Director, Legal Operations

HighLevel

2d • $187,000 - $262,000 • Remote

About The Position

HighLevel is an AI powered, all-in-one white-label sales & marketing platform that empowers agencies, entrepreneurs, and businesses to elevate their digital presence and drive growth. We are proud to support a global and growing community of over 2 million businesses, comprised of agencies, consultants, and businesses of all sizes and industries. HighLevel empowers users with all the tools needed to capture, nurture, and close new leads into repeat customers. As of mid 2025, HighLevel processes over 4 billion API hits and handles more than 2.5 billion message events every day. Our platform manages over 470 terabytes of data distributed across five databases, operates with a network of over 250 microservices, and supports over 1 million hostnames.

HighLevel isn’t a typical SaaS company, and this isn’t a typical legal ops role. We move fast, stay lean, and reject process for process’s sake.
We’re looking for a Director of Legal Operations to design and run a scalable Legal operating model that makes the team faster not heavier. You will be the VP of Legal’s strategic and operational partner, translating company growth into systems, tools, and workflows that scale.
This is a hands-on leadership role. You’ll design the system and build it — configuring tools, writing play books, partnering with engineering, and removing friction. You’ll lead a small team of legal operations specialists and be accountable for execution.
You are equal parts strategist and builder.

Requirements

• 12+ years in legal operations with a track record of building or scaling legal ops functions in high-growth environments
• Experience leading AI, automation, or data-driven transformation initiatives within a legal department
• Experience managing discovery processes, including third-party subpoenas, litigation holds, and production workflows
• Deep experience with legal technology platforms (CLM, e-billing, matter management, eDiscovery), including hands-on implementation
• Strong technical fluency: able to collaborate directly with engineers on tool development without an intermediary
• Experience owning or significantly contributing to legal department budgeting, forecasting, and outside counsel management
• Philosophy of building lean, frictionless processes, with examples of systems you've built that made teams faster
• Experience managing and developing a legal operations team

Nice To Haves

• Experience in SaaS, technology, or marketing industries
• Familiarity with Ironclad or similar CLM platforms
• Hands-on experience with legal-specific AI tools (custom chatbots, GC AI, Harvey, Casetext, LexisNexis+ AI) for contract analysis, research, and workflow optimization
• Experience with IP portfolio administration or working with patent/trademark filings
• MBA or other advanced business degree
• CLOC membership or other legal operations credentials

Responsibilities

• Help develop, own, and continuously refine the legal department's operational strategy, ensuring alignment with HighLevel's business trajectory and proactively identifying gaps, inefficiencies, and opportunities to scale
• Assist with organizational design and capacity planning across the Legal team, assessing structure, workload distribution, and capability gaps to ensure the department scales appropriately without unnecessary headcount expansion, and that work is happening at the right levels
• Design processes that are frictionless by default: the goal is to remove obstacles and accelerate the team, not to add layers of approval or documentation
• Define and drive the legal department's AI and technology roadmap; evaluate, implement, and optimize tools (including Ironclad CLM) using a disciplined build-vs.-buy framework
• Partner with engineering to build bespoke solutions for legal analytics, contract intelligence, and operational reporting; translate legal needs into technical requirements without needing an intermediary
• Develop dashboards and metrics that give the VP of Legal clear visibility into workload, cycle times, spend, and team performance
• Build and maintain operational playbooks, SOPs, and the legal team's internal knowledge base
• Partner with the VP of Legal to own the executive reporting framework, including dashboards and strategic updates that articulate Legal's impact, risk posture, and contribution to HighLevel's objectives
• Build and maintain OKR tracking systems and reporting cadences that keep the team accountable and give leadership clear visibility into progress
• Monitor OKR progress, flag risks and blockers, and recommend course corrections before deadlines slip
• Translate legal activity and operational data into strategic narratives that demonstrate Legal's value across the organization
• Identify work that should transfer to other departments and build the training, tooling, and self-service resources to make those transitions successful
• Establish scalable intake processes, AI-powered self-service tools, and clear escalation paths that reduce unnecessary legal involvement in routine matters
• Lead change management efforts across Legal, ensuring new tools and processes are adopted effectively and sustainably; proactively manage resistance and align stakeholders around new initiatives
• Serve as HighLevel's primary point of contact for third-party subpoenas and information requests, managing the end-to-end response process independently
• Review subpoenas for scope, relevance, and legal sufficiency; negotiate with requesting parties to prevent over-disclosure of customer information
• Coordinate collection and review of responsive information and draft responses for lawyer approval
• Develop and maintain standardized workflows, templates, and tracking systems for subpoena response
• Own the administrative infrastructure for HighLevel's IP portfolio, including document management, filing systems, and record-keeping for patents, trademarks, and related assets
• Manage the invention disclosure process: intake of submissions, tracking through evaluation, and follow-up with submitters and decision-makers
• Build and maintain a document taxonomy that ensures IP records are accurately labeled and retrievable
• Coordinate announcements for new patent issuances and partner with outside IP counsel on administrative matters and deadline tracking
• Serve as a core member of the Legal leadership team, with the authority to hold legal team members accountable to defined goals, timelines, and operational standards
• Manage a team of legal operations specialists, setting priorities, providing feedback, and fostering accountability
• Mentor and develop team members, building the skills needed for the team to take on increasing responsibility
• Serve as a force multiplier for the VP of Legal, anticipating needs and solving problems before they become bottlenecks

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed