Senior Manager - Legal Operations

Job Description Summary

We are seeking a highly analytical and collaborative Legal Operations Manager to lead and optimize the operations of our Legal Department. This role is ideal for a professional with strong expertise in budgeting and financial management, Lean or process improvement methodologies, and evaluation and implementation of legal technology, including emerging AI-enabled tools, with a focus on scalability, cost predictability, and operational effectiveness.
The Legal Operations Manager will partner closely with legal, finance, procurement, IT, and compliance teams to drive efficiency, cost transparency, and scalable legal service delivery. This role plays a critical part in enabling the Legal Department to scale efficiently, manage risk responsibly, and deliver measurable value to the business.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities

Financial & Budget Management

• Own, develop, manage, and monitor the Legal Department's annual operating budget and forecasts.
• Track and analyze legal spend across internal resources, outside counsel, and vendors; identify drivers of variance, trends, and opportunities for improved cost predictability.
• Own and continuously improve outside counsel management, including rate negotiations, alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), and invoice review.
• Design, maintain, and continuously improve dashboards and reports that communicate financial performance, forecasts, and key metrics to legal leadership.

• Apply Lean or continuous improvement principles to assess and redesign legal workflows to improve cycle time, quality, and scalability.
• Identify inefficiencies and implement standardized, scalable processes across legal functions (e.g., contracts, litigation), with clearly defined outcomes and success metrics.
• Manage and maintain a standard work repository applicable across teams (e.g., presentation templates, NDAs, and other shared materials).
• Define, implement, and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure operational effectiveness, service delivery, and value to the business.
• Lead or support change management initiatives within the Legal Department, including stakeholder engagement, communication planning, and adoption measurement.

• Evaluate, select, and implement legal technology solutions, including ownership of prioritization and implementation planning.
• Assess and pilot AI-driven legal tools, including contract review, legal research, document automation, and analytics platforms, with defined success metrics and business cases.
• Partner with IT, security, and compliance teams to ensure tools meet data privacy, cybersecurity, regulatory, and responsible AI governance requirements.
• Train legal team members on new systems and drive adoption through training, documentation, and ongoing performance measurement.

• Serve as a primary point of contact for legal vendors and service providers.
• Develop and manage robust and efficient processes for raising purchase orders, opening new matters, and ensuring legal vendors are paid in a timely way.
• Coordinate with Finance, Procurement, and IT to align legal operations with enterprise policies and systems.
• Lead change management efforts, including stakeholder engagement, communication planning, and adoption measurement.
• Support strategic planning initiatives and special projects as assigned by legal leadership.

• Partner with Communications to share team updates and key messages.
• Own and coordinate agendas for department-wide team meetings.
• Manage the GL&P website and distribution list, including maintaining an up-to-date directory and relevant materials or links to other sites.

• Bachelor's degree required, degree in business, finance, operations, or a related field preferred.
• 8 to 10+ years of experience in legal operations, finance, consulting, or operations within a legal or professional services environment, with demonstrated ownership of budgets, vendors, or operational programs. Experience in a large company is a plus
• Demonstrated experience with budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis.
• Working knowledge of Lean, process improvement, or operational excellence methodologies.
• Strong organizational, analytical, problem-solving, and project management skills.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to work across technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Experience implementing or administering legal technology platforms (e.g., CLM, eBilling, matter management).
• Familiarity with ACC Legal Operations frameworks or maturity models.
• Lean, Six Sigma, or similar process improvement certification.
• Experience supporting a regulated, technology-driven, or scaling/growth organization.