Sr Manager, Legal Operations

Responsibilities

• Drive the legal department's annual budget, monthly/quarterly forecasting, and variance analysis, partnering closely with Finance.
• Track and analyze outside counsel spend against budgets and rate agreements; produce vendor and firm performance scorecards.
• Build and maintain recurring reporting packages covering legal spend, outside counsel costs, matter volumes, accruals, and department KPIs.
• Develop dashboards and management reporting that translate operational and legal data into clear insights for leadership and the board.
• Reporting Automation
• Design and build automated, repeatable reporting workflows that reduce manual effort and improve the timeliness and accuracy of recurring reports.
• Automate the collection and consolidation of data from e-billing and matter management systems into standardized, reusable report templates.
• Maintain data quality and reporting controls to ensure a single, reliable source of truth for the department's financials.
• Legal Operations & Vendor Management
• Administer the e-billing and spend management program, including billing-guideline compliance, invoice review workflows, and accrual tracking.
• Administer and optimize legal technology systems (matter management, spend management, contract lifecycle tools) as reliable sources of reporting data.
• Lead the creation and ongoing management of the law firm panel, and support outside counsel management, including rate negotiations and alternative fee arrangement analysis.
• Analyze outside counsel cost trends and value delivery, and identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Drive process improvements that increase data quality, cost transparency, and operational efficiency across the legal team.
• Analysis & Business Partnership
• Serve as the finance partner to the Legal Department, providing analysis and reporting that informs department decisions.
• Partner with Finance, Accounting, and Procurement on budgeting, accruals, and vendor matters.
• Provide ad hoc financial analysis and modeling to support strategic decisions (in-sourcing vs. outsourcing, headcount planning, technology investments).
• Identify trends and cost drivers, and recommend actions to improve efficiency and predictability of legal spend.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in finance, FP&A, or accounting, including budgeting, forecasting, and management reporting.
• Experience supporting a legal department or Legal Operations function.
• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, or a related field; MBA, CPA, or CMA a plus.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, with a proven ability to build clear, accurate reporting from complex data sets.
• Proficiency with reporting and BI tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) and a track record of automating recurring reports and dashboards.
• Expertise with Legal e-billing and matter management platforms required; experience with Legal Tracker preferred.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate financial data into clear insights for non-finance stakeholders.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage recurring deadlines and work with autonomy.