Pricing Manager, Asia

Linklaters · Hong Kong

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Purpose

Expand the firm’s pricing capability for complex legal matters, including those with tech and AI-assisted delivery components. Act as a recognized expert in complex matter pricing, providing insightful, expert guidance to partners and senior stakeholders.

Contribute as a key member of the global pricing team, taking ownership of the development, analysis, and review of commercial proposals for high-value, multi-jurisdictional, or technologically advanced matters. Support fee proposal submissions through relevant governance committees and proactively disseminate pricing intelligence across the firm.

Lead the development and embedding of advanced matter pricing capabilities across the firm, including those related to GenAI-assisted delivery and AFAs/value-pricing, by continuously developing tools, best-practice guidance, governance, training and hands-on support.

Develop and maintain an in-depth understanding of the firm's full range of legal products and services - including how they are currently delivered and how delivery models are expected to evolve through technology and GenAI - to inform and shape appropriate, innovative pricing strategies for each product type.

Support the firm’s participation in strategic client panel processes, including advising on commercial positioning, shaping pricing strategies, and coordinating input into global and regional opportunities to maximise the firm’s success in panel appointments.

Key Dimensions

• Contribute as a senior member of the global pricing team, demonstrating accountability and a commitment to continuous innovation. Uphold high standards of output and support team colleagues in delivering excellence.
• Work with Senior Pricing Managers and senior stakeholders to continuously evolve the firm’s commercial strategy, taking into consideration technological changes and competitive developments in the market.
• Provide global support for the development of complex matter proposals, including those involving tech and GenAI-assisted delivery.
• Advise matter partners, managers, and teams on pricing strategies for complex matters, including financial modelling, scenario and fee structure analysis, and negotiation planning. Act as a point of escalation and an expert to advise team members on how to approach novel or complex pricing challenges.
• Identify opportunities for standardisation, developing best-practice approaches, commercial models, or playbooks and empower the team to work together to produce quality resources in a timely way to improve efficiency.
• Develop and use standard tools or bespoke modelling as appropriate to provide tailored guidance to matter teams on anticipated margins under a range of fee structures. Make recommendations on the best available options from AFAs (including value/outcome-based arrangements) to hourly rates, or hybrid arrangements. Ensure proposed fee arrangements balance the objectives of providing certainty & transparency, aligning incentives, maximising profitability, and managing risk.
• Lead and support local and global client panel processes as required, including shaping commercial strategy, coordinating pricing inputs across jurisdictions, and advising on competitive positioning to support successful panel outcomes
• Collaborate closely with the wider pricing team, LPMs, billers and lawyers on the administration and management of alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) within the firm’s financial systems and processes. Identify and advocate for changes to process and systems to support a best-in-class approach to administering AFAs.
• Identify training and development needs for all relevant stakeholders and put in place appropriate training frameworks to enhance their competency in pricing matters, including those with innovative delivery models.
• Develop a deep understanding of the firm's full range of legal products and services, their current and planned delivery models, and the appropriate pricing approaches for each product type, including how GenAI and technology may change both delivery and commercial structures.

Key responsibilities and challenges

• Manage personal workload effectively by working with colleagues to maintain a prioritised schedule of requirements. Contribute to the continuous development of the team through knowledge sharing, peer support, and providing feedback where appropriate.
• Work collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary team of lawyers and legal tech, finance, matter optimisation, legal project management and other business management professionals to triage and respond to GenAI-related matter pricing opportunities, creating commercial proposals that are compelling for both the firm and its clients.
• Produce bespoke financial modelling for complex matter pricing, maintaining accuracy under pressure. Provide financial modelling support and plans for subsequent negotiations or any competitive bidding processes (e.g. e-auctions) to protect the interests of the firm.
• Identify, develop and maintain a range of off-the-shelf pricing models tailored to the common requirements of categories of complex matters to improve response times and standardisation.
• Project manage the delivery of the financial aspects of complex matter proposals, ensuring timely stakeholder engagement and adherence with the RFP/proposal timetable and of the overall negotiation requirements.  Manage personal deadlines with precision and communicate proactively to ensure overall requirements are met.
• Oversee and facilitate the smooth passage of fee proposals through internal approval processes via relevant governance committees. Make suggestions and recommendations to continuously improve the efficiency and effectiveness of matter pricing governance processes.
• Input into the drafting of matter terms to ensure commercial aspects of the agreement are comprehensively and appropriately captured. Develop and review standard wording for common aspects of terms and maintain a library of precedents. Track changing commercial aspects of the proposal from initial quote, through subsequent negotiation to final agreement, to ensure all changes are reflected in the final terms. Ensure matter proposals comply with wider client terms and any divergences are appropriately approved and recorded.
• Maintain effective processes and controls to ensure quality and accuracy of the team's outputs. Ensure appropriate quality control of the team’s routine and bespoke financial modelling. Maintain high levels of accuracy under pressurised situations whilst retaining a high-level oversight of the requirements.
• Provide commercial insights and challenge in an advisory capacity leveraging experience of complex pricing scenarios with appropriate gravitas to influence Partners. Negotiate directly with clients when required including travelling to their offices both in local jurisdiction and / or overseas.
• Ensure agreed fee arrangements are appropriately captured and implemented in the firm’s systems or, if required, collaborate with lawyers, project managers, and billers to ensure bespoke processes are set up to facilitate effective implementation.
• Develop best practice reports (including visualisations in Tableau as appropriate) to highlight insights into, and trends in, matter pricing and share with the global pricing network and throughout the firm. Be acknowledged as a global expert in this field and drive forward improvements.
• Conduct continuous horizon scanning to monitor, identify, and analyse emerging trends in the legal market, particularly focusing on pricing structures, integration of new technologies, competitive pricing strategies, and market shifts.
• Promotes the team’s regular knowledge sharing in all areas, both sharing best practice within the team and providing recommendations and insights to internal stakeholders including pricing committees, practices, the wider finance function and other business teams, utilising appropriate channels. Contribute to thought leadership in areas of expertise.
• Identify training needs and ensure the delivery of training around the firm to help lawyers and business teams colleagues approach pricing decisions in a professional and confident manner.
• Be flexible, open and available to support a ‘one-team’ approach. Identify and lead, or support on, projects or initiatives of the pricing team (or the wider finance function or firm). Assist on client-level pricing activities in times of peak-demand or reduced capacity.
• Develop and maintain an in-depth understanding of the firm's wide range of legal products and services, including how they are currently delivered and how delivery models are expected to evolve (including through GenAI and other technologies). Apply this knowledge to design, recommend, and continuously refine pricing strategies tailored to each product type, considering both current and future delivery economics.

Characteristics, Skills & Experience required:

Character

• Gravitas to influence partners
• Ability to build empathy and trust
• Highly proactive/self-motivated by nature
• Strong client service mentality
• Team player
• Highly flexible
• Takes ownership and responsibility for areas within role
• Accuracy under pressure

Education / Qualification

• Exceptionally strong financial numeracy
• Qualified Accountant (desirable)
• Exposure to pricing in either a client, legal or consultancy capacity (desirable)

Languages

• Confident verbal and written communication skills in a style appropriate for partner consumption

Practical experience

• Excellent modelling and data manipulation skills
• Management experience
• Negotiation skills
• Strong financial reporting capability
• Ability to network
• Experience of SAP/Tableau (desirable)

Office skills

• Excellent IT skills including Excel and other finance-based systems
• Excellent project time management

Commercial Skills

• A high degree of commercial acumen
• An understanding of how businesses operate and make decisions
• Understanding of a wide range of available B2B fee structures
• In-depth understanding of the firm's legal products and services — how they are currently delivered and how delivery is planned to evolve — in order to recommend appropriate pricing strategies for each product type.
• Experience working directly in legal operations, legal project management, or a client-side legal function. (desirable)

Technical Skills:

This list of duties and responsibilities above is not exhaustive.  It is intended to describe the general content of, and requirements for, the performance of this job. As such, the role may also include the undertaking of additional tasks as required.

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