Senior Manager
Introduction
We are seeking aleader to join IBM Legal & Regulatory Affairs and support the scale and efficiency of a fast-paced, global technology company. Reporting directly to the VP of Legal Operations, the Director will drive strategic transformation initiatives across legal, compliance, and regulatory functions. This role will strengthen our operational excellence, enhance our vendor management capabilities, lead key initiatives to streamline legal service delivery, and mature IBM legal operations capabilities.
This individual will collaborate cross-functionally with legal, compliance, policy, HR, finance, procurement, IT, and business teams to implement best practices, optimize workflows, and lead a team dedicated to legal operational performance.
Your role and responsibilities
Key Responsibilities:
• Operational Leadership: Lead the planning and execution of legal operations initiatives including process improvement, matter management, spend management, and internal workflow optimization.
• Strategic Planning: Partner with the VP of Legal Operations to develop the department's strategic roadmap, align operational goals, and track performance through KPIs and metrics.
• Vendor Management: Provide strategic oversight of third-party vendor management, driving vendor selection, contract negotiations, performance optimization, and long-term relationship management to ensure alignment with business objectives and cost-efficiency goals.
• Financial Oversight: Manage legal department budget, forecast legal spend, and leverage financial reporting to facilitate management decisions.
• People Management & Development: Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of legal operations professionals. Foster a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, and inclusion across legal functions.
• Compliance & Risk Operations: Support operational components of compliance and risk management, including policy implementation, audits, and regulatory support.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Serve as a key liaison between Legal, other support functions, and IBM business functions to support company-wide initiatives and ensure legal operational alignment.
• Legal Transformation: Led the Legal Transformation Office, driving cross-functional change management initiatives and designing a strategic roadmap to enhance operational efficiency, legal technology integration, and service delivery across the global legal function.
Leaders are expected to spend time with their teams and clients and therefore are generally expected to be in the workplace a minimum of three days a week, subject to business needs.
Required education
Bachelor's Degree
Required technical and professional expertise
Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA, JD, or relevant advanced degree is a plus
• 8-10+ years of experience in Legal Operations or related fields (e.g., consulting, project management, legal technology)
• Proven experience managing legal technology, vendors, and budgets
• Strong leadership and team-building skills with prior experience managing teams
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and analytical skills
• Experience working in or with technology-driven companies strongly preferred
• Familiarity with legal management technology capabilities, such as matter and spend management, contract lifecycle management, law firm procurement, and document management capabilities.
ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT
IBM Corporate Headquarters (CHQ) team represents a variety of functions such as marketing, finance, legal, operations, HR, and more, all working together to solve some of the world's most complex problems, help our clients achieve success and build collaborative work environments for IBMers.
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YOUR LIFE @ IBM
In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.
Being an IBMer means you'll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you'll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.
Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on-going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can-do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do.
Are you ready to be an IBMer?
ABOUT IBM
IBM's greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world.
Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, we're also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business.
At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now it's time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.
IBM is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.
OTHER RELEVANT JOB DETAILS
IBM offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits program. Eligible employees may have access to:
- Healthcare benefits including medical & prescription drug coverage, dental, vision, and mental health & well being
- Financial programs such as 401(k), cash balance pension plan, the IBM Employee Stock Purchase Plan, financial counseling, life insurance, short & long- term disability coverage, and opportunities for performance based salary incentive programs
- Generous paid time off including 12 holidays, minimum 56 hours sick time, 120 hours vacation, 12 weeks parental bonding leave in accordance with IBM Policy, and other Paid Care Leave programs. IBM also offers paid family leave benefits to eligible employees where required by applicable law
- Training and educational resources on our personalized, AI-driven learning platform where IBMers can grow skills and obtain industry-recognized certifications to achieve their career goals
- Diverse and inclusive employee resource groups, giving & volunteer opportunities, and discounts on retail products, services & experiences
We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.
This position was posted on the date cited in the key job details section and is anticipated to remain posted for 21 days from this date or less if not needed to fill the role.
IBM will not be providing visa sponsorship for this position now or in the future. Therefore, in order to be considered for this position, you must have the ability to work without a need for current or future visa sponsorship.
The compensation range and benefits for this position are based on a full-time schedule for a full calendar year. The salary will vary depending on your job-related skills, experience and location. Pay increment and frequency of pay will be in accordance with employment classification and applicable laws. For part time roles, your compensation and benefits will be adjusted to reflect your hours. Benefits may be pro-rated for those who start working during the calendar year.
Perks and Benefits
Health and Wellness
Parental Benefits
Work Flexibility
Office Life and Perks
Vacation and Time Off
Financial and Retirement
Professional Development
Diversity and Inclusion
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