Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is one of Canada’s leading business law firms. Advising many of Canada’s corporate leaders, as well as U.S. and international parties with extensive interest in Canada, our more than 1,000 firm members are based in offices in Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary and New York.

Osler prides itself on attracting and maintaining some of the brightest talent in the legal arena. Our lawyers, students, management and staff have created a unique firm culture which nurtures mentoring and the exchange of ideas. Osler is a dynamic and exciting place to further your career or carve out a new path.

The Director, Client & Business Development– Corporate and Financial Services (the “Director”) is a senior leader within Osler’s Client Development & Marketing (“CD&M”) team and a strategic partner to the Corporate Practice, encompassing capital markets, mergers & acquisitions, private equity, emerging and high growth companies (EHG) and related finance sector work, and the Financial Services Practice. Reporting to the Chief Client Officer, the Director is a highly strategic and collaborative leader responsible for working with practice leadership to establish and execute the business-development vision for the groups, driving profitable growth, enhancing market profile, and deepening key client relationships. The Director leads a dedicated team of BD professionals, collaborates closely with lawyers and firm leadership, and marshals firm-wide resources to achieve the Corporate group’s commercial objectives.

As the leader of the firm's competitive intelligence function, the Director is also responsible for stewarding this resource to support the strategic goals of the entire CD&M team.

Major Responsibilities and Duties:

The Director, working with direct and indirect reports, leadership and lawyers from their Practice area(s), as well as with the broader CD&M team, is responsible for leading, collaborating on, and/or facilitating the following:

• Strategic Planning: Facilitate the development of strategic BD and marketing plans for the assigned practice groups. Includes competitive analysis, practice positioning, market profile, cross-selling opportunities and new business targets. Set prioritized goals, timelines and KPI’s.

  • Collaborate with practice group leaders and firm leadership to identify key target markets, client segments, and service offerings that will drive growth and differentiation.
  • Analyze and provide ongoing updates about key industry and local market trends, consistent with the firm and practice group strategic plans and update these plans as necessary.
  • Support individual lawyer BD planning initiatives.

• Client Activities: Relationship management, proposals and other engagement activities. For example:

  • Lead key account management activities to strengthen client relationships. Guide client relationship partners in planning and executing firm-wide activities focused on strategic clients, including monitoring investment and ROI. Develop and implement client engagement strategies, leveraging the firm’s CRM platform and other available tools.
  • Proposals and Submissions: Working in conjunction with the Pursuits team on strategic pitches and proposal responses and advise on content and positioning for RFP responses, credentials, and other sales-related documents.
  • CPD & CLE Programming: Developing and coordinating the execution of client-related education and entertainment programs (including seminars, webinars, receptions, networking events, etc.).

• New Business Opportunities: Assist in developing new business opportunities, including generating prospect lists and coordinating information gathering efforts such as researching and recommending new target clients, industries or geographies.

• Competitive intelligence program leadership: Work closely with the CCO and CD&M leadership to establish and integrate the firm’s new Competitive Intelligence (CI) function, defining its strategic mandate, operational processes, and key deliverables in collaboration with stakeholders from across the CD&M team and firm leadership.

  • Determine the highest and best use of the CI role and its outputs, continuously assessing and refining its focus to ensure alignment with the firm’s most critical strategic priorities and client development opportunities.
  • Champion the adoption of AI-driven research and analytics, working with the CI role and other team members to identify innovative ways to generate actionable insights that provide a competitive advantage.

• Marketing and Communications Strategy**:** Work with the Marketing and Communications Team to develop and execute a marketing strategy that aligns with the firm’s overall business objectives and enhances its market positioning. Coordinate with legal professionals on internal and external messaging, as well as digital content and thought leadership activities.

• Practice and Lawyer Brand Building**.** For example, this may include:

  • Market Recognition: Leading the collection, drafting, development and project management of awards, directories and league tables submissions on behalf of assigned groups.
  • Conferences and Sponsorships: Seeking out networking/speaking engagement opportunities for legal professionals, consistent with their BD goals
  • Collateral: Ensure currency of bios, deal lists, and other specialized marketing materials ensuring that related digital content is current and timely.
  • Media: Identify opportunities for increased visibility with business, trade, and legal media and working closely with the firm’s media team and coordinating strategy and messaging with lawyers.

• Other Activities to Maximize BD Effectiveness and Client Impact. For example, this may include:

  • Transitions & Succession Planning: Collaborate closely with firm leadership to design and implement structured transition and succession plans for legal personnel as they approach retirement.
  • Data Management: Manage BD data related to assigned practices and groups, including relevant databases and other practice data and statistics, league tables statistics and contact lists.
  • Budgeting: Develop and track practice group business-development budgets consistent with the group’s BD plans.
  • Internal Communications & Collaboration: Promote and encourage collaboration among lawyers within and across practice groups. Within the firm, using appropriate internal communications methods, disseminate information about BD activities, client accomplishments, lateral partners, speaking engagements, articles, alerts, and other relevant marketing activities
  • Training and Mentorship: Identify and assist in implementing training programs for lawyers focused on BD, cross-selling, client-retention and marketing-related activities.

• People Leadership: Develop, coach, and lead a high-performing team of BD professionals. Foster a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement. Design and implement structured training and mentoring programs to build skills and capabilities across the team.

  • Provides direct leadership, mentorship, and strategic direction to the Competitive Intelligence (CI) Research role. In collaboration with other CD&M leaders, the Director manages the workload and project pipeline to ensure this central resource is deployed effectively against the firm's highest-value business development priorities.

Education and Experience

The position requires a university degree in marketing, business, communications or English and a minimum of 10 years of BD experience within a professional services firm. An LLB is an asset, and an interest and understanding of capital markets and the financial sector and/or the legal space is mandatory. An equivalent combination of education, training and experience is acceptable.

Knowledge and Skills

• Highly organized, proactive, and confident individual with a strong client service orientation
• Well-developed leadership, collaboration, and management skills with a proven ability to manage shared resources and balance competing stakeholder priorities.
• Ability to provide creative and collaborative solutions to support client and BD initiatives
• Ability to handle a fast-paced environment and rally people effectively
• Proven strategic thinking and analytical skills, with strong interpersonal skills and active listening capabilities
• Experience with project management, prioritizing objectives, managing competing service requests, meeting deadlines and being accountable for exemplary work product
• Knowledge of local market and business community, and ability to keep up to date with market and competitive trends, challenges and goals related to both internal and external client groups
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Knowledge of CRM technologies and integration with marketing communications platforms
• Ability to lead and mentor more junior team members in business-development and marketing activities
• Ability to keep current with relevant technology and marketing media
• General knowledge of how a law firm and individual practices operates
• Proficient in MS Office, including PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and Outlook, and with AI tools and technologies (such as ChatGPT). Proficiency with Power BI is an asset.

We are currently working in a hybrid work arrangement, which includes a requirement to work primarily in the office and flexibility to work remotely up to 2 days per week.

Accessibility and Accommodation

We thank all applicants for their interest in Osler; however, only chosen applicants will be contacted. Osler is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment, and we welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities and people with diverse backgrounds, identities, and cultures. Accommodations are available upon request for candidates in all phases of the selection process.

Background and Reference Checks

Please note that any offer of employment will be conditional upon background and reference checks, including a criminal record check, credit check, and employment and educational verifications.

If you have the required background with the ability to provide exceptional customer service and wish to work in one of Canada's leading law firms, please reply in confidence with a cover letter and résumé by the closing date.

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