Client Relationship Manager

The Client Relationship Manager (CRM) is responsible for driving the client experience and day-to-day delivery of account management functions in collaboration with broader firm-wide resources. A CRM may support a single client or portfolio of clients in which they need to fully understand their client's business objectives, values, culture, performance metrics, competitive landscape, financial considerations, organizational structure and key contacts. A successful candidate will demonstrate a strong aptitude for developing and fostering relationships, while ensuring an exceptional experience, overall satisfaction and client retention.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Client Experience (CX): Always thinking about how to elevate client experiences within respective accounts while leveraging firm wide best practices and strategies. Drives continuous improvement in how we serve our clients and their employees. Responsible for administering and maintaining client specific workshops, playbooks, culture decks, etc.
• Program Delivery: Day to day oversight and pro-active management of client deliverables to ensure on-time delivery while mitigating potential issues. Ensure client needs are addressed through reporting. Coordinate and collaborate cross-functionally as needed. Ensure alignment on client-specific program processes, goals and objectives.
• Issue Resolution: Responsible for working cross functionally to manage escalation resolution, including Root Cause analysis and messaging to client stakeholders.
• Staffing & Resources: Regular review and monitoring of CR resourcing needs in support of accounts. Establish regular 1-on-1 meetings with direct reports. Responsible for performance management and feedback of direct reports and provide mentorship, professional growth and development opportunities. May assist in potential candidate interviews and new employee onboarding activities.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Develops and fosters relationships with client stakeholders. Establish and drive client-centric service reviews to address areas such as forecasting, policy development, protocols, program and process improvements, customized communications, management reporting, transition project management, client satisfaction, and outsourced support. Prepare and participate in delivering annual and quarterly business reviews, as well as other presentations in alignment with client culture. Responsible for meeting agendas, recaps, action items, status calls, program forecasts, etc.
• Status, SLA and Reporting: Monitor client satisfaction, SLAs and KPIs through dashboards and reporting. Liaise with Partners and Practice Support to ensure the legal team's performance metrics align to contractual obligations, SLAs, KPIs, and NPS goals, and deliver client presentations, specific dashboard read-outs and weekly status updates to Partners and client stakeholders.
• Financials and Account Health: Responsible for out-of-scope pricing and project billing, and be a steward of margin optimization across accounts. Coordinate with cross-functional departments and Relationship Partners to monitor overall account health.
• Project Management: Understand the project management lifecycle, identify new projects, and own overall delivery of projects, including creating project plans and driving timelines, updates to stakeholders, change management planning and risk management.
• Knowledge/Training: Ensure client-specific needs and expectations are clear and communicated with account teams to enable training across departments.
• Insights: Work with the legal team to identify information/insights on upcoming legislative and policy/process changes and flag these to the Client Relationship Director to determine plan to communicate to client stakeholders. Develop insights based on program model, service delivery, client culture, values, goals, objectives and priorities, and make strategic recommendations to drive programmatic improvements.
• Technology: Identify improvement opportunities as it relates to the firm's technology used to enhance the client user experience and/or internal processing efficiencies. Oversee and coordinate technology enhancements on behalf of the client.
• Growth: Ability to recognize growth opportunities, billable and non-billable, and present them to account leadership.
• May include other job duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Ensure team is meeting deadlines
• Identify team and individual objectives
• Identify areas for creating efficiency and accuracy
• Responsible for creating a positive work environment, executing performance management, conducting feedback sessions, and establishing goals for continuous improvement
• Support an environment that fosters passion and teamwork
• Provide training to new and existing client relationship staff, as needed

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree required
• 3-5 years' relevant and/or industry experience
• 2+ years' indirect or direct supervisory experience
• Must be proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment
• Values collaboration and teamwork
• Accountable and proactive attitude
• Ability to work independently
• Strong project management skills and ability to handle multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Acute attention to detail
• Exceptional organizational skills
• Excellent communication skills; both written and verbal
• Excellent relationship skills

Working Conditions:

• Able to sit and work at a computer keyboard for extended periods of time.
• Able to stoop, kneel, bend at the waist and reach on a daily basis.
• Able to perform general office administrative activities: copying, filing, delivering and using the telephone.
• Able to lift and move up to 25 pounds occasionally.
• Regular and on-time attendance.
• Must be able to prioritized, schedule and complete testing required for multiple applications with overlapping schedules.
• A certain degree of creativity and flexibility is required.
• Hours may exceed 40 hours per week.
• Occasional travel by conventional means including aircraft, motor vehicle and the like within the region and to other locations as required.

Note: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required and are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities or qualifications associated with this job.

Berry Appleman & Leiden is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of BAL to ensure an equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, alienage or citizenship status, marital status, creed, genetic predisposition or carrier status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by law. BAL prohibits and will not tolerate any such discrimination or harassment.