Europe Head of Opportunity Management
Skills
About the Role
You will lead a high-impact Proposals and Credentials team across the region, based in Poland, shaping it into a center of excellence that is client-focused, efficient and effective. Managing a team of four, you will bring both technical expertise and people development skills to this senior, highly visible and strategic role, reporting to the Europe Clients & Markets Director. You will set the vision and strategy for opportunity and proposals management, design robust processes and tools, and personally lead major pitches, panel reviews and RFPs. You will work closely with the Head of Pricing, Head of Client Development and Head of Practices and Sectors to ensure a consistent go-to-market approach, and you will build a collaborative, inclusive and high-trust team culture.
Requirements
- Significant experience (10+ years) in proposal/bid/opportunity management within professional services
- Experience in a large law firm or comparable partnership environment strongly preferred
- Proven track record leading major, complex and multi-jurisdictional bids and RFPs
- Strong understanding of proposal management technologies such as proposal automation tools, content libraries, experience databases, CRM and collaboration platforms
- Experience designing and implementing go/no-go frameworks, bid qualification criteria and opportunity governance
- Excellent stakeholder management skills
- Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
- Strong project management skills
- Commercial mindset with understanding of pricing and profitability
- Strategic thinking ability to translate vision into practical, scalable processes
Responsibilities
- Set the vision, strategy and standards for opportunity and proposals management across Dentons Europe
- Design and embed robust processes, tools and policies that improve win rates, profitability and client experience
- Lead and develop a high-performing team of opportunity/proposal professionals
- Personally lead and oversee major, high-value pitches, panel reviews and RFPs
- Collaborate with the Head of Pricing, Head of Client Development and Head of Practices and Sectors to ensure a consistent go-to-market strategy
- Build a collaborative, inclusive and high-trust team culture
- Develop and own the regional Opportunity Management strategy aligned with firmwide and client strategies
- Define best-in-class opportunity management and create a roadmap to achieve it
- Serve as a trusted advisor to senior partners and leadership on major opportunities and panel reviews
- Coach and inspire a hybrid team of proposal/opportunity professionals
- Set clear objectives, KPIs and development plans for team members
- Build and manage capacity and resourcing for the team
- Direct and personally lead end-to-end management of strategic proposals for the firm's largest and most complex opportunities
- Shape win-strategies and value propositions in collaboration with partners, sector leaders and BD colleagues
- Ensure all proposal documents are client-centric, compelling, commercially sound and aligned with brand positioning
- Design and implement a consistent proposals methodology including standardised stages, roles and timelines
- Develop and roll out go/no-go and bid qualification policies
- Introduce governance around opportunity pursuit including escalation paths, approvals and risk checks
- Oversee development and maintenance of a centralised proposals knowledge base
- Evaluate, select and optimise technology platforms supporting opportunity and proposal management
- Drive continuous improvement and adoption of tools and data
- Build strong relationships with partners, Business Development, Risk and other key stakeholders
- Work closely with Key Client Development team and Practice teams to align opportunity management with client plans
- Share best practice, training and guidance to enhance opportunity management capability
- Analyse win/loss data, pricing outcomes and client feedback to drive improvements
- Track market trends in legal procurement, panel management and client buying behavior
- Champion innovation in proposals including design, storytelling and technology-enabled solutions