Job description

We have an exciting opportunity for a Market Lead - Japan & Korea to join our Marketing team, based in A&O Shearman’s Tokyo Office.

Marketing team – Tokyo

Our Marketing team helps the firm win and grow the right clients and work. We drive client development across the firm—deepening priority relationships, increasing share of wallet and converting strategic opportunities into profitable revenue. We equip partners with effective go-to-market strategies, tactics and processes, differentiated insights and disciplined execution. Alongside this, we strengthen the firm’s market profile and reputation to support client acquisition, retention, and growth. We work as one integrated global team, aligning central support and expertise with local knowledge and execution to maximize impact across offices, practice groups, sectors and client programs.

What you will do

This role is about working alongside partners to identify and drive growth opportunities, strengthen the firm’s market profile, and lead our marketing team for Japan and Korea. As a trusted advisor to the partnership, you will define a go‑to‑market approach and translate it into sector, practice and geographic plans based on client needs, market opportunity and financial targets. You will ensure that local go-to-market activity is aligned with global and regional priorities, and that opportunities for profitable growth across the firm’s global footprint are integrated into the local plans and execution. You will ensure that our global, regional and local marketing strategies are informed by priorities in the region and implemented in culturally fluent and regionally coherent ways.

A critical priority for the region, and therefore this role, is to increase connectivity with the U.S. and capture the in-bound and outbound opportunities generated by growing trade, investment, financing and strategic partnerships across the Japan-Korea-U.S. corridor.

You will allocate people and budgets to strategic priorities and rebalance investment as markets evolve, helping the partnership make choices about resource allocation. You will ensure an integrated approach to our marketing efforts, connecting client, BD, communications, brand and content for maximum impact. You will raise the quality of client development, using data, client insight and technology to focus effort where it matters most. You will play a senior role in a high‑performing, inclusive team with a consistent operating model, clear role definitions, and measurable results.

Strategic planning and execution

Set multiyear growth plans for assigned practices/sectors/clients with clear revenue, margin and share-of-wallet targets; translate into annual KPIs with owners.
Identify market issues and growth opportunities; develop business and investment cases linked to measurable outcomes.
Manage and reallocate BD budgets within remit; track ROI and adjust programs to maximize impact.
Use market, client and profitability data to refine positioning and targeting; advise on new client and market facing propositions.

Client development

Own growth plans for priority clients; drive client retention and cross-selling through structured contact strategies and partner sponsorship.
Align local client development efforts with firmwide sector strategies and initiatives.
Proactively and continuously identify client listening opportunities with partners and independently conduct client feedback interviews. Translate the client insights into actions that strengthen client relationships, improve service delivery, and enable business growth.
Act as a champion of the firm’s client feedback program and help to embed the ‘voice of the client’ to demonstrate the business benefits and help maintain partner engagement.
Shape integrated client initiatives across practices and regions; resolve conflicts, align stakeholders and ensure disciplined, targeted follow-through.
Coach partners on client development plans and tactics; model evidence-based, client centric decision-making.
Track and promote appropriate team coverage for material client accounts; address any gaps in client needs promptly.

AI and technology

Use approved marketing function AI tools, including the function’s agents for designated tasks, in line with the firm’s AI usage policy.
Complete the marketing function’s mandatory AI capability program and develop applied AI skills relevant to the role, including the function’s agents for designated tasks (in line with the firm’s AI usage policy).
Encourage AI adoption and applied capability across any teams you work closely with, maintaining focus on efficiency and quality and new ways of working.
Demonstrate progression in applied AI skills through tangible contribution to personal and team output over the performance period.

Pursuit excellence

Set a clear plan to win strategically important mandates; drive excellence in how we approach pursuits and align partners and BD on proposition and tactics. Partner with pricing and lawyers to ensure that we put together compelling commercial propositions. Develop client-centric pursuit strategies for priority mandates to demonstrate our understanding of their requirements and differentiate us from our peers.
Target win rates to 30%+ for strategic bids. Set and enforce simple criteria for which opportunities to pursue. Establish go/no-go process for strategic bids and escalation paths for exceptions. Working with the head of pitching, oversee and provide strategic direction to the most important opportunities.
Identify opportunities to seek client feedback both during and after the pitch process, including leading formal independent pitch debrief interviews where appropriate, and using those insights to inform pitching and client strategies.
Champion and drive adoption of the pitch operating model (and the core pitch team) and strive to continually develop and enhance standard pitch content for your practice to improve quality and efficiency.
Implement consistent pipeline governance, including transparent dashboards for leadership and improved pipeline hygiene across the partnership.

Market profile, content and campaigns

Stay close to and leverage market insights, alongside an understanding of our capabilities, to generate content and campaign ideas.
Engage with other advisors and influencers in the market to inform the content and delivery of campaigns.
Shape the market narrative around client issues; develop thought leadership that supports pursuits and client development.
Direct multichannel campaigns with defined audiences, objectives and measures; rebalance activity to what demonstrably works.
Work with external communications experts to leverage content on relevant channels with target audiences.
Elevate visibility through targeted conferences, media and directories/awards; ensure consistent, evidence-based messaging.
Agree simple campaign success indicators (engagement quality, meeting creation, lead generation) and regular reporting.

Collaboration, integration and change

Orchestrate cross-region, cross-practice teams around client priorities; remove bottlenecks and drive consistency in working practices.
Involve team members in change initiatives to support strategic growth priorities, fostering collective ownership of new processes, technologies and ways of working
Coordinate with central teams to deliver high-quality outputs on time and on budget.
Model and promote a growth mindset culture, encouraging controlled experimentation and treating setbacks as development opportunities.

Team leadership and development

Provide direction, coaching and stretch opportunities to managers and executives; set high standards for planning, execution and client focus.
Support and communicate leadership decisions consistently in line with strategic priorities and alongside embedding a growth mindset and solutions-oriented culture.
Act as performance manager for direct reports with clear objectives tied to business objectives.
Create meaningful opportunities for team members to participate in client listening exercises. Provide opportunities for appropriate coaching and supervision, and progressively build their confidence and capability to lead exercises independently.

Return on investment

Ensure all BD and Marketing activity has a clear commercial rationale, with investment aligned to revenue, margin and strategic priorities.
Establish simple, consistent mechanisms to assess ROI and use insight to redirect people and budget toward the highest value opportunities.

What you will have

Ideally, knowledge of the Japan, Korea and U.S. markets.
Significant BD experience in an international law firm or professional services environment, operating within a complex matrix.
Proven success leading complex pitches and pursuits and growing key client relationships, with clear revenue and pipeline impact.
Strong commercial skills across pricing, alternative fees, scoping, profitability and pipeline; confident using data to drive decisions.
Excellent stakeholder leadership and communication; credible with senior partners and comfortable with clients.
Proficient with client data management systems (e.g., Dynamics), marketing automation, experience/credential systems and analytics; familiarity with AI-enabled tools is a plus.
People leadership experience, including coaching and leading cross-functional teams; strong writing and storytelling.
Resilient, proactive and outcomes-focused, with strong project management and prioritization; able to navigate a partnership and lead change.
Intellectual curiosity about market trends and client needs with a proactive instinct to leverage insights to inform strategy and create solutions.
Experience managing teams (direct and virtual), planning workload and setting expectations; willingness to travel.

What we can offer you

To learn more about the culture and benefits available at A&O Shearman, please visit: Culture and benefits | A&O Shearman careers

Should you require additional support at any stage of the recruitment process due to a disability or a health condition, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our recruitment team who will work with you to provide any adjustments as required.

We are an equal opportunities recruiter and do not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or any other protected characteristic.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE - A&O Shearman does not accept unsolicited CVs. For further information, please see our UK Recruitment Agency Policy and our commitment to direct sourcing here.

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