Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer

A mid-size, Pennsylvania law firm is looking to bring add a Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer to their team! The Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer owns the development of firmwide, practice, and industry/section marketing and business development strategy; execution of the firm's revenue system: pipeline, pursuits, key client relationships; and leadership and management of the marketing and BD department.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Pitch, proposal, and pursuit management (25%)

•Owns the end-to-end pitch and RFP process: intake, Go/No-Go screening, drafting, pricing coordination, submission, and debrief.

•Builds a reusable pitch content library/answer bank and an experience database, as well as a process for updating/identifying gaps in matters and responses.

•Runs win and loss debriefs on all major pursuits, and feeds findings back into positioning and pricing.

•Establishes turnaround standards and holds the department and partners to them.

Key client and cross-sell execution (20%)

•Launches and runs a key client or industry-based strategy, including teams and relationship mapping.

•Converts identified cross-sell opportunities into live pursuits, with follow-up and accountability.

•Runs the client listening program: executive visits, periodic surveys, and end-of-matter feedback, on an ongoing cadence rather than as a one-time exercise.

•Partners with the CSO and practice leaders on client and office succession, so relationships transition to the firm rather than depending on individual partners.

Brand, marketing, and communications strategy (15%)

•Owns brand positioning and messaging architecture for a firm that has outgrown its single-region identity.

•Sets the thought leadership and content agenda, including client alerts, and the standards they are held to.

•Owns website, digital presence, search visibility, and lawyer bios, including the requirement that bios carry named client matters where the client has approved.

•Owns PR and media relations, rankings and awards strategy, and internal communications.

•Differentiates the market playbook by office type: an established-market approach for Lancaster, Reading, and Harrisburg, and a distinct growth-market approach for Gettysburg, Hanover, Malvern, Maryland, and Pittsburgh.

•Brings brand and positioning recommendations to the Marketing Committee for sign-off under its redefined charter.

Partner BD coaching and enablement (15%)

•One-on-one business development coaching for high-potential partners and senior associates.

•Builds practice-level and office-level BD plans, with the practice group leader as owner.

•Runs BD training, including BD onboarding for laterals and newly acquired groups.

•Equips practice group leaders to run their own BD cadence rather than depending on the department to drive it.

Team leadership and department management (15%)

•Leads the five-person marketing and BD department: role boundaries, workload allocation, performance management, and professional development.

•Defines who owns events, who owns experience capture, and who owns routine sponsorship intake and followup, with documented guardrails and up-front training.

•Protects the team's capacity by moving low-value administrative work off the department or automating it (with MC).

•Sets service standards and turnaround expectations, and manages agencies and outside vendors.

•Assesses whether the current five-role structure is the right one, and makes the case for changes where it is not.

Budget, pipeline, KPI tracking, and reporting (10%)

•Owns the marketing and BD budget of approximately $1.05M, including the $520K sponsorship portfolio and the ROI framework it currently lacks.

•Holds delegated authority for routine sponsorship approval within documented guardrails set by the Marketing Committee.

•Owns pipeline hygiene and opportunity tracking in the CRM, and drives CRM adoption across the lawyer population (with BDC).

•Produces the monthly BD dashboard and quarterly KPI reporting to the Management Committee.

REQUIREMENTS/EXPERIENCE

•Bachelor's degree required.

•Ten or more years in law firm or professional services marketing and business development, including direct accountability for business development and revenue outcomes rather than marketing/communications alone.

•Demonstrated experience running a competitive pitch and RFP function, including Go/No-Go discipline and win/loss analysis.

•Experience leading and developing a team, including performance management and role design.