K&L Gates

Job Description

At K&L Gates, we are looking for smart, imaginative and hard-working people with diverse backgrounds, experiences and ideas to join us. Perhaps our search for talented visionaries and your search for important and impactful work lead to the same place.

We are seeking a Senior Manager, Automation & Development to join the firm. As an integral part of the K&L Gates Information Technology Department, the Senior Manager of Automation and Development leads teams to drive the utilization, maintenance, and integration of the firm's custom-developed applications and workflows. This active role involves daily management of personnel and necessitates strong skills in people and vendor resource management, a solid grasp of modern development frameworks, and excellent collaboration and communication abilities.

Key Relationships

The Senior Manager, Automation and Development, will report to the Director of Enterprise Application and work closely with the Global Information Technology Teams. Building strong relationships with direct reports, peer managers, directors, and external vendors is essential. Additionally, the Senior Managers will also need to build great relationships with their customers in HR, Finance, Marketing, and other key departments.

Key duties include but are not limited to:

Strategic Planning

• Collaborates with the Enterprise Applications leadership team and IT architects to help define the vision, strategy, and roadmap for the firm’s Application Platforms.
• Creates and manages the code review process for the department’s custom solutions and workflows creating an ecosystem that is secure and ensures long term viability of created assets.
• Develop data-driven strategies to enhance operations, improve decision-making, optimize solutions, and boost business efficiency.
• Develop and enhance the firm's custom solutions to be cloud-first, modern, flexible, highly available, and of industry-leading quality.
• Coordinate and collaborate with the Application and Integrations, AI and Data Management, and Modern Workplace teams to ensure solutions are forward-thinking and implemented with a focus on future needs.
• Unite with IT Architects to enforce data governance, security, privacy protocols, and operational/firm design standards are implemented on all solutions (applications / software / code / workflows).

Leading collaboration and cross functional platform design

• Participate and manage requirements gathering process – collect, review, analyze, evaluate, estimate, prioritize and document business requirements for supported initiatives and enterprise/team data projects.
• Design and implement solutions (applications / software / code / workflows) and services that can be operationalized at scale, enabling other teams and departments to leverage them effectively. Ensure solutions (applications / software / code / workflows) are practical, cost-effective, and easy to integrate into daily business operations.
• Become a catalyst for change and adoption by collaborating with the Business Relationship Managers, Project Management Office, Organizational Change Managers, and the Global Support Teams to enhance and improve changes to solutions and support processes.
• Drive innovation by supporting the team in incorporating AI and automation to automate legal processes and improve department efficiency.
• Effectively convey complex application and integration concepts to non-technical stakeholders in a clear and actionable manner.
• Act as the main liaison between business units and other technical teams to ensure that the solution (applications / software / code / workflows) strategy aligns with the overarching goals of the entire enterprise.

Firm Applications and Integrations Ownership

• Acts as technical owner of the solutions (applications / software / code / workflows) by developing supporting teams, structures and processes that adheres to industry security, vendor best practices guidelines of assigned solutions.
• Advocates for solutions that prioritize system stability, reliability, and scalability, aligned with the firm's goals over individual client or user preferences.
• Develops, implements, and continuously refines Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the department's managed applications and systems, ensuring these metrics effectively measure performance, drive strategic improvements, and align with the firm's overall objectives.
• In collaboration with the Director of Enterprise Applications, takes ownership and management of vendor relationships, ensuring that these partnerships are meaningful, productive, and aligned with the firm's strategic goals.
• Serves as the technical owner for assigned solutions (applications / software / code / workflows) and collaborate with team members to respond to support, vulnerabilities, information, and audit requests.
• Oversee the designs of custom solutions with the goal of creating a unified ecosystem and user experience.
• Facilitates the enforcement of the firm’s application and security policies by designing systems and procedures to ensure compliance.
• Encourages support teams to develop automated processes and systems to reduce day-to-day maintenance.

Management and Leadership

• Exemplify the principles of the Enterprise Applications Team, promoting a culture characterized by collaboration, innovation, adherence to enterprise processes, and a focus on achieving results.
• Participates as a member of the change control process, with the responsibility of reviewing and approving solution design, engineering, and code. Ensure that all solutions are stable, secure, compliant, and highly available, thereby enhancing the firm's business operations.
• Define team roles and responsibilities, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives.
• Recruit, train, and mentor a diverse applications and integrations engineering team, including developers, application engineers, workflow engineers, business analysts, project managers, data analysts, and other roles as deemed appropriate.
• Serve as a direct supervisor by offering mentoring, technical and social guidance, and both positive and constructive managerial feedback.
• Be a champion of career advancement by encouraging training, professional development, and participation in seminars.
• Serves on the Enterprise Applications Department Management team, reporting metrics, updating project statuses, creating work plans, assigning tasks, and managing incident and request queues.
• Supervise daily activities of direct reports, ensuring adherence to assigned work hours and monitoring compliance with all firm and department policies. Manage staffing coverage and on-call rotations, and review and process time logs and time off requests.
• In coordination with the immediate supervisor and human resources, participate in hiring processes, performance evaluations, counseling sessions, providing feedback, terminations, and other employee lifecycle events.

