About Ashurst

Ashurst is a leading progressive global law firm with a rich history spanning more than 200 years. We are proud of our history and are future-focused, having expanded into new technologies through our NewLaw division, Ashurst Advance, and our consulting arm. Our in-depth understanding of our clients and commitment to providing excellent standards of service have seen us become a trusted adviser to local and global corporates, financial institutions and governments in all areas of commercial law. To find out more please visit www.ashurst.com.

Department/Role overview

As Pursuit Manager you will be responsible for the development of win strategies and the end-to-end bid management of our most strategic opportunities. You will work with Partners and other stakeholders to develop the highest quality bid responses and pursuits in collaboration with other members of the bid team and colleagues from the broader CMG team, Finance, Compliance, etc. You will contribute to the strategic growth of the firm by ensuring we are maximising our chances of winning complex, high value and strategic bids.

The Pursuit Manager will report to and work closely with the EMEA Head of Bids as part of a team located across our EMEA offices. You will be an integral member of the Global Bids & Pursuits Team and the wider CMG function.

As part of our commitment to driving bid excellence and supporting the professional development of our team, we are a Corporate member of APMP.

Main responsibilities

• Work with partners and lawyers, CMG team members, and other stakeholders to evaluate and qualify new opportunities, define the bid strategy, and develop and validate the value proposition and win themes for high value and strategic bids and pursuits.
• Provide bid advisory and full lifecycle project management for strategic opportunities, managing or advising on pre-RFP preparations and driving the managed bids process for RFI and RFP responses, pitch presentations, negotiations, etc.
• Coaching and managing the work of junior team members who will be supporting you on the delivery of strategic opportunities.
• Effectively manage and influence key stakeholders, including partners and lawyers, ensuring they are aware of and delivering on their roles as needed to produce client-focussed, high-quality bids so we maximise our chances of winning.
• Ensure a collaborative and high-performing culture is maintained across all areas of the bid and broader CMG team, including effective engagement in the delivery of live bids and the sharing of key learnings and best practice.
• Review, monitor and promote bid best practice regarding readability, writing style and tone while being compliant to individual client bid requirements or restrictions.
• Work with client relationship teams to ensure we are maximising opportunities and correctly positioning ourselves for our key client pursuits, and handing over intelligence post-bid/pursuit.
• Conduct milestone workshops and toll gate sessions to drive pursuit activity and follow up readiness analysis.
• Provide guidance on improvement opportunities for written content and credentials maintained using our bid technology and help to spot and fill content gaps.
• Risk and Control: Ensure that all activities and duties are carried out in full compliance with our regulatory requirements and internal policies.

Essential skills and experience

• Experience of designing and implementing a uplifts to bid and Excellent bid and pursuit management capability and experience of bid and pursuit management in legal, professional services or other relevant environment.
• Strong bid process knowledge, stakeholder engagement/influencing skills, and project management skills. Proven ability to successfully deliver complex bids with challenging timelines and requiring collaboration with multiple SMEs and other stakeholders.
• Ability to work with client relationship team and/or SMEs to: identify client requirements; successfully articulate differentiators, benefits and win themes; and demonstrate our ability to meet client needs and requirements. Proven ability to translate these into tailored, client-focussed bid documents and presentations.
• Excellent English writing skills. Able to transform technical information into clear, compelling, succinct content for proposals to various audience types. Exceptional eye for detail and strong proofreading skills.
• Team player with enthusiasm and experience coaching and developing junior team members.
• A strong service excellence ethic and a desire to add value to the firm by improving the quality of bids and bid content.
• Highly competent user of the Microsoft Office suite, including advanced Word and PowerPoint skills.
• Qualified to degree level or equivalent (preferably in business, marketing or communications).

Desired skills and experience

• Client facing sales, BD or account management experience.
• An understanding of legal practices, products and the legal competitive landscape, gained from previous experience within the legal sector.
• Proposal or pursuit-specific qualification or certification, e.g. through APMP, Shipley, etc.
• An understanding of different bid cultures and customers, with bid management experience across geographies and to a variety of customers (e.g. banks and other financial services, government, corporates).
• Experience of bid library/pitch automation software systems and SharePoint.

Background checks

In order to comply with regulatory and client requirements, Ashurst will undertake appropriate vetting of staff. When applicants accept a job offer, Ashurst, alongside a specialist provider, will undertake professional verification and background checks. These checks are only undertaken with consent, and in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations.