Recognition, Awards & Rankings Manager /Senior Manager

Reed Smith LLP; Harrow; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A global law firm is looking for a Recognition, Awards & Rankings Manager/Senior Manager to lead their Rankings & Recognition team. This role involves strategic planning, execution, and oversight of award submissions to enhance the firm's market position. The ideal candidate will possess strong persuasive writing skills and the ability to work independently while mentoring a team. Full-time position based in Harrow, England.

Qualifications

• Experience in leading and managing a team.
• Proficient in creating high-quality submission content.
• Ability to deliver training and workshops.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the global Rankings & Recognition team.
• Guide business development teams in preparing submissions.
• Evaluate which rankings and awards to pursue.

Skills

Strong persuasive writing skills

Ability to work independently and in a team

MS Word proficiency

MS Excel proficiency

Understanding of SharePoint

Understanding of Zoom

Ability to adapt to changing work situations

Ability to communicate with various personalities

Job description

Recognition, Awards & Rankings Manager /Senior Manager

Join to apply for the Recognition, Awards & Rankings Manager /Senior Manager role at Reed Smith LLP.

Description

The Senior Manager, Recognition leads the global Rankings & Recognition team responsible for all legal directory and award submissions across the firm. This role oversees the strategic evaluation, planning, and execution of submissions to elevate the firm’s market position and promote its leading industry and practice areas, as well as its most outstanding lawyers. The Senior Manager determines which opportunities to pursue based on alignment with firm business development goals, strategic growth priorities, and brand impact. They manage all follow‑on actions related to tracking, analyzing, synthesizing, and disseminating information on rankings and awards performance.

The Firm

Reed Smith is a global law firm with more than 1,700 lawyers in 30 offices throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States. Operating as one global partnership, we represent leading international businesses from FTSE 100 corporations to mid‑market and emerging enterprises; advising clients on cross‑border transactions, international commercial disputes and regulation. We specialise in industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, energy and natural resources, entertainment and media, shipping and real estate. We all share a common culture, with core values supporting the firm’s commitment to add value, achieve excellence, and promote professional development. London is our largest office with approximately 700 people, including over 350 fee earners across the full range of commercial practice areas.
Key to this growth has been our ability to successfully integrate new hires into our business and give them a platform to flourish. We place a huge significance on listening to our people and incorporating their ideas wherever possible.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and manage the global Rankings & Recognition team, fostering collaboration, accountability and high performance.
• Guide and support the firm’s business development/regional marketing teams and lawyers in preparing, submitting and following up on global directory submissions, offering strategic insights to improve rankings and recognition.
• Evaluate and determine which rankings, awards and recognitions to pursue in alignment with firm priorities and BD strategy.
• Oversee annual budget process for directory submissions, including negotiation of contracts with external consultants and maximizing ROI from firm spend.
• Direct and manage external directory submission consultants, enforcing firm standards and ensuring performance against KPIs.
• Serve as primary liaison with directory editors, researchers and award organisers, building strong relationships and staying updated on methodological changes.
• Maintain and oversee the global recognition calendar, ensuring timely, high‑quality submissions from all practice groups and regions.
• Establish, enforce and refine critical path timelines, go/no‑go processes and best practices for submissions.
• Review, edit and approve submission content to ensure brand consistency, accuracy and alignment with firm messaging.
• Deliver training, workshops and one‑on‑one coaching for lawyers and marketing staff on submissions strategy, content quality and process efficiency.
• Coordinate with PR and marketing teams to evaluate and vet additional award opportunities outside of priority rankings, maintaining a central database of non‑priority opportunities.
• Ensure all recognition‑related content is integrated into firm systems, including document management, CRM and pitch/proposal databases.
• Track, analyse and synthesize rankings and submissions data for firmwide reporting, including dashboards and strategic insights for senior leadership.
• Oversee the internal and external promotion of awards and rankings through the firm’s website, social media, newsletters and internal channels.
• Collaborate with BD, Communications and Marketing teams to integrate rankings and awards into broader business development initiatives.
• Continuously innovate and improve global submissions processes, integrating best practices across regions while accommodating local market differences.
• Maintain strong relationships with key editors, researchers and reporters to enhance firm visibility and influence.
• Provide tailored information on awards and rankings for pitches, proposals, recruiting materials and marketing collateral.
• Deliver actionable insights back to the business to support both business development and reputation enhancement.
• All other duties as assigned.

Key Skills, Attributes and Experience

• Strong persuasive writing skills with the judgment, integrity and confidence to make decisions based on merit rather than politics or precedent.
• Ability to work independently and in a team on deadline.
• MS Word and Excel proficiency.
• Understanding of SharePoint, SmartSurvey, Zoom and Microsoft Teams desired.
• Able to work effectively in a fast paced environment.
• Able to make judgment decisions and adapt to changing work situations.
• Able to grasp and apply new ideas.
• Able to communicate with various personalities at all levels.
• Supervises internal business development/regional management team in capacity of directory submissions. Other supervisory duties as required.

At Reed Smith, we welcome direct applications either in response to one of our advertised vacancies or on a speculative basis. Please click on the “Apply Now” button to submit your details and we will be in touch.

No search firms or agencies please.

Reed Smith’s success depends heavily on the effective utilization of qualified people, regardless of race, ancestry, religion, colour, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, disability, veteran’s status or any characteristic protected by law. As a firm, we adhere to and promote equal employment opportunity for all.

We are committed to making all stages of our recruitment process accessible to candidates with disabilities or long‑term health conditions. If you have a disability or a long‑term health condition and require adjustments to be made for you within the recruitment process, please contact a member of the Recruitment team. For more information on our approach to diversity and inclusion please visit our website.

Seniority level

Director

Employment type

Full‑time

Job function

Other

Industries

Law Practice