Senior Manager of Career Counseling

About the role

The Senior Manager of Career Counseling will build and lead the Cooley Career Counseling Office, a resource hub that supports attorneys exploring or preparing for career paths beyond Cooley. This role serves as a trusted advisor, offering personalized job search support, connecting to external opportunities, and facilitating career-focused programs.

Responsibilities

• One-on-One Career Counseling: Provide confidential advising to attorneys exploring roles outside of the firm, including in-house, public sector, nonprofit, and alternative legal or business paths.
• Guide attorneys through career exploration, decision-making, and transition planning.
• Offer tailored feedback on resumes, LinkedIn profiles, personal narratives, and job-search strategy.
• Mock interview practice, preparing attorneys for each stage of the hiring process, from screening interviews to senior-level negotiations.
• Job Board Management: Manage and expand a curated job board featuring in-house roles, government positions, secondments, and alumni-submitted opportunities.
• Develop relationships with legal recruiters, in-house counsel, and alumni to source new postings.
• Facilitate introductions and connections when appropriate.
• Panels, Programs & Workshops: Create career-focused programs such as: panels featuring alumni and clients in various industries, webinars on transition strategy, and secondment program support.
• Maintain a secondment interest list.
• Work with the Associate Director of Legal Talent to facilitate the identification, deployment, and reintegration of secondees.
• Partner with the Marketing team to connect departing attorneys to the firm’s alumni support team.
• Collaborate with the Business Development team to enhance client engagement.
• Market Intelligence & Reporting: Track evolving hiring trends in in-house departments and legal markets, share insights with Legal Talent and firm leadership to shape strategic planning.
• Manage staffing coverage, review and process time logs/time off requests.
• Support business professional development and continued educational opportunities.
• In collaboration with Director of Associate Development and HR, participate in hiring, performance appraisals, counseling, termination and other employee lifecycle events for those reporting to this role.
• Other duties as assigned or required.

Requirements

Required:

• After orientation at Cooley LLP, exhibit proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, iManage and other firm applications.
• Ability to work extended and/or weekend hours, as required.
• Ability to travel, as required.
• 7+ years of experience in one or more of the following with 2+ years exempt/management experience in applicable field: Attorney professional development, career counseling/coaching, attorney recruiting, in-house or law firm practice, alumni relations or legal career services.
• Demonstrated experience advising lawyers on career transitions, ideally including in-house moves.
• Familiarity with legal markets, legal operations, and corporate hiring needs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s and/or JD Degree.
• Supervisory experience preferred.

Skills

• Professional demeanor and the ability to use initiative, diplomacy, and tact.
• Ability to make independent judgments/decisions based upon a set of principles rather than rules.
• Strategic thinking around attorney development, transitions, and long-term talent strategy.
• Deep knowledge of legal career paths—both within and outside of law firms.
• Experience coaching or advising lawyers, ideally including those transitioning to in-house roles.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to provide direct yet supportive feedback.
• Skilled in resume editing, interview coaching, and narrative development.
• Comfort interacting with alumni, clients, and external partners.
• Strong aptitude for developing educational programs, workshops, and resources.
• Organizational skills to manage multiple counseling relationships and track data.
• Demonstrated ability to handle highly sensitive information discreetly.

Benefits

Cooley offers a competitive compensation and excellent benefits package, including:

• A full range of elective benefits including medical, health savings account (with applicable medical plan), dental, vision, health and/or dependent care flexible spending accounts, pre-tax commuter benefits, life insurance, AD&D, long-term care coverage, backup care for children and/or adults and other parental support benefits.
• 21 days of Paid Time Off (“PTO”) and 10 paid holidays each year.
• Generous parental leave and fertility benefits.

Pay

The expected annual pay range for this position with a full-time schedule is $155,000 - $225,000. Final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience and skillset of the candidate.