Senior Manager, Legal Operations

Adobe Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 161,000 - 233,000; Full time

Job summary

Adobe Inc. is seeking a Senior Manager, Legal Operations in California to lead outside counsel and vendor programs, manage legal spend and financial operations, and drive operational intelligence across the Legal & Government Relations group.

The role partners with Finance and Procurement to improve cost efficiency and financial planning while building dashboards and executive insights for strategic decisions.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in Legal Operations, Business Operations, Finance, Consulting, or a related field.
• Proven experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
• Deep expertise managing outside counsel programs, legal spend, vendor relationships, budgeting, and forecasting.
• Strong business and financial competence with the ability to translate data into actionable executive insights.
• Proven ability to lead multiple complex initiatives simultaneously in a dynamic environment.
• Outstanding communication, collaborative and positive attitude, and influencing skills.
• Track record of driving innovation, challenging the status quo, and delivering measurable business impact.
• Passion for AI, technology, and modernizing how organizations operate.

Responsibilities

• Manage Adobe's external counsel and legal vendor programs, including governance, performance oversight, billing adherence, fee structures, and cost efficiency.
• Own LGR financial operations, including budgeting, forecasting, accruals, spend reporting, and financial controls.
• Partner with Finance and Procurement to improve cost efficiency, prioritization, and financial planning.
• Build operational metrics, dashboards, reporting, and executive insights to promote data-driven decision making.
• Provide operational and financial insights that support long-term planning and leadership decision making.
• Find opportunities to improve efficiency, decision making, and business outcomes through innovative operational practices and new technologies.
• Partner with Solutions Consulting to support transformation initiatives by providing operational context, data, governance, and value measurement.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team.
• Establish clear priorities, goals, and operating rhythms that drive accountability, execution, and continuous improvement.
• Build organizational capability and foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and high performance.

Skills

Outside counsel management

Vendor management

Legal spend management

Financial operations

Operational intelligence

Data-driven decision making

People leadership

AI mindset

Job description

The Opportunity

Adobe's Legal & Government Relations (LGR) group is seeking a strategic and innovative Senior Manager, Legal Operations.

This highly visible, cross-functional leadership role is responsible for overseeing outside counsel and vendor management, legal spend and financial operations, operational intelligence, and core business operations. Partnering closely with legal leadership, Finance, Procurement, and partners across Adobe, this leader will drive operational excellence, financial stewardship, and insight-based decision making. The ideal candidate is a proven people leader who thrives in a fast-paced environment, balances competing priorities with ease, challenges conventional thinking, and brings an AI-first mentality to modernizing and elevating the legal function.

What You'll Do

Outside Counsel, Vendor & Financial Management

• Manage Adobe's external counsel and legal vendor programs, including governance, performance oversight, billing adherence, fee structures, and cost efficiency.




• Own LGR financial operations, including budgeting, forecasting, accruals, spend reporting, and financial controls.




• Partner with Finance and Procurement to improve cost efficiency, prioritization, and financial planning.

Operational Intelligence & Business Operations

• Build operational metrics, dashboards, reporting, and executive insights to promote data-driven decision making.




• Provide operational and financial insights that support long-term planning and leadership decision making.

AI, Innovation & Transformation

• Find opportunities to improve efficiency, decision making, and business outcomes through innovative operational practices and new technologies.




• Partner with Solutions Consulting to support transformation initiatives by providing operational context, data, governance, and value measurement.

Guide and Grow a High-Performing Team

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team.




• Establish clear priorities, goals, and operating rhythms that drive accountability, execution, and continuous improvement.




• Build organizational capability and foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and high performance.

What You Need to Succeed

• Significant experience in Legal Operations, Business Operations, Finance, Consulting, or a related field.




• Proven experience leading and developing high-performing teams.




• Deep expertise managing outside counsel programs, legal spend, vendor relationships, budgeting, and forecasting.




• Strong business and financial competence with the ability to translate data into actionable executive insights.




• Proven ability to lead multiple complex initiatives simultaneously in a dynamic environment.




• Outstanding communication, collaborative and positive attitude, and influencing skills.




• Track record of driving innovation, challenging the status quo, and delivering measurable business impact.




• Passion for AI, technology, and modernizing how organizations operate.

About Adobe

Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe's industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.

Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We're on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours.

Let's Adobe together

At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture, focus on people, purpose and community, Adobe for All, comprehensive benefits programs, the stories we tell, the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.

Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.

Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email [e-mail].

AI Use Guidelines for Interviews:

Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.

At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI - and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it's restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience.

Expected Pay Range:

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this positionis $116,800 - $232,800 annually. Paywithin this range varies by work locationand may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills,and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.
In California, the pay range for this position is $160,800 - $232,800
In New York, the pay range for this position is $160,800 - $232,800
In Washington, the pay range for this position is $138,200 - $200,150

At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans. Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).

In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.

State-Specific Notices:

California

Fair Chance Ordinances

Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and \"fair chance\" ordinances.

Colorado

Application Window Notice

If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Legal Notice

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.