Legal Operations Manager

City, Birmingham
Gleeson Recruitment Group

Legal Operations Business Manager Hybrid – Birmingham, Manchester, London or Northampton Up to 95,000

We are working with a leading law firm to recruit a Senior Business Manager to act as the operational and strategic lead for busiest group. This is a newly developed role, created to provide dedicated, high-level business partnering support to the leadership team. The successful individual will work closely with senior divisional leadership, taking ownership of the commercial, financial and operational agenda and ensuring that strategic priorities are translated into effective action. This is not a traditional administrative Business Manager position, instead we are looking for an experienced professional who can operate confidently at senior stakeholder level, challenge decisions, influence partners and leadership teams, and bring strong commercial and financial insight to the role. The role will suit someone who has worked within a law firm environment and who understands the complexities of professional services, client relationships, utilisation, leverage, billing and profitability.

What You’ll Be Doing

Strategic & Operational Business Partnering

• Act as a trusted business partner to the Real Estate Leadership Team and Divisional Head.
• Provide strategic, commercial and operational insight to support decision-making.
• Translate divisional strategy into clear plans, actions and measurable outcomes.
• Challenge and influence senior stakeholders where appropriate.
• Act as the operational hub across partners, leadership and business services teams.
• Ensure divisional priorities are communicated effectively and delivered.

Performance & Commercial Management

• Monitor and analyse key performance indicators including revenue, utilisation, leverage, billing discipline, recovery and profitability.
• Provide insightful analysis and recommendations to support improved divisional performance.
• Identify trends, risks and opportunities and proactively recommend corrective action.
• Support budgeting, forecasting, financial planning and resource management.
• Work closely with Finance to ensure strong commercial and financial discipline.

Strategic Plan Delivery

• Coordinate delivery of the divisional strategic plan.
• Maintain action plans, milestones and performance reporting.
• Hold stakeholders accountable for agreed actions and deadlines.
• Identify and escalate risks, dependencies and delivery challenges.
• Support structured performance and strategy reviews with divisional leadership.

Resource Planning, Recruitment & Promotions

• Support the leadership team with workforce planning and capacity management.
• Coordinate lateral hiring and promotion plans.
• Develop and support business cases for strategic hires.
• Ensure recruitment decisions are commercially and operationally justified.
• Introduce and embed robust processes around requisitions, approvals and budget responsibility.
• Work with Business Managers, HR and senior leadership to ensure hiring decisions reflect team capacity, client requirements and workflow.

Leadership Support

• Prepare high-quality briefing packs, performance reports and meeting materials.
• Develop agendas, recommendations and action plans for leadership meetings.
• Coordinate divisional leadership meetings and ensure actions are followed through.
• Anticipate issues and proactively manage priorities on behalf of the Divisional Head.

Business Services & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Coordinate activity across HR, Finance, Risk, Technology, Marketing, Talent and other business services.
• Ensure business services activity is aligned with divisional priorities.
• Challenge and escalate where delivery does not meet expectations.
• Represent the division on relevant firmwide committees, boards and working groups.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve processes, efficiency and operational effectiveness.
• Support the implementation of AI, technology and new ways of working.
• Coordinate pilots and implementation projects and track their impact.
• Drive adoption of improved processes across the division.

About You

We are looking for an experienced Business Manager, Practice Manager, Commercial Manager, Operations Director, Account Director, Client Director or Chief of Staff who has operated within a law firm environment. Law firm experience is essential. You will need a strong understanding of how a professional services environment operates, together with the confidence and credibility to partner with senior lawyers and divisional leadership.

You will bring:

• Significant experience in a senior business partnering, practice management or professional services operations role.
• Strong commercial and financial awareness.
• Experience analysing performance data and turning insight into action.
• A strong understanding of professional services metrics, including revenue, utilisation, leverage, billing, recovery and profitability.
• Experience supporting senior leadership teams and challenging/influencing stakeholders.
• Excellent organisational and project management skills.
• The confidence to operate at senior partner and leadership level.
• A proactive, solutions-focused approach with the ability to work autonomously.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
• The ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on operational delivery.

At Gleeson Recruitment Group, we embrace inclusivity and welcome applicants of all backgrounds, experiences, and abilities. We are proud to be a disability confident employer.

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