Director, Legal Operations

KBR Careers; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) plan

Medical, dental, vision

Paid time off

Flexible work schedule

Job summary

KBR is seeking a Director of Legal Operations to lead global operational and financial discipline for the legal function. The role partners with the General Counsel to deliver cost‑efficient, scalable legal services and to drive technology enablement, including AI initiatives and enterprise reporting.

The ideal candidate will have deep experience building or transforming legal operations, leading budgets, and managing cross‑functional programs in a complex organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in business, finance, or legal domain.
• 10+ years in legal operations or related field with leadership exp.
• Experience managing diverse teams and budgets.
• Deep knowledge of in‑house legal operations, including spend, reporting, matter mgmt.
• Expertise with e‑discovery tools (Relativity) and cloud data env (M365).
• Experience with outside counsel management and vendor relations.

Responsibilities

• Set priorities with GC and legal leadership and drive execution.
• Provide actionable insights to support leadership decisions.
• Translate strategy into actionable plans with milestones and accountability.
• Identify opportunities to improve service delivery and reduce spend.
• Partner with Finance on budgeting, forecasting, and reporting.
• Oversee invoice lifecycle management for accuracy and compliance.
• Manage outside counsel onboarding, billing guidelines, and vendor coordination.
• Oversee e‑discovery lifecycle and related tools and vendors.
• Standardize processes with legal functions; implement scalable solutions.
• Lead and develop a team of legal operations professionals.
• Drive change management and adoption of new tools and workflows.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Operational excellence

Financial acumen

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Finance/Legal Studies

Tools

Relativity

Microsoft 365 / M365

e‑discovery platforms

Contract lifecycle management

Job description

Director, Legal Operations

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.

Adaptability: You thrive in a dynamic environment and can shift seamlessly between longer‑horizon strategic initiatives and time‑sensitive operational demands.

Employee Champion: You are an experienced people leader who develops legal operations professionals and fosters a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities

• 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.
• Act as department liaison partnering with Finance for budgeting, forecasting, month‑end close, and financial reporting.
• Oversee invoice lifecycle management ensuring compliance and accuracy.
• 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 of Legal Settlement payments with payroll and accounts payable; work with procurement in establishing POs with vendors.
• Oversee the global e‑discovery function and manage the end‑to‑end e‑discovery lifecycle; administer the legal hold program; manage e‑discovery tools and vendors; partner on data preservation, incident response, and investigations.
• Work with legal functions to standardize and improve processes; identify inefficiencies and implement scalable solutions; administer SharePoint sites.
• Develop and execute legal operations strategy—including process optimization, technology roadmap, AI implementation, and enterprise reporting; oversee selection, implementation and administration of legal technology such as matter management, e‑billing, automated workflows, document management; manage integrations and system enhancements; partner with stakeholders to evaluate, implement, and govern legal technology solutions; oversee matter lifecycle management; 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.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of legal operations professionals; collaborate with Finance, Procurement, IT and Compliance teams; define performance metrics; support change management initiatives.
• Support change management and communication efforts associated with new processes, technologies, governance structures and operating models; promote best practices; develop department guidelines, policies, training materials, playbooks, and self‑service resources; support cross‑functional coordination.
• Lead or support additional projects and responsibilities as assigned by the General Counsel; stay current on developments in legal operations, legal technology, and related industry trends.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Legal Studies, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in legal operations, legal project management, or a related function, with at least 5 years in a leadership role.
• Experience managing direct reports, consultants, contractors, and cross‑functional project teams.
• Strong understanding of in‑house legal department operations, including matter management, contract workflows, legal spend, reporting, and stakeholder service models.
• Deep expertise in e‑discovery tools and processes (e.g., Relativity, legal hold platforms) and cloud data environments (e.g., M365).
• Strong working knowledge of e‑discovery regulations and data privacy requirements (e.g., FRCP, cross‑border data considerations).
• Proven experience managing legal department budgets.
• Experience with outside counsel management, including RFPs, rate negotiations, and performance metrics.
• Experience implementing, administering or optimizing legal technology platforms, including matter management, e‑billing, contract lifecycle management, legal intake, document management or knowledge management systems and Relativity.
• Proven ability to lead cross‑functional projects and drive process improvement in complex, matrixed organizations.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• CLOC (Corporate Legal Operations Consortium) certification or active participation.
• Familiarity with data analytics, AI/ML applications in legal, and emerging legal technologies.
• Experience in a multinational organization.

Competencies

• Strategic thinking with the ability to translate vision into actionable plans.
• Data‑driven decision‑making and financial acumen.
• Strong vendor and relationship management skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast‑paced, global environment.
• Commitment to fostering an inclusive, high‑performance team culture.

Additional Compensation and Benefits

KBR may offer bonuses, commissions, or other forms of compensation to certain job titles or levels, per internal policy or contractual designation. Additional compensation may be in the form of sign‑on bonus, relocation benefits, short‑term incentives, long‑term incentives, or discretionary payments for exceptional performance.

Benefits: KBR offers a selection of competitive lifestyle benefits which could include a 401(k) plan with company match, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, AD&D, flexible spending account, disability, paid time off, or flexible work schedule. We support career advancement through professional training and development.

Equal Opportunity Statement

KBR is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.