Business Development Manager - Private Equity

Consulting brings together multiple teams across Transactions, Risk & Consulting, ABA, and Outsourcing to provide client-centric solutions for RSM's current and future clients within the middle market. Our Consulting team has a major role to play in driving forward the growth of the firm with over 1,700 people delivering almost £200m revenue.

At the heart of Consulting are the six solutions we offer our clients: business transformation, deal services, finance function support, risk and governance, forensic and investigation services, and restructuring. Our solutions create an enhanced tailored approach to support our clients in achieving their strategic goals and empower our people to make an impact and develop their own unique career path.

About us

RSM is a leading mid-tier audit, tax, and consultancy firm. RSM has over 4,700 partners and staff spread across 35 offices in the UK and 64,000 staff operating in 120 countries.

The team

The Private Equity (PE) Coverage team is a specialist business development function that supports the identification and generation of new business opportunities for the firm, across Funds, Transactions and Portfolio Companies, in Audit, Tax and Consulting.

The purpose of the team is to support RSMs, cross disciplinary, PE team to become the go-to advisor for PE houses.

The core responsibility of the team is to build and manage the firm's relationships with the PE market. The team has relationships with over 300 PE firms that are investing in the UK and meets with them regularly to provide insights and deal flow, to identify fee-earning opportunities for RSM and to build a detailed knowledge of each fund's strategy and operation. The PE Coverage team utilises these relationships to assist colleagues from various service lines in winning work from private equity investors and the companies that they have invested in.

The role

RSM's PE Business Leaders Programme (PE Business Leaders Programme | RSM UK) (BLP) is a network of 600+ CEOs, CFOs, Chairs and Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) who have strong experience of leading and driving value within PE-backed businesses.

You will play a valuable role in helping business leaders find their next leadership position, generating fees through that transaction and/or audit, tax, consulting, and other post-transaction work.

You will be working closely with the BLP lead and other members of the PE Coverage team to assist in the further development of RSM's private equity strategy. We are a small, relationship-driven team and you will be required to build relationships with senior board members and executives of private equity-backed businesses, partners and investment team members at private equity houses, senior colleagues from across RSM, and the wider PE Coverage team. There is a varied workload and a high level of responsibility.

This is a business development role, and the candidate will be expected to identify and assist in the winning of a significant level of new work. We envisage the candidate being an experienced and commercial individual with the gravitas to network and influence at board-level and be a strong ambassador for the firm.

Key responsibilities

• Take ownership of the BLP and play a valuable role in helping business leaders find their next leadership position, generating opportunities across Audit, Tax and Consulting from PE Funds, Transactions and Portfolio companies, and assist the solution and service line teams in winning these opportunities.
• Build relationships with the 'serial Chair' community that lead PE-backed businesses, generating sell-side M&A work from PE funds.
• Grow the BLP by mapping out the PE CEO, CFO, Chair and NED market to understand who the key individuals we should be speaking to are.
• Help shape a process of what qualifies an individual to join the BLP and which BLP members to focus on.
• Become adept at assessing an executive's skills and experience and understanding and discussing their career aspirations. Develop a good knowledge of the options open to them, be it in a private equity-backed business, a listed business or a family-owned business and understand the implications of securing a role in each.
• Make relevant and informed introductions to our sector and service teams, thereby developing a considerable pipeline of opportunities for a wide range of RSM teams on a national basis.
• Build relationships with Private Equity firms to raise the profile of the BLP.
• Manage and input data into the CRM system, using it to drive opportunities.
• Manage the existing yearly programme of events, which includes the CFO Forum, the Chair & CEO Dinner, podcasts, and webinars.

About you

• The role provides a high amount of autonomy, and the candidate will need to be a motivated self-starter.
• You will need to understand when to drive on, when to bring in experience from the rest of the team and not be afraid to ask questions or for help.
• As RSM and our PE team grows, you will need to be able to adapt to change, identify what is working and where to focus your time most effectively to help drive the growth of RSM's PE Team and your own career.
• Always look to consider how things can be done better to fit in with RSM's long-term PE strategy.
• You will need to work as a team, within the PE Coverage team, but also with wider team members across RSM.
• Excellent organisational capabilities, articulate, and able to build relationships.
• An inquisitive mind and commercial outlook, with a strong interest in private equity and professional services.
• Computer literate with a good knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Confidence and motivation to build strong presentational, communication, and written skills.
• Good organisational and time management.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.

Diversity and Inclusion at RSM
At RSM, we want to create a strong sense of belonging so that people of all identities, backgrounds, and cultures feel they can bring their true self to work. Our clients come from all walks of life. We aim to achieve that same diversity of background, experience and perspective in our own teams, so that we can genuinely understand our client's needs. Diverse teams bring a broader range of ideas and insights to work. That's why we're working together to ensure our firm's principles and processes support a firm culture that embraces difference and strengthens inclusion.
At RSM we work hard to create an environment where our people can make a difference - to themselves, their career, their teams, and to the success of our firm and clients. We support all our people to work flexibly, to manage their family and other responsibilities alongside their work commitments; we believe this is key to achieving an inspiring and fulfilling working environment.]]>