Legal Solutions Architect

Bird & Bird; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonuses

Flexible benefits

Job summary

Bird & Bird is seeking a dynamic Legal Solutions Architect to join our London team, collaborating with lawyers and technology teams to design and deliver innovative legal solutions. You will work at the intersection of legal data, contract data, data engineering and AI to transform vast, unstructured contracts into structured, actionable information.

In this client-facing role, you will lead data models, CLM integrations and scalable processes, coordinating across regions and with external

Qualifications

• Experience in data engineering or data science within a professional services environment.
• Experience with CLM and legal technologies is preferred.
• Ability to lead global teams and coordinate across regions.
• Strong communication with lawyers and technology partners.

Responsibilities

• Design and build processes for ingesting, transforming, and enriching contract data.
• Transform unstructured contracts into structured datasets.
• Develop scalable data models for contract information.
• Integrate data from CLM platforms and repositories.
• Ensure data quality, lineage, and monitoring.
• Lead cross-regional teams and manage stakeholder expectations.

Skills

SQL

Python

ETL/ELT

API integration

Cloud data platforms

Data processing

Data engineering

Data science

Leadership

Stakeholder mgmt

Client service

Coordination

Education

Legal education

Legal qualifications

Tools

CLM platforms

Analytics tools

Job description

An opportunity has arisen for a dynamic Legal Solutions Architect to be a part of our Legal Solutions team in London. The team are client facing and work with lawyers and other technology and innovation teams to design and deliver innovative legal solutions.

Working at the intersection of legal data, contract data, data process optimisation, data engineering and AI, the Legal Solutions Architect will work with large volumes of complex and often unstructured contractual information, run models to transform data into structured, trusted and actionable information and help drive the design and delivery of the team's portfolio of legal solutions and transformation services, including market-leading contract services and solutions for the International Commercial Group.

It is a dynamic role that will provide an opportunity to work with key stakeholders across the firm as well as directly with our clients and technology partners. The primary focus of this role will be on the delivery of high-quality legal solutions, transformation and operations services that involve data engineering and process design utilising the latest legal technologies and process-engineering methodologies. The successful candidate will work as part of a high-performance team, demonstrating strong communication and coordination skills and the ability to effectively multi-task, lead scaled global teams and manage stakeholder expectations, as well as work directly with clients at client-site.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and build processes for the ingestion, extraction, transformation and enrichment of contract data.
• Transform unstructured contractual documents into structured, searchable datasets.
• Develop scalable data models and schemas for contractual information, including parties, dates, clauses, obligations, rights, values, jurisdictions and other key contractual attributes.
• Combine contractual information with matter, client, financial and other relevant business data.
• Integrate data from Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platforms, document repositories and other core business technologies.
• Develop robust processes for data quality assurance, validation, lineage and monitoring.
• Innovate with leading contract intelligibility and contract analytics tools.
• Design reusable contract data models capable of supporting multiple legal, analytical and AI use cases.
• Develop solutions capable of moving from experimentation and proof of concept into production.
• Assess legal contract data for language complexity and structural clarity

What You'll Bring

• Strong technical skills, including SQL, Python, ETL/ELT pipeline development, API integration, Cloud data platforms and data processing
• Significant experience in data engineering, data science or a hybrid of the two
• Experience working with lawyers, legal operations professionals or other domain specialists.
• Experience with contracts, CLM and legal technologies required.
• Experience in a law firm, professional services firm or similar environment expected.
• Consulting experience within a professional services environment or similar, enabling independent performance.
• Legal education and/or legal qualifications will be looked upon favourably although are not strictly required.
• Highly organised with effective prioritisation skills
• A growth-mindset and passion for finding better ways of working.
• Dedication to client service and innovation.
• Self-driven with keen attention to detail.
• Able to manage multiple tasks and coordinate across teams and regions.
• Business-minded, resilient, efficient, flexible and solution-focused.
• Supports business development, including presentations, training, and networking to boost team and firm visibility.
• Strong leadership abilities across junior members providing oversight and support.

What's In It For You

• Our agile approach to office and remote working enables you to find the right balance to deliver at your best. Supporting you, our business and our clients in a flexible way.
• Progress your career and personal development with our award-winning development programmes, from our global mentoring scheme to our bespoke coaching opportunities.
• Equip yourself with a board range of technical and business skills as well as a deep understanding of business issues through our skills-based curriculum.
• Competitive, market-led salary and bonus structure
• Family friendly policies as well as health schemes and wellbeing support
• A flexible benefits package which allows you to tailor your benefits to your current needs and lifestyle.

In addition to a competitive salary and benefits package, Bird & Bird operates two discretionary bonus schemes.

We offer a performance related bonus that reflects the contributions you make to the firm. We know an inclusive culture, alongside a diverse workforce, makes us more innovative and agile, so whilst some of the criteria for being awarded a bonus is based on chargeable hours, we also include an allowance for hours spent contributing to Diversity & Inclusion, ESG, Pro Bono work and developing your knowledge and contributing to the Firm's development of legal technology and AI.

We see 'winning work' as significantly different to the day-to-day business development activities you carry out as part of your role as an Associate, so in addition to the Performance Bonus, Bird & Bird are keen to reward Associates for winning work. Winning Work Bonuses are paid in addition to the Performance Bonus and are intended to be a thank you for your contribution to introducing a client or generating additional work from an existing client.

As a disability and neurodiversity inclusive employer we want to ensure that you have a barrier-free recruitment experience at Bird & Bird. If you require any adjustments during the recruitment process, please provide details to your recruitment contact who will be in touch to discuss any details provided and understand more about your individual adjustment needs.