Director, Legal Innovation & Operations (Legal Spend & Firm Management)

Reporting to the SVP, Legal, AI Innovation & Legal Operations, the Director owns the operating strategy, roadmap and execution for the Legal Department's financial management, outside counsel and external-provider management, e-billing and related governance.

Responsibilities

• Advise and partner closely with attorneys, Finance, HR, Procurement, law firms and other external providers to improve cost predictability, deliver measurable financial savings, strengthen provider performance, and support informed decision-making.
• Establish matter-level financial management standards, including matter budgets, accruals, reporting, forecast updates, variance thresholds and escalation requirements.
• Own the Outside Counsel Guidelines and related governance, and drive firm compliance with billing, staffing, and other applicable terms.
• Manage the full external provider lifecycle, including firm selection, competitive RFPs, onboarding and offboarding, engagement terms, panel and preferred-firm strategy, scorecards, business reviews, and performance intervention.
• Lead annual and off-cycle rate negotiations, rate benchmarking, alternative fee arrangements, and other value-based pricing models.
• Own the e-billing platform and invoice review workflow, and lead implementation/optimization of legal e-billing and spend-management platforms.
• Report quarterly on spend, forecast accuracy, savings and cost avoidance, billing compliance, firm performance, and vendor performance.
• Lead, coach and develop direct report(s).

Basic Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.
• 8+ years of experience in Legal Operations, Legal Finance, Outside Counsel Management, Strategic Sourcing, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex budgets, forecasts, accruals and financial reporting within a large organization.
• Experience managing outside counsel guidelines, panel programs, firm selection, evaluations, scorecards, and business reviews.
• Experience serving as a business owner, senior administrator, or functional lead for an e-billing, matter-management, or legal spend-management platform.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and experience analyzing and presenting complex financial and operational data.