Senior Manager: Risk, Marketing and Admin Systems bei Mayer Brown LLP

Mayer Brown is an international law firm positioned to represent the world’s major corporations, funds, and financial institutions in their most important and complex transactions and disputes. We are recognized by our clients as strategic partners with deep commercial instincts and a commitment to creatively anticipating their needs and delivering excellence in everything we do.

We are a collegial, collaborative firm where highly motivated individuals with an unwavering commitment to excellence receive the opportunity, support, and development they need to grow, thrive, and realize their greatest potential all while supporting the Firm’s client service principles of excellence, strategic partnership, commercial instinct, integrated strengths, innovation, and collaboration across our international firm.

If you enjoy working with team members whose defining characteristics are exceptional client service, initiative, professionalism, responsiveness, and adaptability, you may be the person we are seeking to join our Information Technology department in our Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C, or Houston office, as a Senior Manager: Risk, Marketing and Admin Systems.

The Senior Manager: Risk, Marketing and Admin Systems is responsible and accountable for establishing and ensuring operational excellence across the Firm’s applications aligned to the Risk, Marketing and Administrative sectors. This includes strategy development, Application Roadmaps and execution of projects across in-house developed software and commercial off the shelf products. In support of this goal, this person in this role is responsible for developing and managing a global team aligned with the strategic and operational needs of the Firm and the Firm’s clients. Necessarily, this individual works in close collaboration across the information technology & legal risk management departments, with attorneys and various Business Services staff.

Essential Functions: 

• Takes ownership and ensures the proper prioritization of all aspects of the Risk, Marketing and Admin Systems portfolio, including maintenance and support activities, enhancements to existing functionality and development and/or implementation of new modules, using Agile and DevOps principles
• Ensures the high availability of service as it relates to Risk, Marketing & Admin Systems and vendor hosted systems, including the development, maintenance and communication of a Global Risk, Marketing & Admin Systems IT Roadmap
• Takes ownership of key vendor relationships
• Prioritizes reduction of technical debt whenever possible, ensuring the adoption of new systems and upgrades can be supported without expanding team size while improving system uptime, security, stability, and user experience for responsible systems
• Guards against user facing outages and downtime by judiciously using redundant resources, dual data centers, load balancing and session management technologies as well as software as a service solutions where appropriate
• Ensures the delivery of processes and controls to ensure the security of confidential data across all regions
• Supports Firm cloud initiatives with a focus on security, availability and user experience in support of the Cloud First initiative
• Acts as a change agent and passionate advocate for driving business transformation through technology and operational excellence
• Researches application development options and provides analysis for strategic direction, both functional and technical
• Provides overall leadership of planning, organization and execution of IT projects as it relates to all services aligned to this role
• Fosters a collaborative work environment leveraging Agile and DevOps principles and practices
• Initiates actions and alternatives to avoid potential problem situations before they occur to increase application stability
• Ensures that team's goals are aligned with and support organizational and business goals of the Firm
• Executes multiple overlapping large and complex projects, as well as client outreach as it relates to the business service of securely managing client content
• Interfaces with multiple business units as well as client groups to increase adoption, drive innovation and consistently improves related technologies and services to better suit client needs
• Develops and delivers annual performance reviews in a timely manner, including regular updates to objectives and job descriptions
• Actively participates in the escalation path for on-call support as necessary, including coordination of crisis management activities as required during an incident
• Ensures that a positive, proactive working relationship is maintained with other teams, within the IT department, the rest of the firm and vendor community
• Develops written and oral communications that clearly explain technical concepts using non-technical language and collaborates with the Learning and Development teams to provide the Firm with the expertise they need to be successful with deployed systems
• Aligns workings hours as necessary to support global teams and business partners
• Performs other duties as assigned or required to meet Firm goals and objectives

Education/Training/Certifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field. An equivalent combination of education and/or experience may be considered in lieu of the degree when the experience has been directly related to the functions of the job
• PMP and/or technical certification preferred
• Cloud-focused certification a plus

Professional Experience: 

• 10+ years in management in the technology industry; 5 years law firm experience is preferred
• Five or more years managing high volume, resource intensive back-office and administrative support systems
• Demonstrated ability to lead high-level projects and deliver measurable results within prescribed timelines
• Ability to identify and reduce technical debt, single points of failure, and security vulnerabilities, increase platform stabilization, and streamline the application portfolio
• Knowledge of Agile and DevOps concepts preferred; exhibits a commitment to continual improvement while reducing waste and unnecessary churn
• Experience managing teams and projects with significant budgetary and resource components
• Comfortable managing external vendors and act as a functional bridge between them and internal stakeholders
• Conscientious budget manager and steward of firm's resources
• Multi-team Change Management experience with eye to potential technical collisions and overlapping priorities, ability to build consensus and drive value
• Strong experience managing projects with high business risk and substantial budgetary impact

Technical Skills: 

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office products and its development stack
• Expertise with software architecture and development
• Experience with the workflow, middleware/data integration and reporting tools
• Experience in delivering enterprise software applications using common web-compliant technologies

Performance Traits: 

• Engender and exhibit trust and respect
• Be comfortable with ambiguity
• Challenge trajectory and support decisions
• Must be a self-starter with a high level of initiative
• Works well under pressure, meet deadlines and respond effectively to shifting priorities
• Maintains confidentiality and exercises discretion
• Exercises solid strategic thinking and problem-solving skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, able to communicate effectively and in a professional manner with all levels of the Firm and outside vendors
• Ability to work in a diverse team environment and effectively support the demanding needs of the Firm
• Exhibits strong customer service skills, able to anticipate needs and exercise independent judgment
• Excellent attention to detail, organizational skills and the ability to handle multiple projects
• Challenges the status quo

Management Accountabilities:

• Manages processes for direct reports in regards to performance appraisals, annual compensation, goal setting and performance counselling
• Demonstrates leadership and supervisory experience
• Operational budget analysis and recommendations
• Maintains and improves vendor relations where appropriate and advantageous
• Conducts analysis of staffing levels and participation in the recruitment process
• Determines and implements change processes to improve workflow efficiencies
• Exhibits process- and service-oriented approach with strong leadership and project management skills
• Sets priorities clearly and delegates in an efficient manner

The typical pay scale for this position in Chicago is between $179,000 and $236,000, in New York between $190,000 and $251,000, in Washington, D.C. between $189,000 and $250,000 and in Houston between $184,000 and $244,000 although the actual wage or salary could be lower or higher if the candidate’s education, experience, skills and internal pay alignment are different from those specified. 

The above is a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties.

The Firm may modify and amend this job description at any time at its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment.

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including medical/dental/vision/life/and AD&D insurance, 401(k) savings plan, back-up childcare and eldercare, generous paid time off (PTO), as well as opportunities for professional development and growth.

Thank you for your interest in Mayer Brown. We are committed to providing equal opportunity and reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities and disabled veterans. To request a reasonable accommodation related to the application process and/or job interview, please email [email protected]. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

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