Business Development Specialist

Who We Are

At Benesch we pride ourselves on exceeding expectations and building trust not only with our clients but with our employees - Benesch's #1 asset. Committed to providing not only the highest level of legal service to our clients, Benesch also aspires to create a positive work environment for our employees. Our Firm continues to earn placement on Chicago and Cleveland's Top Workplaces list, along with Cleveland's NorthCoast 99 Top Workplaces rankings. We also continue to advance on the AmLaw 150 list, placing us among the top 150 law firms in the country.

Benesch is proud to be recognized for being a Firm that attracts and retains top talent - making Benesch a great place to work. We offer a hybrid schedule, career development and growth, transparent and visible leadership teams, and a place where diversity, equity and inclusion is celebrated. In addition, the Firm offers a full array of benefits which can be viewed at

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We are one of the fastest growing firms in the nation, and have offices in Chicago, Columbus, San Francisco, New York City, and Wilmington. We continue to expand our geographic footprint and value the talent that comprises each of our locations. If you are someone who champions a First in Service approach and are ready to be part of an exciting and growing Firm, we would invite you to apply to join our team.

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Benesch is proud to announce the opening for a Business Development Specialist in our Chicago office! This position is hybrid and has work from home flexibility.

Position Summary:

Do you have 3 or more years of business development or marketing experience ina professional services environment? Are you looking for that opportunity to work at the next level as a pro-active thinker researching for projects, running with first drafts of pitches/proposals and working on marketing content for uniformity? Then the role of Business Development Specialist may be the one you've been looking for! This role is perfect for the experience business development professional who looking to expand their skill set and work in a more independent role with project ownership.

The Business Development Specialist is responsible for supporting client development opportunities and assisting attorneys and practice groups with their business development and marketing efforts. The Business Development Specialist will support the preparation of pitches and proposals and ensure proposal content is current and appropriately repurposed across marketing collateral, the firm website, attorney biographies, and other platforms. The Business Development Specialist will provide competitive intelligence support, proactively maintain practice area and attorney pipeline data, assist with business development training preparation, support attorneys' preparation for industry conferences, and help track and analyze business development data.

Essential Functions:

• Supports business development managers in the pitch and proposal process from planning through submission, including working with attorneys and other firm personnel in the development and execution of proposals, presentations, and team rosters. Identifies most applicable content and edits existing content for proposals and pitches.
• Assists with RFP/RFQ responses, including document assembly, proofreading, coordinating attorney input, and deadline tracking, and helps to maintain proposal language library.
• Serves as a liaison between the business development team and the marketing communications team to ensure proposal content is captured and repurposed across marketing collateral, practice group tear sheets, the firm website, and attorney biographies.
• Conducts company and industry research, fulfills competitive intelligence research requests, and helps to create and customize individual attorneys' news alerts. Reviews and analyzes intelligence to help inform business development strategies.
• Populates, monitors, and tracks firm pipeline data. Assists with monitoring action items and reports progress to business development managers and the director.
• Utilizes firm CRM and other platforms to run queries and pull data on relationships and client interactions to help leverage connections and identify new business opportunities.
• Attends attorney and lateral partner discovery and coaching conversations with senior business development staff to capture action items and assist with follow-up.
• Helps in planning and executing the firm's internal BD training programs, including coordinating with the events team, professional development staff, and external presenters on logistics, scheduling, and any related materials and follow-up.
• Proactively maintains and consistently updates various firm collateral pieces used for business development purposes. Responsible for verifying that such information is kept current and is readily available for use in directory submissions and proposals.
• Assists with input of experience matters into the experience manager database and onto the appropriate proposal and collateral pieces.
• Coordinates the preparation and distribution of collateral materials for conferences, events, and individual timekeeper requests.
• Works directly with attorneys to help them optimize use of LinkedIn and other social media platforms for business development.

Confidentiality:

Due to the nature of your employment, various documents and information, which are of a confidential nature, will come into your possession. Such documents and information must be kept confidential at all times.

Qualifications:

The Business Development Specialist must have a bachelor's degree in marketing, business administration, communications, or a related area. The Business Development Specialist must have three to five years of experience in business development or marketing roles, ideally within a professional services environment (legal, accounting, financial). A working knowledge of client relationship management software is preferred. Experience with Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, Outlook) is required. Must possess an exceptional attitude to meet the needs of internal and external clients.

The salary range for this position is $79K to $89K.

Please note that quoted salary ranges are based on Benesch's good faith belief at the time of the job posting and are not a guarantee of what final salary offers may be. Base pay is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Base pay is only one part of the Total Rewards that Benesch provides to compensate and recognize our staff professionals for their work. Full-time positions are eligible for a discretionary bonus and a comprehensive benefits package.

Benesch is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly value and encourage diversity and solicit applications from all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability (where applicant is qualified to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodations), medical condition, protected veteran status, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

Applicants who are interested in applying for a position and require special assistance or an accommodation during the process due to a disability should contact the Benesch Human Resources Department by phone at 216-363-4578 or email at [email protected].

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities