About us:

Linklaters is a global law firm, providing legal services in 20 countries and through 30 offices.

Linklaters is a people business. Being best in class in the eyes of our clients means that our people must be exceptional.

We look not only for brilliant minds, but for people who will thrive in our environment: people who love working collaboratively and demonstrate the innovative, efficient, agile, entrepreneurial, and responsible mind-set we aim to bring to every interaction.

Ours is an environment of outperformance. We achieve this not with targets and incentives, but by fostering a positive, supportive, fair, and open atmosphere.

We respect and value difference but insist on inclusivity. We celebrate all aspects of diversity and challenge any form of bias. This is vital to our ability to work as one team, with a common goal.

About the role:

• The Global Business Manager (GBM) is responsible for driving business performance to optimal levels of profitability through optimization of client and matter delivery in alignment with firm strategy.
• Focusing on the London MSC (Mainstream Corporate) practice, works alongside the London MSC Group Leaders and the Global Practice Head (GPH) to ensure the business has the right partners and teams, in the right place, working together (with each other and other practices) to win and retain strategic, profitable business from existing and new clients.
• Acts as a trusted business partner to the London MSC Group Leaders, providing key decision support and guidance in their leadership roles to ensure success of the practice, in alignment with the firm's global strategic objectives.
• Works closely with wider partner group, practice and office partnership leadership, challenging and influencing decision making; co-ordinating implementation of actions; tracking performance and tackling areas of improvement.
• Provide leadership and co-ordinate with functional practice leads to ensure the business is managed as effectively and efficiently as possible in its day-to-day operations.
• Overall, frees up Partner time for client activity through taking responsibility for running the business at a strategic and operational level, coordinating efforts across the matrix (practice, sector, function, geography).

Key responsibilities and challenges:

Business performance

• Ensures alignment of practice objectives to divisional and firm strategy
• Challenges thinking about markets, products/specialisms, people, business model.
• Develops and regularly refreshes action-oriented business plans.

• Ensures group partners collaborate across the firm to target opportunities to win work across clients, sectors, practices and geographies.
• Ensures revenue opportunities are exploited, joining up functional resources to maximise support to partners (across clients, sectors, practices, geographies).
• Prioritises areas of focus/improvement to enhance client service and matter delivery optimization. Particular focus on AI and implications for client and matter delivery.
• Drives innovation and efficiency, ensuring the combined expertise of lawyers and members of Business Teams is applied to the continuous improvement of the practice day-to-day client delivery.

• Determines appropriate size and shape of in division practices and proactively manages to maintain this.
• Supports partner and counsel election business cases (internal and lateral), including candidate preparation and integration.
• Works with functions to ensure correct resourcing for practice aligned Business Teams.

• Takes ownership for driving business performance to optimal levels of profitability.
• Ensures appropriate budget put in place for the practice, aligned to practice strategy and business plan, challenging assumptions where appropriate.
• Supports/challenges partners decision making around key commercial drivers of the business.
• Tracks performance against agreed targets with timely updates and taking corrective action where required.
• Promotes expenditure control, working with functions where necessary
• Commissions bespoke analysis to highlight opportunities/issues and drive decision making.

Leadership

• Guides and assists Group Leaders in leadership roles - ensuring all partners benefit from their direction, support and guidance, whilst maximising their time for clients/external focus.
• Develops leadership skills of partners within the practice by working alongside them on leadership priorities, and (with HR) identifying talent and development opportunities.
• Provides leadership to Business Teams within the practice.

• Actively helps progress priorities of Business Teams within the practice.
• Directs, coaches and develops members of Business Teams within practice.
• Inputs to recruitment, appraisal, career development and succession planning for in practice Business Teams.

• Sponsors or project manages global or practice change projects.
• Actively helps to progress change projects run by Business Teams.
• Promotes sharing of best practice across Business Management function.
• Maintains an outward focus through networking and business research, representing the firm externally.
• Keeps up to date with market developments and competitor dynamics.

We are ideally looking for:

• Performance/operational management: numerate and analytical with a commercial outlook, evaluating performance and setting goals based on data-driven decisions and actionable metrics.
• Strategy implementation: able to help shape or challenge ideas, break them down into actionable steps, and ensure they are actioned efficiently. Change or project leadership experience desirable.
• Problem solving and continuous improvement: a creative and proactive self-starter with constant drive for improvement. Strong consulting, negotiating and influencing skills.
• Leadership: a proven people leader and collaborator, with strong inter-personal skills, able to direct and empower multi-disciplinary teams. Excellent communication skills.
• Own work management: highly organised, able to juggle priorities and run many projects simultaneously.
• Industry experience: professional services sector experience desirable.

Our benefits:

Joining Team Linklaters will see you qualify for a range of benefits designed to reward the vital contribution you'll be making to our success. These include:

Health & Wellbeing

• Private Medical Insurance
• Free in-house fitness centre and subsidised health club memberships
• Free onsite GP service and periodic health assessments

Finance

• Pension and flexible savings options
• Income protection and life assurance
• Mortgage advice and will-writing services

Family & Lifestyle

• Electric car and cycle to work schemes
• Emergency family care
• Additional holiday/birthday leave
• Maternity/paternity/shared parental leave
• Travel insurance and season ticket loan
• Option to join sports and social clubs, as well as our employee networks groups (such as our Gender Equality Network, With Pride, or Social Mobility Networks)

Application deadline date: 17th April 2026

If you think this role would suit you, please click apply below. We look forward to hearing from you!