Senior Business Development Manager, Finance & Real Estate

Overview

Department:
Marketing/Communications

About Us:

Ballard Spahr is a renowned national law firm with more than 750 lawyers across 18 offices in the United States. A career at Ballard Spahr offers a diverse group of mentors, colleagues, and friends, and strong leadership that provides support and encouragement for career growth.

Ballard Spahr is seeking a dynamic and strategic Senior Business Development Manager to join our Marketing leadership team. This highly visible role is central to driving business development and marketing strategies across the firm's practices. Working closely with department, practice, and industry leaders—as well as attorneys, BD colleagues, and internal operational teams, you will help advance firmwide growth, client retention, and market expansion goals.

The ideal candidate is collaborative, proactive, resilient, and consultative, with a strong ability to influence and engage stakeholders at all levels. This role also provides leadership within the Business Development team by coaching and supporting BD Managers and modeling cross practice collaboration.

This hybrid position offers a work schedule of 3 days a week in the office if located in a state with a Ballard presence.

• Growth Mindset: Self-motivated with a passion for continuous learning and problem-solving.
• Communication: Strong verbal and written communication abilities.
• Detail-Oriented: Keen attention to detail with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines independently.

As a Senior Business Development Manager within our Marketing/Business Development team you will:

• Partner with senior BD leadership to implement best practices, experience management protocols, and quality standards.
• Model collaborative leadership across practices, markets, and internal teams.
• Demonstrate professionalism, engagement, and strategic thinking in all interactions.
• Share insights, ideas, and best practices to drive alignment across the BD team.
• Promote the firm’s services while aligning with client priorities.
• Develop individual attorney business development plans.
• Coordinate BD efforts across practices and industries, ensuring communication of opportunities and outcomes.
• Assist with developing and managing practice and office marketing budgets, providing ROI insights.
• Partner with Communications and PR teams to identify media opportunities.
• Lead efforts to promote thought leadership and attorney expertise.

Required Experience: The ideal candidate will hold a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field and bring at least seven years of experience in professional services, marketing or business development, with law firm experience strongly preferred. Experience in the finance and real estate sectors is highly desirable. Candidates should demonstrate excellent writing, editing, and communication skills, along with strong project management, analytical, and interpersonal abilities.

High proficiency in MS Office is required, and familiarity with CRM tools such as Interaction is a plus. Success in this role requires strong business acumen, a client-service mindset, and the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines while maintaining a collaborative, team-oriented approach. The position may require occasional travel and the flexibility to work beyond standard hours, and regular, predictable attendance is essential.

Additional Details: The salary range for this position is from $165,000 - $180,000, which reflects the Firm’s good faith and reasonable estimate of possible compensation at the time of posting. Actual pay will depend on several factors such as the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and location.

Ballard Spahr offers an excellent benefits package. A summary of available benefits can be found here in the Careers section of the firm’s website.

If you are ready to play a vital role in the Firm’s success, we encourage you to apply and be a part of our commitment to excellence.

At Ballard Spahr, we believe that our skills, perspectives, and backgrounds drive innovation and excellence, while our unique culture fosters collaboration and success. Our culture of thriving together forms the cornerstone of how we deliver exceptional service and position our firm for a strong future. We welcome and encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply.

Ballard Spahr is an equal opportunity employer. We offer equal consideration to all qualified applicants, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, age, national origin, handicap or disability, citizenship, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical condition, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, transgender status, sex stereotyping, genetic information, ancestry, veteran status or any other category protected by applicable law.

The firm is not accepting resumes from search firms for this position.