Director of Legal Operations

Job Description:

You Will

• Build a Legal Operations Function: Serve as the first head of Legal Operations at Dow Jones. You will establish the function and develop a clear multi-year strategy. This role, which will have one direct report to start, will report to the General Counsel of Dow Jones, and will join the Legal leadership team. 
• Strategic Planning & Execution: Assist in various key projects across the department. You will track department goals, manage the legal roadmap, and help ensure we are hitting our milestones.
• Financial Management: Assist with the legal budget. This includes outside counsel spend management, accruals, and finding "value-based" fee arrangements to replace the billable hour where possible.
• Technology & Data: Serve as the manager and visionary for our tech stack (CLMs, e-Billing, IP Management, AI integration, and agentic tools). You don’t just use the tools; you optimize them to drive global legal team transformation and provide data-driven insights to the executive team. To start, AI integration and AI-powered solutions (evaluating current tools and scoping the need for next-generation agentic solutions) alongside process improvement will be a key focus and strategic priority.
• Global Operational Scaling & Change Management: Partner closely with a globally distributed legal team across multiple international regions to harmonize processes and drive adoption of new technologies.
• Vendor Management: Oversee our relationships with law firms and ALSPs (Alternative Legal Service Providers). You’ll run RFPs when needed and hold our partners accountable.
• Project Management: Assist with various projects throughout the department. Whether it's implementing a new privacy compliance workflow, streamlining the workflow on contracts, or helping to coordinate legal resources on large projects, you provide the structure that frees up time across the department.
• Knowledge Management: Help the Legal team build and maintain our internal core contract templates, playbooks, and training materials that empower the wider company to move faster.
• M&A/Integration: Work closely with the M&A team on possible M&A opportunities and any resulting integration efforts. 

Who You Are

• The Architect: You see a messy process and instinctively want to build a workflow for it.
• The Translator: You can speak Legal (risk mitigation/precedent) and Business (ROI/efficiency) fluently.
• The Diplomat: You can deftly handle an inflated bill just as effectively as you can pitch a new software spend to the CFO.

You Have:

• Experience: Minimum of 12 years of operations experience, and at least 5 years specifically within a Legal Operations function required. We are looking for someone who has worked in operations in a global legal department. Experience building a Legal Operations function from inception is strongly preferred. 
• Education: A Law Degree (JD), MBA, or commensurate experience is valuable, but not required. We value operational excellence, project management experience, and other experiences that assist in navigating a growing, international business.
• Tech Savvy: Deep experience with Enterprise Legal Management (ELM) software, AI-powered legal solutions, agentic tools, and Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platforms, with a proven track record of leveraging technology for global legal team transformation, is a plus.
• Industry Knowledge: Experience in the Media/Entertainment or Tech sectors is a plus.
  

DESIRED TRAITS:

• Collaborative and innovative.
• Creative self-starter who takes initiative. 
• Keen sense of how to make appropriate trade-offs between risk and business needs.
• Big-picture, strategic decision maker with an ability to analyze and explain complex concepts with speed and resolution.
• Superior work ethic and dedication to ethics and professional responsibility.
• High level of initiative and self-motivation, with an ability to work in a collaborative and congenial team environment.

Our Benefits

• Comprehensive Healthcare Plans
• Paid Time Off
• Retirement Plans
• Comprehensive Insurance Plans
• Lifestyle Programs & Wellness Resources
• Education Benefits
• Family Care Benefits & Caregiving Support
• Commuter Transit Program
• Subscription Discounts
• Employee Referral Program
• Financial Health Programs
• Cybersecurity Protection

Business Area:

Job Category:

Union Status:

We’re committed to offering competitive and flexible compensation to attract top talent. This pay range reflects our good faith estimate for the role and may vary based on a candidate’s experience, skills, location, and other relevant factors.

For bonus-eligible roles, targets are determined based on multiple considerations, including market benchmarks and individual contributions.

For benefits-eligible roles, we offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package covering health, retirement, wellbeing, and more, along with optional benefits to meet the diverse needs of our employees.