Director – Legal Business & Strategy - Microsoft

The Legal Business & Strategy team maximizes the mutual value of engagements between Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (“CELA”), law firms and legal service suppliers. The team leads key programs that build deeper collaboration and partnership with law firms in Microsoft’s Strategic Partner Program and reinforces commitments to supplier diversity through our Law Firm Diversity Program as well as our work with minority and women-owned law firms. In coordination with Microsoft’s Legal Operations and Corporate Procurement functions, the Legal Business & Strategy team is also responsible for policies and processes for law firm engagement throughout the supplier lifecycle. The team establishes and scales engagement and procurement best practices for legal teams around the globe.  It ensures a consistent and value-focused approach that leverages data to inform strategy, spark innovation, and drive efficiencies in legal service engagements.

We are seeking a high performing Director of Legal Business & Strategy to lead ongoing initiatives, programs and operations as well as developing strategy to evolve the mission of the team and its role in supporting our global legal organization. This cross-functional role will report to the Chief of Staff to the General Counsel for Corporate Legal Affairs and will partner with stakeholders across CELA legal teams, Legal Operations, CELA Digital Transformation, Corporate Procurement, Finance and engineering.  This role will also serve as a critical liaison to our external law firm partners, prospective law firms and other legal service suppliers, and industry thought leaders to advance deeper relationships and leverage insights to drive and create real and measurable business results.

This position is located in Redmond, WA.

Thought Leader and Strategic Partner: Understand the needs of a broad set of stakeholders at all levels of the organization and leverage experience and industry insights to ensure program readiness to meet current and future needs by developing and maintaining agile and compliant processes, services, and resources to empower teams to identify, select, and manage engagements with law firms and other legal service suppliers.

Business Program Management and Strategy Development: Lead development of annual planning for the team to ensure program alignment with Microsoft and CELA priorities for premier programs like the Strategic Partner Program and Law Firm Diversity Program and the team’s routine work. Actively empower the team to approach program processes with a commitment to continuous improvement and sustain core foundational efforts as well as identify areas for enhancement – adhering to Microsoft’s commitment to delight and empower our customers in CELA. Sets the team’s annual priorities, conducts resource planning and allocation of responsibilities, and manages to available budget. The primary program areas are as follows:

• Microsoft Strategic Partner Program (“SPP”) – The SPP includes Microsoft’s most trusted outside counsel law firms and advisors. The program is designed to leverage and advance deep partnership with the firms in the program through regular engagement, inside-out learning experiences through our Trusted Advisor series, and cooperation and collaboration on our core priorities for innovation, diversity and inclusion, and pro bono service.
• Legal Supplier Diversity – Oversee annual planning for Microsoft’s Law Firm Diversity Program (“LFDP”) to include coordinating internal and external reporting on program results and providing recommendations for evolution of the program with an eye towards making greater progress on diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Champion CELA’s ongoing commitment to women and minority-owned law firms.  You can learn more about our legal supplier diversity programs here.
• Legal Procurement -- This focus area encompasses the team’s run work in close partnership with Microsoft’s Legal Operations team and Corporate Procurement team.  Enforce and refine internal and external policies and guidance for law firm engagement. Optimize resources to support motions around firm rate negotiations, alternative fee arrangements, and requests for proposals and matter bidding. Efforts include facilitating data driven decision making and delivering actionable insights to spot trends and inform strategy.
• Technology development – Lead active collaboration with CELA’s Digital Transformation team, engineering teams, and other legal operations resources to advance the development of the technology that support existing and future needs of the organization.

Relationship development: Develop and nurture a diverse network of internal and external relationships to enable scale, capture insights, inform strategy, and foster collaboration and coordination with the team’s efforts across all program areas and other initiatives as they arise.

Change management and collaboration: Embrace a growth mindset and apply change management principles to not only educate new colleagues in the organization on existing programs and policies, but also drive engagement on new initiatives. Be an active and respectful partner and collaborator with CELA teams that support the team’s efforts and/or have a dependency on partnership with law firm partners.

Senior level stakeholder management: Communicate and manage relationships with CELA extended leadership to report on program outcomes, strategy, and to drive results. This will include leading discussions and driving initiatives and activities with our Law Firm Engagement Steering Committee and our CELA D&I Council.

Communications and external engagement: Responsible for developing and overseeing all internal and external communications relating to our programs and initiatives. Presenting to CELA extended leadership, CELA teams, and law firm audiences is expected.

Commitment to diversity and inclusion: Embody our company values of accountability, integrity and respect in every and all interactions and create deep connections internally, with our law firms, and other industry partners to advance diversity, inclusion, and culture transformation by sharing innovative ideas, fostering collaboration, and creating inclusive communities.

People manager: Embrace our manager commitment to model, coach, and care for our team members and colleagues. Committed to developing and retaining our talent and establishing a culture where everyone has a growth mindset and is encouraged to continue to learn and grow.

About you

• Ideally 10+ years of project / program management experience
• Experience leading and/or developing programs within the legal industry, including working directly with or within law firms, legal service organizations, and/or corporate legal departments
• Experience leading a program management and/or operations team to include outsourced vendor selection and management
• Passion for diversity & inclusion demonstrated by active advocacy or allyship in prior roles and/or outside of work
• You are detail-oriented, strategic, and data-driven – you can work with both quantitative & qualitative data, understanding immediate roadblocks, urgent asks, and long-term initiatives.
• You are self-motivated and have a bias for action – thrive in a dynamic environment without a lot of guidance and manage ambiguity and competing priorities while producing optimal results.
• You are a strong communicator and can influence others through your expertise – you are able to use logical and strategic thinking to motivate a diverse organization towards a collective goal with precision. You are concise. You possess excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex information in an approachable manner across a highly matrixed organization.
• You use sound judgment that incorporates analysis, a pragmatic approach, and consideration of business goals and stakeholder priorities to get to the right outcome for the org and the company.
• You’re adaptable and good at context switching. You’re comfortable flexing between strategy and execution. You can comfortably and easily manage multiple projects, switching seamlessly between them. You’re not afraid to roll up your sleeves and get the job done when needed and delegate appropriately. You have organizational agility and ability to work successfully across a complex environment

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance or related field AND 8+ years work experience in program management, process management, process improvement OR equivalent experience.
• 6+ years management (e.g., people, project, process, vendor, change) experience.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance or related field AND 12+ years experience in program management, process management, process improvement OR Master's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance or related field AND 10+ years program management experience, process management, process improvement OR equivalent experience.
• 8+ years people management experience.
• Completion of a Juris Doctorate Degree or Equivalent International Degree, 3+ years’ experience as a practicing attorney or equivalent practice of law, AND 3+ years experience in program management, process management, relationship building
• Proven ability to work across organizational boundaries to build alignment and drive closure on issues
• Strong understanding and experience building trusted relationships within diverse teams across a matrixed organization.
• Experience handling executive level time-sensitive and confidential business information and challenges
• Proven experience being an agent of change in a large organizational setting, driving not only compliance but also new ways of working
• Demonstrated ability to work efficiently, prioritize workflow, and meet demanding deadlines
• Passion and proven record for execution with measurable results and a focus on delivering impact
• Demonstrated capability in verbal and written communication skills for diverse internal and external audiences

#CELA

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

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