Starbucks Corporation

director, Global Legal Operations

Starbucks Corporation • $160K — $190K *
Seattle, WA 98115In-Person
Legal & Accounting
11 - 15 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 12+ years in legal operations, business operations, or in-house legal leadership, especially in a global context.
  • Expertise in legal technology, data analytics, and process automation focus.
  • Strong financial acumen with experience in managing complex legal budgets and vendor relationships.
  • Demonstrated leadership skills with a track record of team development and performance enhancement.
  • Ability to translate strategy into execution with measurable outcomes.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the legal operating model execution and create a prioritized operating roadmap.
  • Manage financial operations including budgeting, forecasting, and outside counsel performance.
  • Drive the legal technology improvement and automation initiatives.
  • Standardize and optimize legal processes to enhance efficiency and service delivery.
  • Oversee day-to-day operations of the legal function, ensuring effective performance.
  • Build and lead a high-performing legal operations team focused on collaboration and continuous improvement.
  • Guide transformation initiatives ensuring sustained adoption and measurable business impact.

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family.
  • Paid parental leave and family expansion reimbursement.
  • Generous vacation and sick time policies accrued from date of hire.
  • 401(k) retirement plan participation with employer match.
  • 100% tuition coverage for first-time bachelor's degrees through Arizona State University.
Full Job Description
As the Global Legal Operations Director, you will be the senior operating leader responsible for turning Legal strategy into disciplined execution and measurable results. You will partner closely with the Vice President, Legal Strategy & Operations, the Chief Legal Officer, Legal leadership, Finance, Procurement, Technology, and other enterprise partners to build and run a scalable, data-driven, technology-enabled operating model for a complex, multinational retail and manufacturing enterprise. You will lead the day-to-day Legal Operations function, develop a high-performing team, strengthen financial discipline and cost predictability, modernize technology and data, simplify how work gets done, and ensure transformation initiatives move from strategy through implementation, adoption, and sustained business impact.

As a director, global legal operations, you will...

  • Lead Global Legal Operating Model & Execution: Translate Legal and enterprise strategy into a prioritized operating roadmap with clear owners, milestones, dependencies, measures of success, and accountability. Design, implement, and continuously improve a scalable global legal operating model, and personally drive priority initiatives from concept through implementation, adoption, and measurable results.
  • Own Financial Management, Spend & Outside Counsel Performance: Run the operational discipline behind Legal budgeting, forecasting, accruals, invoice management, matter budgets, variance analysis, and spend controls. Improve forecast accuracy and cost predictability. Operationalize the preferred provider program through panel governance, rate and fee negotiations, value-based arrangements, matter budgeting, billing compliance, performance scorecards, and active management of firm and vendor relationships.
  • Drive Legal Technology, Data, Analytics & AI: Own the Legal technology roadmap and rationalization of the technology portfolio. Optimize matter management, e-billing, CLM, workflow automation, reporting, and other legal platforms; improve integration with enterprise systems; establish reliable data governance; automate manual work; and responsibly deploy AI and emerging technology where it creates measurable efficiency, insight, or risk-management value.
  • Build Process Excellence, Service Delivery & Global Standardization: Simplify, standardize, and automate core Legal processes across regions. Establish clear process ownership, service levels, controls, playbooks, and best-practice workflows. Measure cycle time, adoption, compliance, and stakeholder experience, and use the results to drive continuous improvement across the Legal department.
  • Run Legal Operations & Service Delivery: Own the day-to-day performance of the Legal Operations function, including matter management, e-billing, accruals, invoice processing, vendor and law firm onboarding, reporting, records, contract operations, intake and workflows, and operational support. Establish an operating cadence that surfaces risks early, resolves issues quickly, and gives leadership clear visibility into performance.
  • Build & Lead a High-Performing Team: Lead, coach, and develop the Legal Operations team. Clarify roles, decision rights, goals, and performance expectations; align capacity to the highest-value work; build succession and development plans; and create a culture of ownership, collaboration, continuous improvement, and follow-through.
  • Drive Transformation & Change Adoption: Lead a focused portfolio of transformation initiatives with clear business cases, milestones, owners, benefits, and measures of success. Partner with stakeholders to drive adoption, address resistance, retire legacy ways of working, and ensure new processes and tools produce sustained results rather than one-time deliverables.
  • Create Actionable Metrics & Executive Insights: Establish a concise set of KPIs and dashboards that give Legal leadership timely visibility into spend, forecast, workload, service delivery, operational risk, technology adoption, outside counsel performance, and transformation progress. Turn data into recommendations, decisions, and accountability rather than reporting for reporting's sake.
  • Partner Across the Legal department and the Enterprise: Serve as a trusted operating partner to Legal leaders and cross-functional stakeholders. Anticipate needs, connect work across teams, resolve operational friction, and ensure Legal Operations enables lawyers to focus on the highest-value legal and business work.


