Legal Program Manager – OCM & Spend
OpenAI
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Hybrid
Location: San Francisco • California • 🇺🇸 United States
Visit company websiteSalary
💰 $265,000 per year
Job Level
SeniorLead
About the role
- Develop, implement, and manage a comprehensive outside counsel management program, including strategic sourcing, selection, performance evaluation, and consolidation.
- Design and deploy sophisticated pricing models and alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) to drive cost predictability and maximize value from our law firm partners. Develop firm panels and implement an RFP process for lower risk, repeatable work.
- Establish, maintain, and systematically enforce outside counsel billing guidelines and standardize firm engagement/onboarding processes.
- Own the legal department's P&L and implement legal budget QBRs; you will be responsible for all budgeting, forecasting, accruals, and financial reporting in close partnership with the Finance team and Legal budget owners.
- Analyze legal spend data to identify key trends, drivers, and opportunities for cost savings and process improvements.
- Develop and manage matter-level budgeting processes to ensure financial discipline.
- Lead the management and enhancement of existing OCM and matter management systems to ensure critical matter data is synced across Legal.
- Manage Legal’s current intake/ticketing solution broadly servicing the company wide inquiries; identify opportunities for automation and implement.
- Co-develop the long-term technology roadmap for the legal department, including legal team process transformation and adoption of internal tools.
- Establish and track key performance indicators (KPIs) and build dashboards to provide leadership with actionable insights into legal operations and spend.
- Standardize and streamline core legal workflows to improve efficiency and service delivery to the business; develop integrations to ensure data consistency.
Requirements
- A minimum of 15+ years of experience in legal operations, with a demonstrated track record of building and scaling the function in a high-growth technology environment.
- Deep, hands-on expertise in managing multi-million dollar legal budgets and developing sophisticated outside counsel management programs from the ground up.
- Proven success in negotiating aggressive fee arrangements (AFAs) and driving significant, quantifiable cost savings without sacrificing quality.
- Strong technical acumen with experience leading the end-to-end implementation of core legal systems (e.g., e-billing, CLM, matter management).
- An ownership mentality and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment; you are a strategic thinker who can also execute with a high degree of precision.
- Exceptional communication and project management skills, with the ability to build trust and collaborate effectively with stakeholders across Legal, Finance, IT, and executive leadership.
- A Bachelor's degree is required; a JD or MBA is strongly preferred.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
- Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
- 401(k) retirement plan with employer match
- Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
- Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
- 13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)
- Mental health and wellness support
- Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
- Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth
- Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
- Relocation support for eligible employees
- Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard skills
legal operationsbudget managementcost savings analysispricing modelsalternative fee arrangementsmatter managemente-billingcontract lifecycle managementfinancial reportingperformance evaluation
Soft skills
strategic thinkingproject managementcommunicationcollaborationtrust buildingownership mentalityadaptabilityexecution precisionstakeholder managementleadership
Certifications
Bachelor's degreeJDMBA