What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Manager, Client Development & Engagement, Strategy, Planning & Infrastructure position at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP?
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is one of the world’s leading international law firms. The Firm was established in 1884 and has approximately 2,000 lawyers. Headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Dallas, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Palo Alto, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., the Firm provides coordinated legal advice and transactional capability to clients around the globe.
The Client Development & Engagement (CDE) function sits at the heart of the Firm’s growth strategy, bringing together business development, marketing, events and communications. Working closely with Partners, practice leaders, and cross functional teams, CDE supports high impact initiatives such as pitches and RFPs, strategic marketing and communications, and practice level business initiatives. The team leverages data, insights, and creative problem solving to help Partners drive sustained growth through repeatable excellence and a differentiated client experience.
Job Summary
The Senior Manager – CDE, Strategy, Planning and Infrastructure (“SPI”) plays a key role in advancing the Firm’s client development strategy, partnering closely with the Associate Director, SPI, and functional leadership to drive high-impact strategic and operational initiatives.
This role is responsible for independently leading key workstreams, translating strategic priorities into actionable plans. Reporting to the Associate Director, SPI, the Senior Manager ensures strong execution, and stakeholder alignment, while contributing to a high-performance culture grounded in collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement. At the same time, it serves as the connector across CDE and Firm functions, partner teams, IT, Knowledge & Innovation, and Firm leadership, driving execution on the highest-priority initiatives.
Essential Job Duties & Responsibilities
Strategy Execution & Stakeholder Management
Skills and Experience
NY Only: The estimated base salary range for this position is $220,000 to $250,000 at the time of posting.
The actual salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job. This role is exempt meaning it is not overtime pay eligible.
Simpson Thacher will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.
Privacy Notice
For information about how Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP collects and processes your personal information, please refer to our Privacy Notice available at https://www.stblaw.com/other/privacy-notice.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is committed to a collegial work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. The Firm prohibits discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, marital or partnership status, sexual orientation, veteran’s status or any other legally protected status. This Policy pertains to every aspect of an individual’s relationship with the Firm, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, benefits, training and development, promotion, transfer, discipline, termination, and all other privileges, terms and conditions of employment.
The Client Development & Engagement (CDE) function sits at the heart of the Firm’s growth strategy, bringing together business development, marketing, events and communications. Working closely with Partners, practice leaders, and cross functional teams, CDE supports high impact initiatives such as pitches and RFPs, strategic marketing and communications, and practice level business initiatives. The team leverages data, insights, and creative problem solving to help Partners drive sustained growth through repeatable excellence and a differentiated client experience.
Job Summary
The Senior Manager – CDE, Strategy, Planning and Infrastructure (“SPI”) plays a key role in advancing the Firm’s client development strategy, partnering closely with the Associate Director, SPI, and functional leadership to drive high-impact strategic and operational initiatives.
This role is responsible for independently leading key workstreams, translating strategic priorities into actionable plans. Reporting to the Associate Director, SPI, the Senior Manager ensures strong execution, and stakeholder alignment, while contributing to a high-performance culture grounded in collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement. At the same time, it serves as the connector across CDE and Firm functions, partner teams, IT, Knowledge & Innovation, and Firm leadership, driving execution on the highest-priority initiatives.
Essential Job Duties & Responsibilities
Strategy Execution & Stakeholder Management
- Support the development and execution of CDE strategic initiatives in partnership with the CCO and AD- SPI, translating priorities into detailed workplans with clear milestones and deliverables.
- Coordinate closely with CDE functional leads to drive alignment, ensure progress, and resolve execution challenges.
- Prepare internal materials including leadership updates, presentations, and project summaries that track progress and articulate outcomes.
- Synthesize data and feedback into actionable insights to inform decision-making and optimize initiatives.
- Support implementation and adoption of CDE technology and AI initiatives, including CRM enhancements, workflow tools, and automation solutions.
- Partner with IT, Knowledge & Innovation, and MarTech teams to coordinate project timelines, requirements gathering, and deployment activities.
- Help manage pilot programs for new tools, including tracking success metrics, gathering feedback, and documenting outcomes.
- Contribute to development of training materials, use case libraries, and adoption resources to increase team proficiency with new tools.
- Monitor adoption and usage metrics, identifying opportunities to improve engagement and effectiveness.
- Develop and maintain playbooks, templates, and process documentation that support consistent execution across CDE teams.
- Identify opportunities to improve workflows, streamline processes, and enhance efficiency.
- Manage cross-functional initiatives by coordinating inputs, tracking dependencies, and ensuring timely delivery.
- Support change management efforts, including communication and rollout of new processes or tools.
- Assist in maintaining an innovation pipeline, tracking initiatives from concept through implementation.
- Lead projects and workstreams with ownership of timelines, deliverables, and stakeholder coordination.
- Mentor junior team members and contribute to team development and knowledge sharing.
- Demonstrate strong collaboration and influence across teams, helping drive alignment and adoption of new approaches.
- Model high standards of execution, responsiveness, and continuous improvement.
- Bachelor’s degree required
- Graduate degree preferred
Skills and Experience
- Minimum 8 years of comparable experience in professional services strongly preferred
- Well-honed business acumen, financial and analytic skills, and the ability to develop short- and long- term strategic and operational plans from broadly stated objectives
- Strong ability to prioritize and manage multiple operational initiatives simultaneously, including business transformation/service model shifts, and significant data/tech projects
- Superior presentation, writing, and verbal communication skills; the ability to interact credibly and diplomatically with all levels in an organization and in the outside community – tailoring communications effectively for different groups and stakeholders
- Demonstrated success managing, mentoring, and developing a team of top-tier professionals
- Extensive background driving continuous improvement, innovation, and optimization
- Excellent project management skills with the ability to engage across technical and non-technical stakeholders
NY Only: The estimated base salary range for this position is $220,000 to $250,000 at the time of posting.
The actual salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job. This role is exempt meaning it is not overtime pay eligible.
Simpson Thacher will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.
Privacy Notice
For information about how Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP collects and processes your personal information, please refer to our Privacy Notice available at https://www.stblaw.com/other/privacy-notice.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is committed to a collegial work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. The Firm prohibits discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, marital or partnership status, sexual orientation, veteran’s status or any other legally protected status. This Policy pertains to every aspect of an individual’s relationship with the Firm, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, benefits, training and development, promotion, transfer, discipline, termination, and all other privileges, terms and conditions of employment.
Salary : $220,000 - $250,000