Business Development Specialist

Company Profile:

L.E.K. Consulting is a global management consulting firm that uses deep industry expertise and rigorous analysis to help business leaders achieve practical results with real impact. We are uncompromising in our approach to helping clients consistently make better decisions, deliver improved business performance, and create greater shareholder returns. The firm advises and supports companies from around the globe that are leaders in their industries – including the largest private and public sector organizations, private equity firms, and emerging entrepreneurial businesses. Founded in 1983, L.E.K. employs more than 1,400 professionals across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. For more information, go to www.lek.com.

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 roles 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.

Major Responsibilities:

The Business Development (BD) Specialist will be primarily responsible for the proposal development process at L.E.K. Global Education Practice. Broader responsibilities include supporting overall sales and marketing efforts for the GEP.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Provide end-to-end support on 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

• Develop highly relevant and customizable credentials for the GEP. This is one of the fundamental responsibilities of the CD team and the BD executive is expected to familiarise himself or herself with the credential history of the practice and be able to respond promptly to requests from the broader team.
• Conduct research to support proposal development. 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 analyse 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 – 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
• Strong communication skills, both internally with peers and senior management and externally with clients
• Confidence to work with senior stakeholders
• 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
• Position is available for a 3/4/5 day working week (4-5 days preferred)
• This role is Mumbai based; some degree of remote working may be accommodated
• 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 2-3 years’ of working experience, preferably with former strategy consulting experience