Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Innovation Enablement Senior Project Manager

Kirkland & Ellis LLP$192K — $211K *
Business Services
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 7+ years in project management or similar operational role within global professional services or law firm.
  • Experience managing technology transformation projects or tech-enabled initiatives to enhance client offerings.
  • Prior work with technology vendors on strategic partnerships preferred.
  • Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills for collaboration across diverse stakeholders.
  • High professionalism, autonomy, and organizational skills for multitasking and stakeholder management.
  • Familiarity with data governance, information security, and responsible AI frameworks preferred.
  • Enthusiastic about using emerging technologies to innovate in the legal field.

Responsibilities

  • Lead and deliver strategic AI projects under the guidance of the Associate Director.
  • Oversee the project lifecycle from concept to adoption with clear accountability.
  • Maintain real-time project data and trackers for progress monitoring.
  • Collaborate across teams and with third-party vendors to execute projects effectively.
  • Identify and mitigate risks and dependencies proactively, ensuring governance compliance.
  • Prepare and present project materials for meetings and reviews, ensuring clarity and actionability.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive healthcare coverage.
  • Generous paid time off policy.
  • Retirement plans to support your future.
  • Personal support tailored to individual needs.
  • Tailored learning and development opportunities.
Full Job Description
What You'll Do

You are a driven, experienced project manager who thrives at the intersection of strategy and execution with a demonstrated track record of delivering on strategic projects enabling large-scale technology transformations in a professional services organization. You have a keen ability to apply disciplined project management principles and influence outcomes across internal and external teams. You are resilient, agile, and have a curious mindset and a passion for emerging technologies.
  • Impact. As a Senior Project Manager, you will report to the Associate Director of Strategic Innovation Projects focusing on the successful delivery of leadership's strategic AI projects, helping to turn ambitious initiatives into operational reality.
  • End-to-end Project Leadership. You will lead strategic projects that advance the Firm's innovation and AI roadmap, including vendor partnerships, client-facing initiatives, and internal development, ensuring that initiatives move from concept, planning, testing, execution, and adoption with clear accountability for outcomes. You will help to ensure strategic objectives are effectuated through actionable project plans with defined scope, milestones, resource requirements, and success metrics.
  • Tracking and Reporting. You will maintain real-time project data and trackers to ensure progress and momentum for strategic projects. You will prepare and present clear, actionable materials for project status meetings, stakeholder reviews, and steering committees.
  • Cross-functional collaboration and internal and external stakeholder management. You will collaborate closely across Innovation, leadership, IT, Risk, and Security, and third-party technology vendors to support and execute on projects that enable responsible, ethical, and sustained assessment, development, and adoption of AI tools and processes. You will engage frequently with leadership, attorneys, administrative stakeholders and third-party vendors to drive alignment and execution. You will communicate effectively with diverse stakeholder groups, translating strategic ambition into action items and outcomes.
  • Risk, Dependency, and Governance. You will proactively identify, track, and mitigate risks, issues, and dependencies. You will escalate when time, cost, or resources impact outcomes. You have an ability to identify and anticipate where dependencies related to governance and policy compliance are implicated and can exercise judgment to either proactively resolve or expeditiously escalate, as necessary.

What You'll Bring
  • Minimum of 7 years' experience in a project management or similar operational role, involving cross-team coordination within a global professional services organization or law firm. Bachelor's degree and/or certification(s) in project management (e.g., PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, AgilePM) is strongly preferred.
  • Experience managing a project portfolio related to technology transformation or change initiatives, technology product/service launches, or similar tech-enabled strategic priorities to enhance client service offerings.
  • Experience working with technology vendors, in particular on strategic partnerships, is strongly preferred.
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to collaborate and influence across stakeholder types, including leadership, attorneys, technologists, and business teams.
  • A high degree of professionalism, autonomy, accuracy, accountability and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholder demands independently.
  • Familiarity with data governance, information security, and/or responsible AI frameworks is preferred.
  • Demonstrated enthusiasm for leveraging emerging technologies to transform the business and practice of law.
  • Proficiency in MS Office, with data analysis experience preferred (Excel, Power BI or similar), GenAI, business intelligence tools, or other legal tech solutions preferred.

Compensation

The base salary range below represents the low and high end of the salary range for this position in New York City. This range may differ based on your geographic location and cost of living considerations. At Kirkland & Ellis, we consider compensation more than just a base salary. We offer an exceptional range of flexible benefits including comprehensive healthcare, paid time off, and retirement. We also offer personal support and tailored learning and development opportunities all designed to help you realize your full potential both in life and at work.

Compensation Range:

New York City: $192,000 - $211,000

How to Apply

Thank you for your interest in Kirkland & Ellis LLP. To complete an application and submit your resume, please click "Apply Now."

Don't meet every job requirement? That's okay! If you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't perfectly fit every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right person for this role or others at Kirkland.

About Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an American law firm. Founded in 1909 in Chicago, Illinois, Kirkland & Ellis is the largest law firm in the world by revenue, the seventh-largest by number of attorneys, and is the first law firm in the world to reach US$4 billion in revenue. As of 2021, Kirkland & Ellis ranks third on Am Law's list of profits per equity partner. While Kirkland & Ellis was historically considered a firm focused on litigation, during the 2010s, it expanded private equity and restructuring practices which, together with large-scale commercial litigation, comprise the core legal service areas of the firm. Many attorneys from the firm have served as federal officials or judges, including United States Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and former Attorney General William Barr.
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