Manager, Outside Counsel & Vendor

We are seeking a Manager, Outside Counsel & Vendor Operations to lead a growing team of Program Managers responsible for the end-to-end operations and optimization of our legal vendor ecosystem. This role will oversee the processes, systems, and strategic initiatives that support our law firm and vendor relationships, with a strong focus on billing, compliance, and operational scalability.

You will partner closely with Legal, Finance, Procurement, Accounting, and Supplier Management teams to deliver seamless vendor experiences while ensuring financial and process discipline. You'll also play a critical role in developing your team, driving operational excellence, and scaling our vendor operations function to support the evolving needs of the CLO.

What You'll Do

• Set Strategy and Drive Execution: Define the vision, roadmap, and priorities for vendor operations, aligning with broader legal operations and organizational goals.
• Optimize Vendor Lifecycle Management: Oversee processes across onboarding, contracting, matter management, billing compliance, and payment workflows for outside counsel and legal vendors.
• Own E-Billing Platform Strategy and Performance: Guide the ongoing development, integration, and support model for our e-billing systems (e.g., SimpleLegal, Coupa), ensuring scalability and usability across stakeholders.
• Lead and Manage a global team: Provide day-to-day leadership and professional development for a team of Program Managers focused on legal billing, vendor lifecycle management, and systems administration.
• Ensure Excellence in Billing Operations: Maintain oversight of daily billing operations, including spend request governance, PO and matter creation, invoicing accuracy, and timely payment processing.
• Accruals and Budget Collaboration: Serve as the primary operational liaison with Accounting and Finance teams to support legal accruals, budget planning, forecasting, and reporting efforts.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Act as the primary point of contact for vendor operations initiatives with Legal leadership, Finance, Procurement, and other key internal stakeholders.
• Standardize and Scale Processes: Identify and implement best practices, policies, and KPIs to improve efficiency, compliance, and transparency across vendor operations.
• Drive Change Management and User Adoption: Lead change initiatives by developing training materials, delivering user education, and clearly communicating new processes to support global adoption and alignment across the department.

• 10+ years of experience in legal operations, vendor management, procurement, or finance, including 2+ years of people management experience.
• Experience scaling legal billing operations or vendor management programs.
• Deep understanding of legal billing processes and experience with tools such as SimpleLegal, Coupa, or equivalent platforms.
• Proven experience with Procure-to-Pay (P2P) processes, including PO lifecycle management, invoice flow, and payment operations.
• Experience with Salesforce to manage workflows, reporting, or integrations across operational systems.

• Demonstrated experience for innovation, leading cross-functional initiatives and improving operational workflows.
• Experience reviewing, drafting and coordinating SME feedback for outside counsel engagement letters.
• Superior analytical and legal skills, mature judgment, innovative thinking and a desire to take the initiative and think two steps ahead.
• Strong, team-oriented collaborator, with confidence and flexibility to perform in nimble, rapidly changing and growing environments, as well as build relationships and gain credibility.
• Passionate about your work and a desire to have a big impact.
• Embody the highest standards of integrity, ethics and accountability.
• Enthusiasm about Uber and our mission!