Accolades & Rankings Manager

Cooley•Santa Monica, NY

21h

About The Position

Cooley is seeking an Accolades & Ranking Manager to join the Communications team. Under the supervision of the Director of Communications, this role offers a great opportunity to an ambitious professional who specializes in this arena: to build something unique, impactful and enduring. The Accolades & Rankings Manager will have firmwide responsibility for managing the processes for responding to accolades and ranking opportunities and working within the communications team to optimize the results with most impact and engagement. The position requires a blend of superb project management and communications skills.

Requirements

After orientation at Cooley LLP, exhibit proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, iManage and other firm applications, including firm marketing systems software
Ability to work extended and/or weekend hours, as required
Ability to travel, as required
5+ years related experience (e.g., in awards and rankings, public relations, communications, marketing, or business development, preferably with law firm experience)
Senior level candidates must have 7+ years’ directly applicable exempt work experience, at least 4 of which include management experience in the applicable field, along with the proven ability to operate at an elevated level in terms of scope of responsibility, judgement and autonomy
Project management skills
Experience in a law firm or professional services environment, with a working knowledge of professional services sectors

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in English, Journalism, Communications, Marketing, Business or related field
Direct experience with legal rankings and awards is strongly desired
Supervisory experience
Ability to lead multiple projects and work with little direction in a highly collaborative environment
Excellent communication skills both written and verbal
Comprehensive, accurate note-taking and excellent proofreading skills
Ability to multi-task, problem-solve, work well under pressure and coordinate sophisticated communications programs with good results
Ability to consistently meet deadlines, including self-set and multi-tasked
Strong analytic and research skills
Experience in earning the trust and respect of high-performing senior professionals in a fast-paced environment
Ability to develop professional relationships both internally (with department members, lawyers and firm staff) and externally (with industry/regional associations, etc.)
Reliable and punctual
Adept at new and rapidly transforming technologies
Ability to manage multiple deadlines and projects while overseeing overall workflow for a busy ranking and award submission schedule
Ability to deal with fluid situations, changing priorities and requirements, and tight deadlines.
Attention to detail and excellent organizational skills
Exceptional written and verbal communications skills and ability to communicate with partners and professional colleagues across the firm

Responsibilities

Instituting a new era of improved processes for the intake, evaluation and pursuit of ranking and accolade opportunities, being discerning in focusing on those that best assist the promotion of particular lawyer, partner, practice area, department and firmwide brand, in line with Cooley’s business development objectives
Close collaboration with members of the communications and marketing & business development teams to assign submissions, manage workflow, provide guidance on approach and requirements, and meet deadlines
Research award and ranking opportunities, track and record results, and provide reports and analysis to marketing colleagues and firm partners and leaders for use in internal communications, benchmarking, and marketing materials
Build and deepen relationships with department and practice group leadership teams, focus partners and so as to best understand their work and strategic objectives and identify the ranking and recognition opportunities best placed to support such objectives
Project managing the compilation of key high-level award and survey responses and serving as a lead writer where appropriate
Provide information to firm leadership on rankings research processes and best practices for submissions and nominations in an ongoing effort to improve and scale education, training and support on ranking submissions
Serve as direct supervisor and mentor to direct reports
Provide day-to-day supervision of direct reports, ensure compliance with assigned work hours and monitor for compliance with all firm and department policies. Manage staffing coverage, review and process time logs/time off requests
Support business professional development and continued educational opportunities
In collaboration with immediate supervisor and central HR, participate in hiring, performance appraisals, counseling, termination and other employee lifecycle events
All other duties as assigned or required