Senior Marketing and Business Development Manager (Memphis)

Do you want to help people who are going through some of the most difficult chapters of their lives by making sure they can find experienced, compassionate lawyers to guide them? Do you want to help an entrepreneurial family, probate, and estate planning law firm expand its reach throughout the greater Memphis community? Do you want a role where strong performance can grow into true executive-level responsibility? If so, keep reading…

THE OPPORTUNITY

Douglass & Runger is looking for a high-energy, commercially minded marketing leader who can own the Firm's marketing function, strengthen our business-development efforts, and help build the next stage of our growth. This is not a position for someone who wants to stay behind a computer. You will be visible in the office, in the Memphis business community, at Firm events, and with referral partners.

You will lead campaigns, projects, agencies, vendors, contractors, and cross-functional marketing initiatives from strategy through execution. As the Firm grows, you will have the opportunity to build and lead a larger marketing and business-development team and expand your leadership responsibility based on results, judgment, and demonstrated growth.

You will work directly with an entrepreneurial CEO and COO who are deeply engaged in marketing strategy and growth. That should excite you, not threaten you. We want someone who brings ideas, supports recommendations with data and sound judgment, pushes back intelligently when appropriate, receives pushback without becoming defensive, and then executes decisively once a direction is set.

WHAT YOU WILL OWN

• The Firm's marketing plan, calendar, priorities, deadlines, and follow-through across digital and traditional channels.
• Marketing KPIs and reporting, including qualified leads, campaign performance, conversion trends, cost effectiveness, channel ROI, referral-source activity, and other measures that matter to growth. You should know the numbers, understand what they mean, and proactively recommend next steps.
• Business-development activity throughout the greater Memphis community, including relationships with referral sources, professional organizations, community partners, and prospective strategic partners.
• Proactive outreach that creates opportunities for the Firm and its attorneys, including lunches, calls, meetings, speaking engagements, webinars, community events, and other relationship-building activities.
• Live events from planning through execution, with personal ownership of preparation, logistics, timing, vendors, materials, and the attendee experience.
• Public relations and earned-media opportunities, including press releases, local media outreach, awards, announcements, community visibility, and thought-leadership opportunities.
• Website, brand, content, email, social media, paid advertising, review-generation, webinar, and nurture initiatives, either directly or through vendors and contractors.
• Vendor and agency relationships, budgets, timelines, deliverables, and accountability.
• Coordination with Intake, Sales, Operations, attorneys, and the Metrics Coordinator so that marketing does not operate in a silo.
• You embrace A.I. and modern marketing tools such as ChatGPT and Claude while bringing original thinking, sound judgment, curiosity, and a commitment to continuous learning.
• Protecting and strengthening the Firm's Brand Promise: listening to clients, understanding the story behind every matter, telling clients the truth, moving matters with velocity toward a better future, and emphasizing intentionality and what clients can control.

WHO WILL THRIVE HERE

• You own outcomes by anticipating deadlines, spotting stalled projects and underperforming campaigns, preparing proactively for events, and driving work to completion.
• You are proactive, energetic, and comfortable initiating conversations with people you do not already know.
• You enjoy networking and business development and are willing to call on referral sources, attend community and professional events, and build relationships over time.
• You embrace ownership of KPIs, use data to improve performance, and proactively communicate what is working, what is not, and what should happen next.
• You are organized and detail-oriented while still able to prioritize, move quickly, and keep the larger commercial objective in view.
• You have strong marketing fundamentals and enough tactical fluency to work intelligently with Canva, PowerPoint, email-marketing systems, social-media tools, advertising platforms, analytics, and website vendors.
• You welcome candid feedback, can advocate for your recommendations without taking disagreement personally, and adjust when better evidence or direction emerges.
• You are committed to personal and professional development by seeking feedback, learning continuously, reflecting on mistakes, and expecting to keep getting better.
• You can build and lead people by setting expectations, coaching, developing talent, and holding others accountable.
• You build strong relationships and align with our core values of Accountability, Adaptability, Synergy, Proactivity, and Integrity.

THIS ROLE PROBABLY IS NOT FOR YOU IF

• You want a remote-first position or prefer to avoid being visible in the office and the Memphis business community.
• You struggle with constructive criticism, questions, or professional disagreement.
• You become overly attached to your ideas or frustrated when leadership challenges, modifies, or rejects them.
• You prefer to be given a list of tasks rather than being accountable for outcomes.
• You do not enjoy networking, outreach, relationship-building, or the commercial side of marketing.
• You prefer a role with little feedback, ongoing learning, or professional development.
• You want leadership responsibility without the hands-on work, preparation, urgency, and accountability that come with it.

GROWTH AND EXECUTIVE UPSIDE

This role has meaningful upward mobility. As the Firm grows, a successful leader can progress into Director-level and potentially executive-level responsibility. We are looking for someone who wants to grow with the organization, build systems and people, drive profitable growth, and earn broader influence over time.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

• Base compensation of $100,000-$110,000, depending on experience and capability, plus performance-based incentive compensation. Strong performers can earn total cash compensation in the $120,000-$130,000 range.
• Generous PTO package
• Excellent group health insurance, with the Firm paying 90% of the employee medical premium
• 401(k) plan with employer match on the first 4% of compensation, with immediate vesting of the employer match.
• Dental, vision, long-term disability, life/AD&D, and additional voluntary benefit options.
• Strong investment in personal and professional development.

TO APPLY

Prepare a cover letter with no more than TWO paragraphs and one closing sentence.

In the first paragraph, draft an elevator pitch related to family law, probate, or estate planning for a law firm that conveys clear value to a potential new client. In the second paragraph, explain why you applied to this particular role and briefly address both of the following: (1) a time you received candid feedback or meaningful pushback that improved your work, and (2) a professional relationship you built from scratch and how you developed it. As the closing sentence, write exactly: I have read the instructions contained in the job posting and have followed the instructions.

We look forward to reviewing your application.