Business Innovation Strategist

Akin•Washington, WA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Business Innovation Strategist will turn Business Services’ momentum in AI and automation into a high-performing portfolio of change and transformation across Finance, HR, Risk and Compliance, Marketing and Business Development, Client Value, and Operations. The role is based in the Dallas, New York, or Washington, DC office, with hybrid work capabilities, and reports to the Director of Innovation and AI. Working with the Innovation & AI team, the Project Management Office (PMO), Technology teams, subject matter experts, departmental leaders, and vendors, the Strategist will identify high-value processes to transform and take solutions from prototype through production. The role makes use of the firm’s existing tools to deliver measurable value and return on investment. It involves substantial autonomy and responsibility for leading cross-functional change, with attention to the constraints of a highly regulated firm and the specific operational needs of a law firm. The Strategist will support innovation through horizon scanning and thought leadership, evaluate and prioritize opportunities, lead structured improvement programs, build capability and adoption across Business Services, and measure and report benefits. The position contributes to shaping a newly created function and establishing a lasting culture of innovation within Business Services and the firm.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
At least five years of experience in process improvement, transformation, or innovation, ideally within professional services.
Background in business analysis and workflow design, including documenting current- and future-state processes and writing proposals.
Current, hands-on experience applying generative AI and/or automation to real business processes.
Proven record of delivering cross-departmental initiatives with demonstrable, measurable efficiency or performance gains.
Experience facilitating workshops to map processes, identify blockers, and document requirements.
Experience building consensus among senior stakeholders, onboarding end users, and supporting sustained, effective use of future-state solutions.
Exposure to enterprise platforms such as ServiceNow, Workday, Intapp, or Aderant.

Nice To Haves

Strong understanding of how Finance, HR, Risk and Compliance, Marketing and Business Development, and Operations function in a corporate or law firm setting.
Strong working knowledge of Microsoft 365, including Copilot, Teams, SharePoint, and Power BI or equivalent reporting tools.
Familiarity with low-code automation such as Power Automate.
Collaborative approach and ability to build trust, influence without formal authority, and communicate directly about areas for improvement.
Comfort working in a newly created role within an evolving function where processes and precedents are still being established.

Responsibilities

Monitor developments in AI, automation, and other transformative technologies affecting the legal industry.
Contribute to innovation case studies, publications, and internal reports, and represent the firm at legal technology conferences and events.
Serve as the primary contact for Business Services requests relating to AI and process improvement; assess and evaluate proposed opportunities.
Work with department leaders to identify, assess, and prioritize opportunities based on impact, effort, and readiness, and contribute to a ranked project and opportunity pipeline.
Translate operational pain points into scoped initiatives with owners, success criteria, and measurement plans.
Lead cross-functional improvement programs from scoping through post-implementation review.
Guide work through demos, proofs of concept, proofs of value, pilots, and deployment.
Work with subject matter experts to map current processes, design target workflows, configure or prototype solutions, and test them against real work.
Partner with the PMO and IT on delivery and with Innovation on tooling, configuration, and governance.
Coordinate with Practice Innovation Strategists to address needs and triage requests, aligning Business Services solutions with firmwide standards.
Extend the firm’s AI capability pathway into Business Services and build a network of departmental champions to sustain local adoption.
Work with HR, Learning & Development, and IT Training to incorporate AI and process topics into existing curricula through role-specific, workflow-based sessions.
Document and share playbooks, templates, and examples so solutions can be expanded across departments.
Set pre-change baselines, measure results after implementation, and report time saved, cost avoided, error reduction, and service improvement.
Provide regular reporting to the COO, CIO, and PMO on the pipeline, work in progress, and benefits realized.
Keep work aligned with firm AI governance, information security, information governance, and data standards.