Legal Operations

We are seeking an experienced Legal Operations Manager to lead our outside counsel management, legal e-billing and matter management programmes and to drive efficiency, governance and continuous improvement across our legal function. This is a high-impact role for a professional who combines deep legal operations expertise with a proven track record in Organisational Change Management (OCM). The successful candidate will design governance and policy first, then layer in technology, so the department absorbs one round of change rather than two, leading the delivery of process, technology and people-change initiatives that transform how our legal team works.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the outside counsel management program, including outside counsel guidelines, panel governance, rate controls and spend reduction.
• Own the legal e-billing program end to end, including billing guidelines and invoice standards (UTBMS task coding, LEDES 1998(B/BI)), guideline compliance controls and invoice-to-payment integration with accounts payable and treasury.
• Manage matter management and practice group taxonomy, data governance and matter/document migration across practice areas and jurisdictions.
• Design, plan and deliver Organizational Change Management (OCM) initiatives, including stakeholder engagement, communications, training and adoption planning, sequencing policy and process ahead of technology to maximise adoption.
• Manage the implementation and optimization of legal technology solutions, ensuring successful user adoption through structured change management.
• Develop and track key performance indicators, dashboards and reporting to measure legal spend and the effectiveness of legal operations.
• Oversee vendor and rate negotiation, SLA management, legal spend analysis and budgeting.
• Partner with senior legal, finance, procurement and technology stakeholders to align operational initiatives with organizational goals.
• Establish and maintain knowledge management, playbooks and standard operating procedures.
• Lead continuous improvement programs, embedding a culture of change readiness and adoption.

Essential Requirements

• Demonstrable experience in Organisational Change Management (OCM) is mandatory. Candidates without OCM experience will not be considered.
• Proven experience in a legal operations role, ideally within a law firm, in-house legal department or professional services environment.
• Hands-on experience of outside counsel management, including authoring and enforcing outside counsel guidelines, billing guidelines and invoice standards.
• Experience implementing and running legal e-billing, including UTBMS task coding and LEDES 1998(B/BI), with e-billing platforms such as Onit BillingPoint.
• Experience with matter management systems (for example, iManage, Mitratech TeamConnect), practice group taxonomy and data governance.
• Strong track record of leading change initiatives, including stakeholder management, communications and training, and driving user adoption.
• Experience of legal spend analysis, vendor and rate negotiation, and SLA management.
• Excellent analytical skills, with experience in data reporting, metrics and process mapping.
• Strong project management capabilities, with the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to partner effectively with senior stakeholders.

Desirable Requirements

• Recognized change management certification (for example, Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP), Prosci, APMG or equivalent).
• Project management certification (for example, PRINCE2, PMP or Agile).
• Experience of invoice-to-AP and treasury payment integration and workflow automation.
• Experience with legal operations platforms, contract lifecycle management (CLM) or AI and automation for legal operations.
• A degree in law, business, operations or a related discipline; an MBA is an advantage.