Innovation Enablement Senior Project Manager

Kirkland & Ellis LLP; Northern, New York (KY, NY); Hybrid; USD 153,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York City seeks a driven Senior Project Manager to lead strategic AI initiatives within a professional services environment. You will drive end-to-end delivery, coordinate cross-functional and external teams, and ensure governance and risk management across programs.

Ideal candidates bring 7+ years of project management experience, strong communication, and a track record of technology transformations.

Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years’ experience in a project management or similar operational role within a global professional services organization or law firm.
• Bachelor’s degree and/or certification in project management (PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, AgilePM) is strongly preferred.
• Experience managing a project portfolio related to technology transformation or change initiatives.
• Experience working with technology vendors, in particular on strategic partnerships.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence across leadership, attorneys, technologists, and business teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic projects that advance the Firm's innovation and AI roadmap from concept through adoption.
• Coordinate cross-functional and vendor activities, ensuring clear accountability for scope, milestones, resources and success metrics.
• Maintain real-time project data and create materials for status meetings and steering committees.
• Identify and mitigate risks, dependencies, and governance issues across initiatives.

Skills

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Strategic thinking

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

PMP/CAPM/PMI-ACP/AgilePM

Tools

Power BI

MS Office

GenAI

Job description

About Kirkland & Ellis

At Kirkland & Ellis, we don’t just meet the standard for legal excellence — we set it. Our culture is built on teamwork, ingenuity and an unwavering commitment to continuous growth. We tackle the most sophisticated legal challenges with bold ideas and innovative solutions, powered by the exceptional experience and ambition of our 7,000+ people, including 4,000+ attorneys, across 24 offices worldwide. Our dedicated professionals share our lawyers’ commitment to excellence and show up each day to do meaningful work that helps drive global business, investment and innovation forward.

About Kirkland & Ellis

At Kirkland & Ellis, we don’t just meet the standard for legal excellence — we set it. Our culture is built on teamwork, ingenuity and an unwavering commitment to continuous growth. We tackle the most sophisticated legal challenges with bold ideas and innovative solutions, powered by the exceptional experience and ambition of our 7,000+ people, including 4,000+ attorneys, across 24 offices worldwide. Our dedicated professionals share our lawyers’ commitment to excellence and show up each day to do meaningful work that helps drive global business, investment and innovation forward.

What You’ll Do

You are a driven, experienced project manager who thrives at the intersection of strategy and execution with a demonstrated track record of delivering on strategic projects enabling large-scale technology transformations in a professional services organization. You have a keen ability to apply disciplined project management principles and influence outcomes across internal and external teams. You are resilient, agile, and have a curious mindset and a passion for emerging technologies.

• Impact.As a Senior Project Manager, you will report to the Associate Director of Strategic Innovation Projects focusing on the successful delivery of leadership's strategic AI projects, helping to turn ambitious initiatives into operational reality.
• End-to-end Project Leadership.You will lead strategic projects that advance the Firm's innovation and AI roadmap, including vendor partnerships, client-facing initiatives, and internal development, ensuring that initiatives move from concept, planning, testing, execution, and adoption with clear accountability for outcomes. You will help to ensure strategic objectives are effectuated through actionable project plans with defined scope, milestones, resource requirements, and success metrics.
• Tracking and Reporting.You will maintain real-time project data and trackers to ensure progress and momentum for strategic projects. You will prepare and present clear, actionable materials for project status meetings, stakeholder reviews, and steering committees.
• Cross-functional collaboration and internal and external stakeholder management.You will collaborate closely across Innovation, leadership, IT, Risk, and Security, and third-party technology vendors to support and execute on projects that enable responsible, ethical, and sustained assessment, development, and adoption of AI tools and processes. You will engage frequently with leadership, attorneys, administrative stakeholders and third-party vendors to drive alignment and execution. You will communicate effectively with diverse stakeholder groups, translating strategic ambition into action items and outcomes.
• Risk, Dependency, and Governance.You will proactively identify, track, and mitigate risks, issues, and dependencies. You will elevate when time, cost, or resources impact outcomes. You have an ability to identify and anticipate where dependencies related to governance and policy compliance are implicated and can exercise judgment to either proactively resolve or expeditiously elevate, as necessary.

What You’ll Bring

• Minimum of 7 years’ experience in a project management or similar operational role, involving cross-team coordination within a global professional services organization or law firm. Bachelor’s degree and/or certification(s) in project management (e.g., PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, AgilePM) is strongly preferred.
• Experience managing a project portfolio related to technology transformation or change initiatives, technology product/service launches, or similar tech-enabled strategic priorities to enhance client service offerings.
• Experience working with technology vendors, in particular on strategic partnerships, is strongly preferred.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to collaborate and influence across stakeholder types, including leadership, attorneys, technologists, and business teams.
• A high degree of professionalism, autonomy, accuracy, accountability and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholder demands independently.
• Familiarity with data governance, information security, and/or responsible AI frameworks is preferred.
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for leveraging emerging technologies to transform the business and practice of law.
• Proficiency in MS Office, with data analysis experience preferred (Excel, Power BI or similar), GenAI, business intelligence tools, or other legal tech solutions preferred.

Compensation

The base salary range below represents the low and high end of the salary range for this position in New York City. This range may differ based on your geographic location and cost of living considerations. At Kirkland & Ellis, we consider compensation more than just a base salary. We offer an exceptional range of flexible benefits including comprehensive healthcare, paid time off, and retirement. We also offer personal support and tailored learning and development opportunities all designed to help you realize your full potential both in life and at work.

Compensation Range

New York City: $153,000 - $230,000

Equal Employment Opportunity

All employment decisions, including the recruiting, hiring, placement, training availability, promotion, compensation, evaluation, disciplinary actions, and termination of employment (if necessary) are made without regard to the employee’s race, color, creed, religion, sex, pregnancy or childbirth, personal appearance, family responsibilities, sexual orientation or preference, gender identity, political affiliation, source of income, place of residence, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, marital status, military veteran status, unfavorable discharge from military service, physical or mental disability, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.