Senior Business Development Manager (Platform Growth Initiatives)

Job Description Summary:

Fenwick is seeking a strategic and collaborative Senior BD Manager to support the firm’s startup and platform growth initiatives. This role is designed to help identify and scale market-facing opportunities that drive early-stage client engagement, strengthen investor relationships, and support key verticals and geographies.
The Senior Manager will use data, ecosystem insights, and a collaborative mindset to shape programs and strategies that elevate the firm’s visibility and position in the startup and venture capital ecosystem. The role is externally oriented, with a focus on uncovering market opportunities and creating repeatable approaches to relationship-building across regions. This position will work closely with the startup business development team to ensure alignment and help identify the right opportunities for deeper engagement and targeted follow-up.
This position can be based in our San Francisco (CA), Santa Monica (CA), or New York (NY) office locations and offers a hybrid work arrangement, allowing you to work both from home and at your designated Fenwick office. The frequency of in-office work will be determined by business needs and guided by your department's directives.

Job Description:

Opportunity Identification & Market Strategy

• Analyze early-stage company trends, investor activity, and emerging industry signals to surface firmwide engagement opportunities.
• Use data and ecosystem knowledge to identify underdeveloped geographies, sectors, and referral networks.
• Develop and maintain a startup-focused opportunity pipeline in coordination with the broader BD team.

Scalable Engagement & Program Support

• Support the development of cross-market programming that fosters founder and investor relationships.
• Create templates, frameworks, and scalable approaches for regional activations, founder touchpoints, and ecosystem engagement.
• Ensure initiatives are structured to be proactive, repeatable, and complementary to ongoing partner and team efforts.

External Relationship Building

• Serve as a thoughtful and informed representative of the firm in early-stage and investor-facing settings.
• Cultivate relationships with ecosystem stakeholders including VCs, accelerators, operators, and founders.
• Identify and recommend market “on-ramps” that enable partner and BD team participation in key communities.

Internal Collaboration & BD Alignment

• Work in close coordination with the startup business development team to identify priority opportunities and ensure strategic alignment.
• Share insights, targets, and activation strategies that help accelerate client and referral relationships.
• Act as a resource to partners and BD managers for market awareness and program execution.

Desired Skills & Qualifications:

• Familiarity with early-stage company formation, venture capital, and startup growth dynamics.
• Proven ability to connect the dots across ecosystems, design programs, and collaborate across teams.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; confident operating in both internal and external stakeholder conversations.
• Self-starter with an eye for opportunity and a practical approach to execution.

Success in This Role Means:

• Uncovering new firmwide opportunities and connections in the startup and investor ecosystem.
• Building scalable, cross-market engagement approaches that support vertical and geographic growth.
• Strengthening coordination between firm-level programming and the startup BD team’s partner-facing efforts.
• Earning trust as a collaborative, strategic, and externally aware contributor to the firm’s growth.

Reporting to the Director of Business Development, the qualified candidate will have 10+ years of experience in business development, venture/startup ecosystems, or program strategy at a law firm, VC fund, startup, or similar organization. Bachelor's degree required; M.B.A or J.D. preferred.

Benefits and Compensation Details:

At Fenwick, we believe that our partners and employees are our most important asset. Helping you and your families achieve and maintain good health - physical, emotional, and financial - is the reason we offer a comprehensive benefit program. We provide benefits to eligible employees under plans such as Healthcare, Life Insurance, Health Savings Accounts, Flexible Spending Accounts, and Wellbeing.

The anticipated range for this position is:

$153,000 - $228,750

Depending on the role, the actual base salary offered may depend upon a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job.

A discretionary bonus for eligible employees may also be available based on performance.  Additional information about employee eligibility for benefits and discretionary bonus will be made available upon request.