Senior Delivery Manager

Career Legal; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Career Legal is recruiting a Senior MLS Delivery Manager to lead multiple paralegal and legal delivery teams within a centralised Centre of Excellence. This senior role focuses on strategic service delivery, performance, and client outcomes in corporate and employment workstreams.

The role demands strong leadership, stakeholder influence, and a track record of developing scalable delivery models with a focus on automation and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading paralegal/legal delivery teams in a high-volume environment.
• Strong people leadership with coaching, performance management and succession planning.
• Deep understanding of legal service delivery and continuous improvement.
• Confident influencing senior stakeholders including lawyers and clients.
• Experience with operational transformation and technology-enabled delivery.
• Strong commercial awareness with budgets, forecasting and performance metrics.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage multiple paralegal/legal delivery teams across corporate and employment workstreams.
• Develop scalable, innovative legal service delivery models and processes.
• Drive operational excellence and continuous improvement across delivery functions.
• Lead talent initiatives, development plans and succession planning.
• Collaborate with senior stakeholders, lawyers and clients on solutions and pitches.
• Oversee utilization, budgets, forecasting, SLAs and KPIs.
• Champion adoption of legal technology and AI-enabled solutions.
• Support strategic headcount planning and resourcing decisions.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, scalability and client outcomes.

Skills

People leadership

Stakeholder influence

Legal service delivery

Operational transformation

Budgeting & forecasting

Change management

Automation adoption

Tools

AI-enabled delivery

Legal tech platforms

Job description

Senior MLS Delivery Manager – Transaction Services

London / Manchester / Birmingham / Leeds / Edinburgh / Glasgow

Hybrid working: 3 days in the office, 2 days WFH

Competitive salary + benefits

International Law Firm | Managed Legal Services

Are you an experienced Paralegal Manager, Senior Paralegal Manager or Legal Team Leader looking for a role where you can influence how legal services are delivered, rather than simply manage day-to-day workloads?

I'm working with a leading international law firm that is looking to appoint a Senior MLS Delivery Manager to join its growing Centre of Excellence.

This is a senior leadership position overseeing multiple legal delivery teams across Corporate and Employment, with responsibility for service quality, people leadership, client delivery and operational performance.

You'll play a key role in developing and scaling the firm's Managed Legal Services offering, including:

• Leading and managing multiple paralegal/legal delivery teams
• Developing scalable and innovative legal service delivery models
• Driving operational excellence and continuous improvement
• Leading career development, succession planning and talent initiatives
• Working closely with senior stakeholders, lawyers and clients
• Supporting client solutions, RFPs and pitches
• Managing utilisation, budgets, forecasting, SLAs and operational KPIs
• Driving adoption of legal technology and AI-enabled solutions
• Supporting strategic headcount planning and resourcing
• Identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, scalability and client outcomes

The role sits within a centralised legal delivery function that supports lawyers and clients globally, making this an excellent opportunity for someone who wants to move beyond traditional paralegal team management into strategic legal service delivery and operations.

You'll ideally have:

• Significant experience managing paralegal/legal delivery teams, particularly within a high-volume environment
• Strong people leadership experience - performance management, coaching, development and succession planning
• A strong understanding of legal service delivery and continuous improvement
• Confidence influencing senior stakeholders, including lawyers and clients
• Experience with operational transformation and technology-enabled delivery
• Strong commercial awareness, including budgets, forecasting and performance management

Experience across areas such as corporate transactions, due diligence, employment tribunals, settlement agreements, trial bundling or NDA review/negotiation would be advantageous.