Director of Legal Operations

About the team

The Legal department has deep expertise in all core practice areas relevant to a global media and information company, including labor and employment, commercial agreements across all our businesses, privacy, intellectual property, M&A, litigation, corporate governance, compliance, media law and a variety of other specialties. The team is also responsible for the company’s compliance program, including screening for compliance with international sanctions, enforcement of company policies—such as the Dow Jones Code of Conduct—and bolstering internal systems and controls.

Responsibilities

• Build a Legal Operations Function: Serve as the first head of Legal Operations at Dow Jones. Establish the function and develop a clear multi-year strategy. This role, which will have one direct report to start, will report to the General Counsel of Dow Jones, and will join the Legal leadership team.
• Strategic Planning & Execution: Assist in various key projects across the department. Track department goals, manage the legal roadmap, and help ensure milestones are hit.
• Financial Management: Assist with the legal budget, including outside counsel spend management, accruals, and finding "value-based" fee arrangements to replace the billable hour where possible.
• Technology & Data: Serve as the manager and visionary for the tech stack (CLMs, e-Billing, IP Management, AI integration, and agentic tools). Optimize tools to drive global legal team transformation and provide data-driven insights to the executive team. AI integration and AI-powered solutions (evaluating current tools and scoping the need for next-generation agentic solutions) alongside process improvement will be a key focus and strategic priority.
• Global Operational Scaling & Change Management: Partner closely with a globally distributed legal team across multiple international regions to harmonize processes and drive adoption of new technologies.
• Vendor Management: Oversee relationships with law firms and ALSPs (Alternative Legal Service Providers). Run RFPs when needed and hold partners accountable.
• Project Management: Assist with various projects throughout the department — implementing new privacy compliance workflows, streamlining contract workflows, coordinating legal resources on large projects — providing structure that frees up time across the department.
• Knowledge Management: Help the Legal team build and maintain internal core contract templates, playbooks, and training materials that empower the wider company to move faster.
• M&A/Integration: Work closely with the M&A team on possible M&A opportunities and any resulting integration efforts.

Requirements

• Minimum of 12 years of operations experience, with at least 5 years specifically within a Legal Operations function.
• Experience working in operations in a global legal department.
• Experience building a Legal Operations function from inception (strongly preferred).
• The Architect: You see a messy process and instinctively want to build a workflow for it.
• The Translator: You can speak Legal (risk mitigation/precedent) and Business (ROI/efficiency) fluently.
• The Diplomat: You can deftly handle an inflated bill just as effectively as you can pitch a new software spend to the CFO.

Qualifications

• Education: A Law Degree (JD), MBA, or commensurate experience is valuable, but not required. Operational excellence, project management experience, and other experiences that assist in navigating a growing, international business are valued.
• Tech Savvy: Deep experience with Enterprise Legal Management (ELM) software, AI-powered legal solutions, agentic tools, and Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platforms, with a proven track record of leveraging technology for global legal team transformation (a plus).
• Industry Knowledge: Experience in the Media/Entertainment or Tech sectors (a plus).

Desired traits

• Collaborative and innovative.
• Creative self-starter who takes initiative.
• Keen sense of how to make appropriate trade-offs between risk and business needs.
• Big-picture, strategic decision maker with an ability to analyze and explain complex concepts with speed and resolution.
• Superior work ethic and dedication to ethics and professional responsibility.
• High level of initiative and self-motivation, with an ability to work in a collaborative and congenial team environment.

Benefits

• Comprehensive Healthcare Plans
• Paid Time Off
• Retirement Plans
• Comprehensive Insurance Plans
• Lifestyle Programs & Wellness Resources
• Education Benefits
• Family Care Benefits & Caregiving Support
• Commuter Transit Program
• Subscription Discounts
• Employee Referral Program
• Financial Health Programs
• Cybersecurity Protection

Pay

Base Pay