Knowledge Architect Manager

Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 125,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP in Los Angeles seeks a Knowledge Architect Manager to lead research and knowledge management, transforming a traditional library into an AI-enabled practice.

You will manage licenses for Westlaw, Lexis, GenAI tools, guide attorneys on AI tool use, oversee taxonomy and repositories, and build governance around AI outputs.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in legal research or law library management.
• Experience managing vendor relationships and licenses for legal research or SaaS.
• Fluency with AI-powered legal research tools and clear viewpoints on their use.
• Strong research skills across legal, business, and market intelligence.
• Experience mentoring a team.

Responsibilities

• Shape strategy for research and knowledge services firm-wide.
• Lead substantive legal, business, and market research for attorneys and practice groups.
• Own the firm's knowledge architecture — precedent banks, practice guides, work-product repositories, and the intranet's practice group resource pages — including the taxonomy, metadata, and provenance standards.
• Collaborate with practice group leaders to capture institutional knowledge at risk of loss and build systems to preserve it.
• Oversee legislative and regulatory tracking relevant to the firm's practices.
• Manage the firm's portfolio of research and AI platform licenses (Westlaw, Lexis, specialty databases, GenAI tools), including renewals and usage analysis.
• Evaluate new AI and research tools with CAIO and make recommendations.
• Negotiate contract terms as vendors move toward usage-based models.
• Advise on copyright compliance and license-restriction awareness across research subscriptions.
• Lead a team of research and knowledge professionals and report on utilization and ROI.

Skills

Legal research

Knowledge management

Vendor management

AI tools

Team leadership

Education

MLIS

JD

Tools

Westlaw

Lexis

GenAI tools

Job description

Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp has spent more than a century earning a reputation as a "go-to" firm for sophisticated work, trusted by legacy institutional clients, including some of the entertainment industry's most iconic studios and talent, all without losing the collegiality of a mid-sized practice. With offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C., our attorneys practice business law with depth across Complex Litigation, Intellectual Property & Technology, Trusts & Estates, Labor & Employment, Entertainment, Tax, Real Estate, and Corporate Business Transactions. We are looking for a motivated Knowledge Architect Manager to support these practices.

Help us redefine what legal knowledge and research look like in an AI-enabled practice.

MSK is looking for a Knowledge Architect Manager to lead the evolution of our research and knowledge management function, from a traditional library model into a modern discipline built for AI-powered legal work. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can manage vendor strategy, guide substantive research, govern institutional knowledge, and serve as the firm's go-to expert on how AI research tools should be used.

If you have watched legal research evolve from print collections to AI-powered tools over the course of your career, and have developed a considered point of view on how that transition should be managed, we would welcome the opportunity to speak with you.

The expected annualized base salary range for this position is $125,000 to $160,000. Actual pay will be adjusted based on experience and other job-related factors permitted by law.

What you'll do

Research & knowledge strategy

• Sit on the firm's administrative management team, shaping strategy for research and knowledge services firm-wide.
• Lead substantive legal, business, and market research for attorneys and practice groups.
• Own the firm's knowledge architecture — precedent banks, practice guides, work-product repositories, and the intranet's practice group resource pages — including the taxonomy, metadata, and provenance standards that keep them usable by people and AI systems alike.
• Partner with practice group leaders to find where institutional knowledge is at risk of being lost, and build systems to capture it.
• Oversee legislative and regulatory tracking relevant to the firm's practices.
• Manage the firm's full portfolio of research and AI platform licenses (Westlaw, Lexis, specialty databases, GenAI research tools, and more), including renewals, usage analysis, and cost justification.
• Evaluate new AI and research tools as they hit the market, working with our CAIO to make recommendations grounded in real attorney workflow.
• Negotiate contract terms as vendors move away from flat-fee licensing toward seat-based, usage-based, and enterprise models.
• Advise on and enforce copyright compliance and license-restriction awareness across the firm's research subscriptions.

AI governance & training

• Serve as the firm's practical authority on AI research tool use — where it helps, where it introduces risk, and how outputs should be verified before they reach a client deliverable.
• Build and maintain lightweight QA practices — citation checks, hallucination spot-checks — for AI-assisted research.
• Guide attorneys and staff across all levels of AI fluency, from building basic comfort to sharpening judgment for power users.

Team & operational leadership

• Manage a team of research and knowledge professionals, setting priorities and development paths as the team's skill mix evolves.
• Report on utilization, ROI, and adoption metrics for research and AI tools to firm leadership.

What you bring

• 5+ years in legal research, law firm knowledge management, or law librarianship, with a track record of increasing responsibility.
• Demonstrated experience managing vendor relationships and license agreements for legal research or SaaS platforms.
• Working fluency with AI-powered legal research tools, and a clear, well-formed point of view on their appropriate use and limitations.
• Strong research skills spanning legal, business, and market intelligence sources.
• Experience managing or mentoring a team.

Nice to have

• MLIS or JD — not required based on experience.
• Experience building or governing a firm knowledge repository (precedent bank, practice guide system, or similar).
• Familiarity with data stewardship concepts — metadata, taxonomy, provenance — as applied to legal content.
• Experience presenting technology or research strategy recommendations to firm leadership or practice group chairs.

Where this role sits

This role reports to the VP of IT/Service Delivery. You'll manage a team of research and knowledge professionals and work closely with the Firm's CAIO on tool strategy and evaluation.

The Firm offers a competitive salary, attractive benefits, and a pleasant and supportive environment.