Business Development Specialist

Job Description

Position Overview:

The Business Development Specialist is an integral member of the Client Development (CD) team at L.E.K. Global Education Practice (GEP). The successful candidate will join the Mumbai office of the GEP and will play a key role in providing CD support directly to the GEP senior management team, particularly in the proposal development process. He or she is expected to lead proposal development across the full education spectrum and deliver end-to-end support from designing, writing to submission. This is a mid-management role with direct reporting to the leadership. This role requires an individual who is highly driven, works cohesively with the team, has a strong sense of responsibility and enjoys the fast-paced work environment of a top strategy consulting firm.

Key Relationships:

Reports to: Senior management team (comprising Partners, Principals and Senior Managers)

Major Responsibilities:

• The Business Development (BD) Specialist will be responsible for overseeing and managing the proposal development process at L.E.K. Global Education Practice

This includes, but is not limited to -

• Lead end-to-end proposal development for the senior management team. This includes designing the project scope, writing and compiling all the sections as required by client. Key sections typically include the project scope comprising key questions and research activities, industry perspectives, credentials, pricing, and team resumes

• Be able to manage proposals across all sectors and geographies of the education spectrum (e.g. from early years to higher education).

• Bids may vary in size and intensity depending on project nature and client type; as an example bid requirements can be very specific and detailed in the case of RFPs issued by governments or global agencies

• Manage the pipeline of proposal requests from senior management. Communicate effectively with partners to capture requirements, coordinate requests and resolve scheduling conflicts as they happen, and ensure overall smooth and timely delivery

• Develop highly relevant and customizable credentials for the GEP. This is one of the fundamental responsibilities of the BD specialist and he or she is expected to familiarize himself or herself with the credential history of the practice and be able to respond promptly to requests from the broader team

• Conduct research on the subject of focus in the proposal. This may entail analysis of education assets under diligence, or broad market research to understand industry growth trends and drivers.

• Synthesize existing research (that was conducted by consulting teams) to identify, extract and adapt useful materials to serve as perspectives in proposals

• Engage in client communication (often with senior client members) to ensure timely submission of proposals as well as prompt follow-up on questions arising from the client

• Monitor the progress from leads generation, offer to conversion, likely via a customer relationship management (CRM) system

• Conduct proposal and revenue analytics to analyze conversion rates by sector, geography and present such findings with recommendations to the senior management

• Maintain a complete proposal and credentials repository for knowledge management

• Support overall sales and marketing efforts (if and when required) these may include, presentation and logistics support for events and conferences, email campaigns and thought leadership publications

Candidate Requirements:

• Strong writing skills, with ability to write in a clear and concise and factually-driven manner

• Excellent Microsoft PowerPoint skills, with ability to present information in an accurate, pleasing and client ready format

• Sound research and analytical skills, with ability to conduct secondary research (using web-based techniques and research databases) and primary research and analyse the information using Microsoft Excel

• Ability to rapidly comprehend past case reports to build perspectives and approach for the proposal

• Strong communication skills, both internally with peers and senior management and externally with clients

• Confidence to work directly with senior stakeholders and manage multiple requests concurrently

• Ability to work in a relatively high stress and time sensitive environments; Proposal deadlines are often within 1-2 days

• Detailed oriented and well organized

• Knowledge of the education sector is ideal but not necessary

• This role is Mumbai based

• This role is not expected to have significant travel requirements

Candidate Qualifications:

• Bachelor s degree in a relevant discipline from a reputed tertiary institution

• Minimum of 1-2 years of working experience, preferably with former strategy consulting experience

Keyskills :
salesmarketingbusiness developmentcustomer relationserpstrong communication skillscustomer relationship managementpublic sectorprivate equitywriting skillsmarket researchmicrosoft excelprimary researchsenior managementanalytical skillssecon