Director, Legal Operations

KBR Careers; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

KBR is seeking a Director, Legal Operations & Finance to drive strategic leadership across the global legal function, overseeing budgeting, forecasting, e-discovery, and technology enablement.

We value collaboration, adaptability, and the ability to translate strategy into scalable governance and processes while managing costs and vendor relationships in a fast-paced, international environment.

Qualifications

• Experience building, scaling, or transforming Legal Operations or similar business operations functions.

Responsibilities

• Set priorities with GC and legal leadership and translate strategy into actionable plans.
• Oversee legal budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting.
• Manage outside counsel and vendor relationships, including invoicing and onboarding.
• Oversee global e-discovery, data management, and legal hold programs.
• Lead process improvement, technology roadmap, and adoption of legal tech solutions.

Skills

Accountability

Collaboration

Adaptability

Employee Champion

Job description

We are KBR

Title

Director, Legal Operations

We are KBR

When you become part of our KBR team, your opportunities are endless. Through internal collaboration, and with our partners and customers, we’re defining tomorrow’s challenges, then providing the innovative solutions to overcome those challenges, always maintaining our commitment to Zero Harm and Sustainability Platform.

Working at KBR means being rewarded for your contributions. In addition to competitive benefits and professional development, our people are empowered to use all their potential, creating meaningful change for themselves and our clients. We attract the best minds in the world because our expertise thrives on creativity, resourcefulness and collaboration. That is how we supply our clients with cutting‑edge solutions.

As the needs of the world change, we’re ready to respond and guide the way forward with strategic, sustainable, and technological advancements grounded in more than a century of practical application and execution.

We Are Legal

We take on any legal or related task. Every day we work across many different jurisdictions and interface with many different cultures. Our versatility is reflected in our strong commercial awareness and ability to adapt to the circumstances at hand, to provide solid practical legal and commercially focused

About The Role

The Director, Legal Operations & Finance is a strategic leader responsible for driving operational excellence, financial discipline, and technology enablement across the global legal function. This role partners closely with the General Counsel, legal leadership, and cross‑functional stakeholders to ensure efficient, cost‑effective, and scalable delivery of legal services aligned with business priorities.

We are seeking a collaborative, strategic leader with strong operational, financial, and technology acumen. The ideal candidate has experience building, scaling, or transforming Legal Operations or comparable business operations functions and can translate strategy into sustainable governance, processes, and capabilities. The candidate understands that the Legal Department must manage risk while enabling practical, timely business decisions.

About You

Accountability: You will own the legal department’s budget management, forecasting, and financial reporting processes, and you will lead the strategy and execution of legal technology initiatives — including AI implementation, enterprise reporting, and digital transformation — to ensure efficient, cost‑effective, and scalable delivery of legal services aligned with business priorities.

Collaboration: You build trusted, practical partnerships across the enterprise and are comfortable working with diverse stakeholders and viewpoints. Whether you are partnering with Finance on budgeting and forecasting, coordinating with IT and Digital teams on legal technology solutions, working with Procurement on vendor management, or aligning with Compliance and Cybersecurity on e-discovery and data preservation, you bring a calm, solutions‑oriented approach and communicate clearly with credibility.

Adaptability: You thrive in a dynamic environment and can shift seamlessly between longer‑horizon strategic initiatives — such as technology roadmap development, process optimization, and operating model design — and time‑sensitive operational demands such as e-discovery deadlines, budget close cycles, and urgent matter intake. You exercise strong judgment, stay organized under pressure, and bring a professional, polished approach when managing competing priorities across a fast‑paced, global organization.

Employee Champion: You are an experienced people leader who develops legal operations professionals and fosters a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence. You set clear expectations, delegate effectively, and ensure high‑quality execution across legal operations, e-discovery, and technology workstreams. You lead change management and adoption efforts for new tools and processes, and you coordinate and manage outside counsel and vendors efficiently, including scoping engagements, establishing billing guidelines, and managing costs.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Partner with the General Counsel and legal leadership to set priorities and drive execution against departmental goals.
• Serve as a trusted advisor by providing insights and practical recommendations to support leadership decisions.
• Translate strategy into actionable plans with clear milestones, accountability, and measurable outcomes.
• Identify opportunities to improve service delivery, strengthen value, and reduce outside legal spend.

Legal Financial Management & Analytics

• Act as department liaison partnering with Finance for budgeting, forecasting, month-end close and financial reporting
• Oversee invoice lifecycle management ensuring compliance and accuracy

Outside Counsel & Vendor Management

• Support Legal Department leaders and other stakeholders in outside counsel and vendor management initiatives
• Manage outside counsel billing and onboarding.
• Establish billing guidelines and engagement standards
• Oversee coordination Legal Settlement payments with payroll and accounts payable
• Work with procurement in establishing PO’s with vendors

E-Discovery & Legal Data Management

• Oversee the global e-discovery function, ensuring efficient, defensible, and cost‑effective management of electronically stored information (ESI) for litigation, investigations, and regulatory matters.
• Manage the end‑to‑end e-discovery lifecycle (legal hold, preservation, collection, review, production, disposition).
• Administer the legal hold program, ensuring timely issuance, tracking, and compliance.
• Manage e-discovery tools and vendors; leverage analytics, AI, and automation to improve quality and reduce cost.
• Partner with Legal, IT, Cybersecurity, and Compliance on data preservation, incident response, and investigations.

Process Improvement & Operational Excellence

• Work with legal functions to standardize and improve processes
• Identify inefficiencies and implement scalable solutions
• SharePoint site administration

Legal Technology & Digital Transformation

• Develop and execute legal operations strategy, including process optimization, technology roadmap, AI implementation, and enterprise reporting.
• Oversee selection, implementation, and administration of legal technology (matter management, e-billing, automated workflows, document management).
• Manage integrations and system enhancements
• Partner with Legal, IT, Digital, and business stakeholders to evaluate, implement, and govern legal technology solutions.
• Oversee matter lifecycle management: intake, tracking, reporting, taxonomy, and closeout.
• Lead change management, training, and adoption for new tools and workflows.
• Drive adoption of tools and processes that improve productivity, transparency, reporting, and decision‑making.

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of legal operations professionals, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• Collaborate with Finance, Procurement, IT, and Compliance teams to ensure alignment on cross‑functional initiatives,
• Define performance metrics and foster continuous improvement
• Support change management initiatives, including those arising from corporate transactions or organizational restructurings.

Communications & Administration

• Support change management and communication efforts associated with new processes, technologies, governance structures, and operating models.
• Promote best practices and help develop department guidelines, policies, training materials, playbooks, and self‑service resources.
• Support cross‑functional coordination and ensure follow‑through on key operational decisions and initiatives.

Additional Responsibilities

• Lead or support additional projects