of flourishing employee networks. These networks are a place for colleagues to share experiences and advocate for change wherever they see an opportunity for improvement.

Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm. 

Find out more about our inclusive culture here.