The roleThe MBD team provides the operational and strategic hub for the region - helping Partners and senior lawyers to attract and retain profitable client relationships, managing market profile and developing a sense of community in order to build strong and cohesive client teams.The MBD team in the Middle East forms part of a larger international MBD team based in locations across Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific, with a strong core team based in the UK and Australia.The successful candidate will manage the end-to-end proposal process, ensuring alignment with the firms strategic objectives and enhancing our competitive positioning in the Middle East region.MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead and manage the development of high-quality, compelling proposals that align with the firm's strategic goals and market positioning.
• Advise and lead partners and associates through the development of a bid strategy and formulation of a winning proposition.
• Challenge on Bid / No Bid decisions, with both quantifiable evidence and knowledge of other decisions for the same / similar clients around the business.
• Develop and implement proposal strategies that support the firm's go-to-market plans in the Middle East region.
• Championing the use of strategic business development tools such as Qorus and Experience Hub
• Manage rehearsals for new business pitches and perform pitch debriefs
• Arrange insightful research on companies, industry sectors and countries
• Responsible for creating a reporting strategy which provides an overview of pitch activity
• Coordinate and add value to the main legal directories and awards

In order to deliver the areas of key responsibility identified above, the successful candidate will be expected to:

• Project manage bids effectively and calmly to tight deadlines, often simultaneously
• Demonstrate excellent attention to detail, written and editorial skills for pitch content
• Proven ability to build and maintain relationships with a variety of stakeholders across a business, including the ability to engage with different groups - both locally and internationally - to promote best practice and influence
• Awareness and interest of developments in the wider legal market, empathy to challenges faced by our clients and commercial acumen around various pricing models
• Ability to make connections between offerings throughout our sectors, practices, locations to articulate a compelling proposal
• Able to demonstrate and use their initiative - looking for continuous improvement and ways to implement positive change
• An effective communicator with the ability to say no professionally and escalate challenges and opportunities in a professional manner. You will need the confidence to challenge partners constructively and put forward alternative suggestions to positively enhance the output
• Flexibility when managing own workload and priorities to take others time commitments into account
• A strong team player - willingness to support other colleagues

The job holder may be required to undertake additional duties from time to timeABOUT YOUThe successful candidate must have:

• A Degree or equivalent qualification
• Regional experience with a professional services background
• A high level of written and oral communication skills. In addition you will be expected to have strong probing, consultative listening skills coupled with the ability to negotiate and persuade senior legal and client personnel
• The ability to display a consistently positive and proactive attitude and demonstrate a collaborative working style; operating both as an individual and as part of a wider team
• A deep knowledge of marketing & BD processes for professional services - a sound understanding of new business processes, digital marketing, CRM and the emerging technologies that will help us win and retain legal work
• An exemplary professional approach and demonstrably high levels of commitment and internal client care
• Excellent communication and project management skills
• Demonstrable experience in demanding, partner-led international environments, where success has depended on an ability to:

- multi-task and work to deadlines
- manage conflicting priorities and expectations in a robust and fast-paced atmosphere
- perform at a consistently high standard
- remain calm and composed in what are often demanding situations
- see delegated tasks through to completion at a high standard

• A proven ability to deal with confidential and sensitive information
• High level of literacy in IT and marketing systems - Excel, Word, Powerpoint, MS Teams and Outlook are essential; experience of InterAction / CRM and design software would be beneficial
• Sales techniques and coaching skills
• Managing Stakeholder Engagement: Working with partners, associates and business development teams across different jurisdictions to understand the specific requirements of an RfP and provide a tailored value proposition that resonates with clients objectives
• Ability to understand and identify with the firm, its objectives and values

This job description is not designed to be exhaustive and can be varied, as required, to develop, or fulfil, the role.The Department / Practice Group
This role sits within the International Marketing & Business Development team which has a collaborative and supportive approach to working together to deliver on the recently launched three-year M&BD strategy to be delivered through three workstreams.
World-class basics: Putting the basic marketing infrastructure in place to allow the firm to better support cross-Location, cross-Practice Group marketing, in the context of our Sectors. To ensure partners and lawyers can self-serve for their basic day-to-day MBD needs, allowing the MBD team to be deployed on higher-return matters.
Focus: Creation of a new three-tier key client programme that allows us to maximise firm engagement while still prioritising resources on our most important Sector client relationships, by offering a sliding scale of support and benefits.
Sector-forward: Working with the firm's leadership team, to adopt a consultative and collaborative approach to a realigned MBD operation that enables the firm to develop its Sector focus, with less overlap and repetition of effort across our matrix. The aim is to undertake fewer activities but do them better, and ensure client-focused activity supports Sector strategies. In particular, to deliver thought leadership that is truly international in approach.
A relocation package may be considered depending on experience and current locationABOUT US
DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers and business service professionals located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Our global reach ensures that we can help businesses with their legal needs anywhere in the world. We strive to be the leading global business law firm by delivering quality, service excellence and value to our clients and offering practical and innovative legal solutions to help them succeed. Our clients range from multinational, Global 1000, and Fortune 500 enterprises to emerging companies developing industry-leading technologies, as well as government and public sector bodies.OUR VALUES
In everything we do connected with our People, our Clients and our Communities, we live by these values:

• Be Supportive - we are compassionate and inclusive, valuing diversity and acting thoughtfully
• Be Collaborative - we are proactive, passionate team players investing in our relationships
• Be Bold - we are fearless and inquisitive, challenging ourselves to think big and find creative new solutions
• Be Exceptional - we are strategic and driven, exceeding standards and expectations

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
At DLA Piper, diversity and inclusion underpins how we live our values and everything we do. We believe that everyone has a voice, and that everyone's voice counts. We know that the rich diversity across our firm makes us stronger, more innovative and creative, which helps us to better serve our clients and communities. We are committed to providing an inclusive working environment and culture across our global firm, where everyone can bring their authentic self to work.
Diversity of perspective, thought, background and culture combine to make us the leading global law firm; that's why we actively seek to build balanced teams. We welcome the unique contribution that you will bring to our firm and actively encourage applications from all talented people - however your talent is packaged, whatever your background or circumstance and regardless of how you identify.HYBRID WORKING
We recognise that people have responsibilities and interests outside of their career and that as a business, we all benefit from working flexibly. That's why we are open to discussing with candidates the different ways in which we are able to support requests for agile working arrangements.PRE-ENGAGEMENT SCREENING
In the event that we make an offer to you, and where local legislation permits and where relevant, we will conduct pre-engagement screening checks that may include but are not limited to your professional and academic qualifications, your eligibility to work in the relevant jurisdiction, any criminal records, your financial stability and work-related references.4886 | United Arab Emirates | Dubai

DLA Piper