Template Specialist

About the role

Our Template Specialist owns the quality and craft behind every document template Smokeball delivers to our clients. At the heart of one of Smokeball’s premium document drafting solutions, TemplateLab, you'll consult directly with firms on their template requests, bring deep expertise to every type of document template, and serve as the final word on quality, signing off on work configured by our freelance team before it reaches a client. You’ll shape how templates are built, delivered, and improved, and work closely with clients to determine whether traditional templates or AI-assisted drafting best serves their use case.

As the technical expert your colleagues rely on, you’ll partner with Legal Engineers, Product, and client-facing teams to surface client needs, shape decisions, and sharpen the tools behind the work. We're hiring two Template Specialists—one junior and one more experienced—so if you're excited about the role but don’t tick every box, we’d still love to hear from you. This is a hybrid role based in our Chicago, IL office; all Chicagoland employees are required to be in the office on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Responsibilities

• Consult with clients who purchase custom template packages, gathering their requirements, translating them into clear build instructions, uploading templates into clients’ accounts and testing them, and owning improvements through the post-completion feedback period.
• Execute template building and template quality assurance based on standards set for all document template solutions (court & authority forms, starter templates, and custom templates).
• Troubleshoot complex technical issues and serve as the final decision-maker on template readiness before release to clients.
• Research, design, build, and maintain court captions across areas of law and jurisdictions using Smokeball’s configuration application, including collaborating with clients to capture caption needs.
• Configure and deliver new-firm letterhead during onboarding, along with paid letterhead customizations, building reusable solutions that control formatting and behavior across templates.
• Work closely with the Legal Product Operations Manager to maintain and evolve Smokeball’s library of 20,000+ court and agency forms, using client usage data and jurisdictional changes to prioritize what to add, update, or retire.
• Liaise with our team of template-building contractors by answering questions, reviewing work, and providing feedback.
• Adopt emerging AI and automation tools to accelerate template development and help decide which documents are best kept as traditional templates versus AI-assisted drafting.
• Partner with Legal Engineers, Product, and Client Success to resolve issues, improve tooling and workflows, and reinforce quality standards.
• Define and evolve template quality standards, surfacing gaps and risks and driving process improvements that reduce rework and scale over time.

Requirements

• 3+ years in a law firm (1–30 employees) in a legal support role (e.g. paralegal or legal assistant), with hands-on experience drafting legal documents and/or court forms.
• Experience with document templates, document automation tools, or form building/configuration—strongly preferred.
• Confident working directly with clients: gathering requirements, managing follow-up, and setting realistic expectations.
• Exceptional attention to detail and a track record of highly accurate work in a detail-oriented environment.
• Strong ownership and judgment—able to work independently, act with urgency, and hold a high bar for quality.
• Curious, adaptable, and excited to use AI tools to work more efficiently.
• Bachelor’s degree, Associate’s degree, or equivalent professional experience.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Smokeball or a similar legal practice management platform.
• Experience working with outsourcing teams or reviewing delegated work.
• Familiarity with multiple areas of law and their document workflows.
• Experience using AI in a work context, both for document drafting and to streamline day-to-day work.

Benefits

• Competitive salary.
• 20 vacation days, 3 reboot days, birthday off, volunteer time, and more for work-life balance.
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• 401(k) match and monthly wellness stipend.
• Parental leave.
• Office lunch and loads of snacks.
• Company-branded swag.