We'd love to hear from people with:

  • 12+ years of progressive legal operations, business operations, transformation, consulting, finance, procurement, technology, or in-house legal leadership experience, including significant experience in a complex global organization. Experience supporting a publicly traded company is strongly preferred.
  • Deep expertise in legal technology, data, analytics, process design, and automation, including matter management, e-billing, CLM, workflow automation, enterprise integrations, dashboards, and the practical application of AI or emerging technology to legal work.
  • Proven financial and commercial acumen, with hands-on ownership of complex legal budgets, forecasting, accruals, e-billing, outside counsel spend, vendor management, rate negotiations, matter budgets, and value-based fee arrangements. Demonstrated ability to improve cost predictability and convert spend data into decisions and action.
  • Exceptional people leadership, change management, and cross-enterprise collaboration skills, with the executive presence and business acumen to influence senior lawyers and executives, challenge constructively, make decisions, and drive transformation across global teams. Must be an operator who creates clarity, establishes accountability, removes barriers, and consistently closes the loop.
  • Demonstrated track record of building and improving Legal Operations capabilities, with quantifiable results such as improved forecast accuracy, reduced external spend or invoice cycle time, increased technology adoption, reduced manual work, faster process cycle times, or improved stakeholder satisfaction.
  • Proven people-management experience leading multidisciplinary teams across operations, technology, data, project management, and process improvement, with evidence of developing talent and raising team performance.
  • Demonstrated ability to move from strategy to execution. Candidates should be able to show examples of diagnosing an operational problem, designing a practical solution, implementing it, driving adoption, measuring results, and sustaining the change.
  • Highly effective at prioritization and portfolio management, with the judgment to distinguish urgent work from important work, stop lower-value activity, allocate resources thoughtfully, and deliver multiple complex initiatives without losing operational control.
  • A service-oriented leadership style combined with high standards, intellectual curiosity, sound judgment, resilience, and a bias for action. Comfortable operating in ambiguity while creating structure, transparency, and momentum.


As a Starbucks partner, you (and your family) will have access to medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, and other voluntary insurance benefits. Partners have access to short-term and long-term disability, paid parental leave, family expansion reimbursement, paid vacation from date of hire*, sick time (accrued at 1 hour for every 25 hours worked), eight paid holidays, and two personal days per year. Starbucks also offers eligible partners participation in a 401(k) retirement plan with employer match, a discounted company stock program (S.I.P.), Starbucks equity program (Bean Stock), incentivized emergency savings, and financial well-being tools. Additionally, Starbucks offers 100% upfront tuition coverage for a first-time bachelor's degree through Arizona State University's online program via the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, student loan management resources, and access to other educational opportunities. You will also have access to backup care and DACA reimbursement. Starbucks will comply with any applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, and in accordance with its plans and policies. This list is subject to change depending on collective bargaining in locations where partners have a certified bargaining representative. For additional information regarding partner perks and more detailed information about benefits, go to starbucksbenefits.com .

