Senior IT Business Relationship Manager

Covington & Burling LLP; Washington (District of Columbia, MD); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Talantir seeks a Senior Business Relationship Manager to partner IT with attorneys and practice leadership, shaping demand, prioritizing technology needs, and guiding adoption of new solutions across the firm.

The role requires deep knowledge of law firm operations, attorney workflows, and governance, with 7+ years in a legal environment and a proven ability to translate business needs into strategic IT initiatives that drive results.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of relevant experience, ideally in a large law firm or legal services provider.
• Experience with IT demand management and governance.
• Knowledge of legal workflows and ethical/confidential considerations.

Responsibilities

• Represent the BRM function for strategic decisioning.
• Understand law firm operations, attorney workflows, and practice group structures.
• Advise on IT vision, strategy, and roadmaps to align with firm needs.
• Lead intake, business case development, and scoping of new technology requests.
• Collaborate with IT and practice leadership to prioritize initiatives.
• Participate in IT governance and contribute to change management efforts.
• Develop standards for project scoping, requirements, and test scripts.

Skills

BRM knowledge

Strategic planning

Stakeholder management

Change management

Legal industry experience

Education

Bachelors degree or higher (CS/IS/Business/Law)

Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent

Masters degree preferred

Job description

The Senior Business Relationship Manager (BRM) serves as a trusted advisor and strategic partner to attorneys and practice leadership, acting as the primary liaison between IT and the legal practice groups. This role requires deep, first-hand understanding of how law firms operate, how attorneys work, and the technology challenges inherent in legal practice. The Senior BRM leads IT demand management in close partnership with IT and practice group leadership, and is responsible for proactively identifying, shaping, and prioritizing the Firm’s strategic technology requirements. This individual engages across the lifecycle of IT solution delivery – actively participating in Firm / IT strategic planning activities, informing IT solution design and build activities to preserve alignment with Firm needs, and supporting organizational change management / readiness efforts to drive adoption of new technology solutions.

Responsibilities

• Represents the BRM function as needed for strategic decisioning
• Maintains deep understanding of law firm operations, including attorney workflows, practice group structures, matter lifecycles, client service expectations, and the ethical, risk, and confidentiality considerations that shape legal work.
• Leverages prior experience as a practicing attorney, knowledge manager, or business services lead in a legal profession to anticipate technology needs and translate attorney pain points into effective technology solutions.
• Advises attorneys and practice leadership on the IT vision, strategy, and roadmap to establishawareness, drive technology acumen, and help shape desired technology solutions
• Collaborates with other BRMs to spot Firm-wide trends and identify opportunities to work acrossdepartments / practice areas to break down business silos
• Partners closely with IT leadership and functional teams to share Firm requirements / insights, inform priorities / budget / resourcing, align solution design, and establish forward-looking roadmaps
• Leads the intake, justification, business case development, and scoping of new project / technology requests
• Preserves interactions between IT and practice groups across the Firm to maintain a continuingrelationship and a shared vision
• Proactively engages Firm stakeholders to establish forward-looking, strategic IT planning
• Formalizes the intake of the firm’s legal technology needs and actively engages in IT demandmanagement evaluation and planning
• Escalates items not receiving appropriate attention, including approvals, projects, and issues
• Participates in IT governance processes to support and balance prioritization across other Firm and IT needs
• Informs and supports the development of standards and templates for project scoping andjustification, requirements definition, functional and technical designs, process flow diagrams, system/ user acceptance test scripts, and other materials as needed
• Leads requirements definition with Firm stakeholders for critical projects and initiatives
• Informs and supports overall IT change management and communication strategies, actively leading execution for the areas of the Firm that the BRM supports
• Supports the definition of service level agreements (SLAs) for new or changed services to preserve an optimal experience for the Firm and its clients

Requirements: Education & Credentials

• College degree is strongly preferred, ideally in Computer Science, Information Systems,Business Administration, Finance, Law, Legal Studies or a related field. Master’s degreeis preferred
• A Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent legal education is desirable, particularly forcandidates with practice or knowledge management experience.
• Appropriate technical certification(s) are preferred

Knowledge & Experience

• 7+ years of relevant experience, ideally in a large Law Firm setting or a legal informationservices provider
• Demonstrated experience in strategic technology planning
• Demonstrated experience in leading the prioritization of multiple strategic objectives
• Demonstrated experience with organizational change management
• Strong familiarity with BRM models and associated leading practices for process design, roledefinition, and reporting
• Strong familiarity with project and program management disciplines, methodologies,and processes
• Familiarity with the functioning of a program management office and governance frameworks
• Strong experience with legal technologies
• Law Firm experience required

Skills & Expectations

• Proven ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with the Practice Leadershipand represent the voice of the customer
• Ability to develop and motivate technology teams, inclusive of staff, and 3rd party vendors /consultants
• Ability to establish rapport and elicit cooperation from personnel across all levels,including executive management, Partners, and cross-functional leadership
• Responsible for staying abreast of business issues and industry trends to anticipate impacts oftechnology changes on the workforce and business
• Strong customer service orientation in combination with persuasive skills and diplomacy to leadchange and guide decisions
• Proven analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to appropriately prioritize and execute tasks in a fast-paced, service-intensive environment
• Effective written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills
• Ability to conduct research into project and portfolio management issues and products asrequired
• Highly self-motivated and directed
• Team oriented and skilled in working within a collaborative environment

Work Location & Conditions

• Washington, D.C.
• Core hours of 9:00 am – 5:30 pm, Monday-Friday; hybrid in-office, which will be a combination of onsite and remote work with occasional on-call availability.

Position requires access to equipment, software, or technology that is subject to U.S. export controls. To be granted access pursuant to US Export Control laws, candidate must be either (a) a United States citizen or national; (b) a person lawfully admitted for permanent residence of the United States (i.e., "Green Card" holder);or (c) an INS-approved refugee or asylum holder who has applied for naturalization within six months of the date the individual first became eligible; and if not yet naturalized, is still actively pursuing naturalization if 2 years have passed since the date of application to be granted access pursuant to US Export Control laws. Candidates will be required to submit appropriate documentation to determine whether access can be granted before proceeding further through the application process.