Manager, Awards, Rankings & Recognition Hybrid

Overview

Reed Smith is a dynamic international law firm dedicated to helping clients move their businesses forward. With an inclusive culture and innovative mindset, we deliver smarter, more creative legal services that drive better outcomes for our clients. Our deep industry knowledge, long-standing relationships and collaborative structure make us the go-to partner for complex disputes, transactions and regulatory matters.

Manager, Awards, Rankings & Recognition — The global Awards, Rankings & Recognition team is responsible for all legal directory and award submissions across the firm. This role oversees the strategic evaluation, planning, and execution of submissions to elevate the firm’s market position and promote its leading industry and practice areas, as well as its most outstanding lawyers. The Manager determines which opportunities to pursue based on alignment with firm business development goals, strategic growth priorities, and brand impact.

They manage all follow-on actions related to tracking, analyzing, synthesizing, and disseminating information on rankings and awards performance.

• Lead, mentor, and manage the global Award, Rankings & Recognition team, fostering collaboration, accountability, and high performance.
• Guide and support the firm’s business development/regional marketing teams and lawyers in preparing, submitting, and following up on global directory submissions, offering strategic insights to improve rankings and recognition.
• Evaluate and determine which rankings, awards, and recognitions to pursue in alignment with firm priorities and BD strategy.
• Oversee annual budget process for directory submissions, including negotiation of contracts with external consultants and maximizing ROI from firm spend.
• Direct and manage external directory submission consultants, enforcing firm standards and ensuring performance against KPIs.
• Serve as primary liaison with directory editors, researchers, and award organizers, building strong relationships and staying updated on methodological changes.
• Maintain and oversee the global recognition calendar, ensuring timely, high-quality submissions from all practice groups and regions.
• Establish, enforce, and refine critical path timelines, go/no-go processes, and best practices for submissions.
• Review, edit, and approve submission content to ensure brand consistency, accuracy, and alignment with firm messaging.
• Deliver training, workshops, and one-on-one coaching for lawyers and marketing staff on submissions strategy, content quality, and process efficiency.
• Coordinate with PR and marketing teams to evaluate and vet additional award opportunities outside of priority rankings, maintaining a central database of non-priority opportunities.
• Ensure all recognition-related content is integrated into firm systems, including document management, CRM, and pitch/proposal databases.
• Track, analyze, and synthesize rankings and submissions data for firmwide reporting, including dashboards and strategic insights for senior leadership.
• Oversee the internal and external promotion of awards and rankings through the firm’s website, social media, newsletters, and internal channels.
• Collaborate with BD, Communications, and Marketing teams to integrate rankings and awards into broader business development initiatives.
• Continuously innovate and improve global submissions processes, integrating best practices across regions while accommodating local market differences.
• Maintain strong relationships with key editors, researchers, and reporters to enhance firm visibility and influence.
• Provide tailored information on awards and rankings for pitches, proposals, recruiting materials, and marketing collateral.
• Deliver actionable insights back to the business to support both business development and reputation enhancement.
• All other duties as assigned.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Journalism or English.

Experience: 5–7 years’ experience in law firm marketing, with experience in a management capacity; experience with directory submissions preferred, with specific experience in ranking or rewards.

Skills

• Superior project management and…