Birmingham, Bristol or Leeds | Hybrid 1 day a month in the office
A leading national law firm is seeking a highly organised, proactive Business Operations Manager to support one of its major legal departments and play a central role in driving operational excellence, consistency and performance across the business.
This is an exciting opportunity to join a forward‑thinking, award‑winning law firm recognised for its work across commercial, corporate, regulatory, employment, litigation and advisory services. With a strong national footprint and a reputation for excellence, the firm continues to grow year on year and is investing heavily in its people, infrastructure and future strategy.
The Role
As a Business Operations Manager (BOM), you will provide essential operational management support to Department Heads and partners, ensuring the smooth running of a busy national legal department. You’ll act as a trusted adviser, project manager and connector, helping to drive improvements, embed best practice and support the delivery of departmental objectives.
You will support either the Litigation, Advisory & Regulatory department or the Employment, Pensions & Immigration department.
Key Responsibilities
- Coordinating partner and fee earner meetings, including agendas, papers, minutes and action tracking
- Running bi‑monthly operational meetings with other Business Operations Managers
- Maintaining annual departmental management trackers and key deadlines
- Project managing departmental initiatives and maintaining action registers
- Supporting updates to departmental business plans and coordinating partner actions
- Planning and delivering departmental away days
- Managing IT kit approval processes
- Maintaining central filing of financial information for Department Heads
- Assisting with budgeting, data collation and spreadsheet preparation
- Reviewing utilisation data and providing weekly summaries
- Monitoring KPIs and liaising with Finance on aged lock‑up
- Streamlining write‑off processes and monitoring leakage
- Supporting the Best Practice Partner and Department Head on risk and compliance
- Tracking performance against risk and best practice objectives
- Liaising with the Risk & Best Practice team and coordinating audit requirements
- Working with BD & Marketing on assessments, reports and team plans
- Coordinating directory submissions and ensuring CVs and profiles are up to date
- Maintaining departmental marketing databases for tenders
- Scheduling internal training and managing external training requests and budgets
- Providing administrative support for recruitment processes
- Coordinating appraisals, objectives, promotions and pay review cycles
- Managing the departmental holiday approval process
- Identifying transformation opportunities and supporting project work
- Managing departmental HighQ sites
What You’ll Bring
- Significant experience in a similar operational role, or as a senior PA/management assistant at board level.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to handle confidential information with discretion.
- Strong influencing skills and confidence in challenging conversations.
- Solid understanding of financial processes and reporting.
- Project management experience.
- High attention to detail, strong organisational skills and a proactive mindset.
- Ability to collaborate effectively with peers across multiple offices.
- Advanced Microsoft Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
- Willingness to travel occasionally to other UK offices.