Executive Director

RiseMe; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 126,000 - 154,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Signing bonus

Full benefits package

On-site Phoenix team

Job summary

Righi Fitch Law Group in Phoenix, AZ, is seeking an Executive Director to run the business side of the firm. This is the most senior operating role after equity partners, responsible for back office, HR, finance, IT, and administration, leading through team leads.

You will set priorities, recruit and develop staff, manage budgeting and billing workflows, and drive growth with the partners. The role requires experience running operations in a law or professional services firm and a track record

Qualifications

• 8+ years of operations HR leadership, including 3+ years running the business side of a law firm or professional services firm of 20+ people.
• Strong leadership ability and energy, with hands-on experience in HR, payroll, recruiting, and employee relations.
• A track record of owning a budget and growing the bottom line through staffing and process decisions.
• Working knowledge of law-firm billing and collections, including timekeeping standards, pre-bill review, and client billing guidelines; insurance defense and e-billing experience strongly preferred.
• Strong technology fluency and comfort leading change; experience with Clio and AI-assisted timekeeping tools is a plus.
• Sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to have direct conversations with attorneys and staff.
• Bachelor's degree.

Responsibilities

• Lead the firm back office: with all lines of reporting ultimately leading to you.
• Partner through our managed services vendor to leverage centralized resources that drive growth.
• Manage full-cycle recruiting and onboarding for paralegals, legal assistants, and staff, including managing outside recruiters, and partner with our managed services on attorney hiring so headcount keeps pace with client growth.
• Own accountability across the back office. Set and reinforce operating standards for all back-office employees, create clarity of performance expectations, and win new business.
• Direct daily business operations: office administration, facilities, business registrations, firm insurance, and records.
• Own the annual operating budget with the Managing Partners; monitor efficiency ratios and prepare management discussion and analysis.
• Drive the billing cycle through the finance lead - timely time entry, pre-bill review, carrier billing-guideline compliance, regular rate increase requests, WIP follow-up, and collections.
• Lead firmwide HR: performance management, compensation and benefits, engagement, employee relations, payroll, and compliant employment practices.
• Manage IT workflows with the firm's IT manager and managed services provider, and drive adoption and continuous education of practice management, AI-assisted timekeeping, and e-billing tools across the firm.
• Translate firm strategy into a clear one-page plan and quarterly OKRs, and hold the firm accountable to them.

Skills

Operations leadership

HR leadership

Budget management

Billing and collections (law firm)

Technology fluency

Clio experience

AI-assisted timekeeping tools

Communication and discretion

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Clio

AI timekeeping tools

Job description

About Righi Fitch Law Group

Righi Fitch Law Group is a rapidly growing Arizona insurance defense firm trusted by national and regional carriers to handle their most demanding matters. We are a 50+ person team on a path to 100+, combining deep trial experience with a modern approach to running a law firm with a management services partner that brings institutional-grade finance, technology, and operating support to the firm.

The Role

We are hiring an Executive Director to run the business side of the firm. This is the most senior position in the firm after the equity partners, with responsibility for the entire back office: people and HR, day-to-day administration, finance and billing workflows, technology, and the teams that run them. You will work directly with firm owners, and you will execute through your team leads in finance, IT, and HR.

Our equity partners are excited about change. They have made the decision to grow, and they are looking for an operator they can empower to drive the firm through that growth. You will have real authority to set priorities, make staffing and process decisions, and be accountable for results. If you have run operations for a law firm or professional services firm and want to lead rather than administer, this is that job.

What You'll Do

• Lead the firm back office: with all lines of reporting ultimately leading to you.
• Partner through our managed services vendor to leverage centralized resources that drive growth.
• Manage full-cycle recruiting and onboarding for paralegals, legal assistants, and staff, including managing outside recruiters, and partner with our managed services on attorney hiring so headcount keeps pace with client growth.
• Own accountability across the back office. Set and reinforce operating standards for all back-office employees, create clarity of performance expectations, and win new business.
• Direct daily business operations: office administration, facilities, business registrations, firm insurance, and records.
• Own the annual operating budget with the Managing Partners; monitor efficiency ratios and prepare management discussion and analysis.
• Drive the billing cycle through the finance lead - timely time entry, pre-bill review, carrier billing-guideline compliance, regular rate increase requests, WIP follow-up, and collections.
• Lead firmwide HR: performance management, compensation and benefits, engagement, employee relations, payroll, and compliant employment practices.
• Manage IT workflows with the firm's IT manager and managed services provider, and drive adoption and continuous education of practice management, AI-assisted timekeeping, and e-billing tools across the firm.
• Translate firm strategy into a clear one-page plan and quarterly OKRs, and hold the firm accountable to them.

How Success Is Measured

You will have clear targets and the authority to hit them. The headline measure is growth in the firm's bottom line of 15% or more per year; supporting it are staffing ratios across the back office, firm eNPS, timely time entry and pre-bill review by all timekeepers, paralegal and attorney success, billing cycle time, realization and write-down rates, and audit readiness. Our business partner provides the dashboards and reporting - you will not be building measurement systems from scratch. Your job is to run the firm off the numbers and move them.

Compensation

• $140,000 base salary.
• 30% target annual bonus, based on the firm's bottom-line growth (15%+ per year) and the related operating KPIs above.
• $10,000 signing bonus.
• Full benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, 401(k), and paid time off.

What You Bring

• 8+ years of operations HR leadership, including 3+ years running the business side of a law firm or professional services firm of 20+ people.
• Strong leadership ability and energy, with hands-on experience in HR, payroll, recruiting, and employee relations.
• A track record of owning a budget and growing the bottom line through staffing and process decisions.
• Working knowledge of law-firm billing and collections, including timekeeping standards, pre-bill review, and client billing guidelines; insurance defense and e-billing experience strongly preferred.
• Strong technology fluency and comfort leading change; experience with Clio and AI-assisted timekeeping tools is a plus.
• Sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to have direct conversations with attorneys and staff.
• Bachelor's degree.

Why Righi Fitch

• The most senior back-office seat in the firm, you are empowered to drive growth and change.
• Strong business resources made available by our central services provider.
• A rapidly growing firm with a clear path from 50+ to 100+ people, and the mandate to build the operating platform that gets it there.
• Institutional-grade finance, reporting, technology, and recruiting support from Catalex, so you can focus on people, execution, and results.
• A bonus tied directly to the firm's bottom-line growth - when the firm wins, you win.
• A Phoenix-based, on-site team that values responsiveness, candor, and accountability.

Righi Fitch Law Group is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to any characteristic protected by law.