Experience and Skills required

• B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or equivalent education/experience to provide the necessary skills to perform primary responsibilities
• Ability to multi-task, lead and mentor engineers/developers, work under pressure, and handle interruptions while maintaining flexibility in work assignments.
• Aptitude to effectively communicate verbally, in writing, and interact with diverse personalities while maintaining a professional attitude.
• A minimum of 7 years of relevant people supervision and experience leading a team of 4 or more persons.
• A minimum of 10 years of demonstrated application support and administration, code/workflow development and support, or related experience in an application architecture capacity.
• Experienced in managing relationships, projects, and/or outsourcing with vendors.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Microsoft Windows Operating Systems, Microsoft Office Suite, Microsoft IIS, Azure Application Fabric, Microsoft Power Automate/Powe Apps, Microsoft SharePoint, Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS), Azure Active Directory or Active Directory, Microsoft SQL, and ServiceNOW.
• A minimum of 8+ years working with multitier architecture applications or developed solutions leveraging high availability technologies such as load balancing, clustering, SQL Always on, or cloud-based equivalences.
• Experienced in managing and supporting solutions that comply with global data handling and regulatory standards, including legal-specific standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, E-Discovery, and other regional privacy standards.
• Understanding of writing technical documentation and training materials for the applications supported by the Enterprise Applications team.
• Deep knowledge of the legal industry, especially in three or more of the following areas: conflict management systems, new business intake systems, document management systems, time entry, forms platforms, Knowledge Management, CRM and legal operations.
• ABOUT THE FIRM
• K&L Gates is a fully integrated global law firm with lawyers located across five continents in more than 40 offices. We have experienced dramatic growth in the past decade and now rank among the largest U.S. based law firms in the world. We take pride in constantly striving for innovation, imagination and an entrepreneurial spirit. We come up with big ideas and then roll up our sleeves to get the job done, guiding our clients through their most complex issues in a variety of industry sectors and across multiple regions of the world.
• The industry recognition the firm has garnered emanates from the foundation of a global community aligned on behalf of our clients. The people at K&L Gates are committed to working together to create a legacy for each other, the firm, our clients, and the communities in which we serve. We thrive in an inclusive and socially conscious environment that embraces diversity and takes a holistic approach to the career evolution of all our professionals.
• For more information or to view other job opportunities, please click here to go back to our careers page.
• Notice: We participate in E-Verify in certain Firm locations for purposes of verifying employment eligibility.
• 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.
• BENEFITS
• K&L Gates offers our personnel a comprehensive suite of benefits to help meet your needs now and in the future. Depending on your eligibility, options for full-time personnel include:
  • Medical/Prescription Drug Coverage (including a Health Savings Account feature)
  • Back-up Child/Elder Care and access to a caregiving concierge
  • Dental Insurance
  • Wellness Program
  • Vision Insurance
  • Pre-tax Commuting Benefits
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan and Profit Sharing
  • Business Travel Accident Insurance
  • Short- and Long-term Disability Protection
  • Pet Insurance
  • Life Insurance (including Basic, Supplemental, Spouse, Child, and Accidental Death and Dismemberment)
  • Health Advocacy Services
  • Paid Time Off (25-30 days per year)
  • Identity Protection/Restoration and Fraud Insurance
  • Parental Leave (18 weeks of which 6 are paid; short-term disability may provide additional paid time off)
  • Student loan refinancing options and access to a student loan concierge service
  • Paid Holidays (12)
  • Addiction Resources
  • Family Building Benefits
  • Breast Milk Delivery and Lactation Support Services
  • Flexible Spending Accounts
  • Employees also may be eligible to receive bonuses and certain expense reimbursements
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Professional Development and CLE Credit Opportunities
  • 529 Deductions
  • Relocation
  • Accident Insurance
  • Employee Referral Program
  • Critical Illness Insurance
  • Hybrid/Remote Work Opportunities
  • Hospital Indemnity Insurance
  • Perks including: Technology, Entertainment, and Travel Discount Programs
  • Bereavement Leave
  • All other benefits (such as leaves of absence) required by law
• EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
• The Firm is an equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of the Firm that employment decisions shall be based on merit, qualifications and competence. Employment practices will not be influenced or affected by virtue of a person’s race (including traits associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles such as afros, braids, locks, and twists), religion, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, gender, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, familial status, domestic violence victim status, military and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. This policy governs all aspects of employment including, without limitation, recruiting, hiring, compensation, benefits, promotion, assignment, and dismissal. In addition, it is the Firm’s policy to provide an environment that is free of prohibited harassment of any kind including, without limitation, that which is based on sex, race, age, disability, ethnic background, or any other category protected by law (including the categories listed above). The Firm complies with federal and state disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please contact askHR@klgates.com.