*If you are working in CA, CO, IL, LA, ME, MA, NE, ND or RI, you will accrue vacation up to a maximum of 120 hours (190 in CA) for roles below director and 200 hours (316 in CA) for roles at director or above. For roles in other states, you will be granted vacation time starting at 120 hours annually for roles below director and 200 hours annually for roles director and above.

The actual base pay offered to the successful candidate will be based on multiple factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge/skills, experience, geographical location, and internal equity. At Starbucks, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at the high end of the range for their role, and compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.

We believe we do our best work when we're together, which is why we're onsite four days a week.

Join us and inspire with every cup. Apply today!

About Starbucks Corporation

Starbucks is an international chain of restaurants that retails handcrafted coffee, tea, and fresh food items. With 23,132 stores in 65 countries and territories, Starbucks locations serve hot and cold drinks, whole-bean coffee, microground instant coffee, espresso, caffe latte, full-leaf teas, evolution fresh juices, pastries, and snacks. Most stores also sell pre-packaged food items, hot and cold sandwiches, and items such as mugs and tumblers. The stores also offer a variety of beers, wines, and appetizers, and markets books, music, and film. Some of the company’s products are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store. Starbucks-brand coffee, ice cream, and bottled cold coffee drinks are also sold at grocery stores. Starbucks was founded by Orin Smith in October 1971 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

Starbucks Corporation Careers

Join the vibrant team at Starbucks Corporation, a premier destination for passionate, innovative professionals seeking impactful careers in the coffee industry and beyond. As a global leader in coffee and a champion of sustainable practices, Starbucks offers unparalleled job opportunities that promise both personal and professional growth.

Work You’ll Do

Embark on a fulfilling career path at Starbucks Corporation where you can blend your skills with a culture of excellence and innovation. Our team members are at the heart of our business, and we empower them through leadership development, diversity training, and continuous learning opportunities.

Transform Your Career

With Starbucks, you're not just taking a job; you're joining a culture that nurtures innovation, leadership, and a commitment to diversity and community involvement. Our baristas, managers, and corporate employees all play integral roles in our mission to inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.

Innovate and Lead

At Starbucks, innovation isn't just about coffee. It's about revolutionizing the way we connect with customers and grow our business. Lead the charge in creating and implementing new ideas as part of a team that values bold thinking and a fresh approach to challenges.

Professional Growth and Development

Starbucks is committed to the growth of its employees. Whether through professional development programs, internships, or leadership training, we provide the tools needed for you to advance your career within the company. Our robust benefits package supports the health, financial, and lifestyle needs of our team members and their families.

Join Our Team

Explore the array of job opportunities at Starbucks Corporation—from baristas to management positions. We are hiring creative, driven individuals who are ready to make meaningful contributions. Bring your unique perspective and talents to Starbucks and help us continue our legacy of innovation and exceptional service.

Networking and Career Advancement

Starbucks is a place where networking and professional relationships flourish. Connect with leaders and peers who can help guide your career path, and take advantage of our comprehensive training programs that prepare you for future leadership roles.

Internship Opportunities

Gain real-world experience and build your resume through a Starbucks internship. Our interns work on projects that matter, gaining skills that are crucial to succeeding in the coffee industry and beyond. It’s an opportunity to see what a career at Starbucks might look like, with many interns going on to full-time positions within the company.

Stay Connected

Search open positions that match your skills and interests. We look for passionate, curious, creative, and solution-driven team players. Join us and be part of a company that prides itself on growth, innovation, and a positive employment culture.

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Explore Starbucks Careers

Whether you're beginning your career journey or looking to enhance it, Starbucks offers a dynamic path filled with opportunities for success. Join us and become part of a team that is passionate about coffee, community, and making a positive impact in the world.
Learn more about Starbucks Corporation
Size
383,000 employees
Market Cap
$113.2 billion
Industry
Food & Beverages
Net Income
$664.8 million
Founded
1971
5 Year Trend
+7.6%
Revenue
$23.1 billion
NASDAQ
SBUX
* Ladders Estimates

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