Senior Manager, Legal Project Management

Goodwin Procter•Boston, MA

About The Position

Join Goodwin’s Global Operations Team and make a real impact on a global scale. Goodwin works with some of the world’s most successful and innovative investors, entrepreneurs, and disruptors in the life sciences, private equity, real estate, technology, and financial industries. As part of the Global Operations Team, you’ll collaborate with colleagues from varied backgrounds and experiences, fostering an environment where cross-functional learning, networking, and collaboration are at the core of what we do. This role involves partnering with attorneys and clients to deliver cutting-edge solutions in high-stakes litigation and dispute resolution, world-class regulatory compliance and advisory services, and complex transactions. The firm’s commitment to integrity, ingenuity, agility, and ambition drives them, and they have been recognized as the “Best Business Team” by The American Lawyer. This is an opportunity to grow professionally in a dynamic, global environment. As Senior Manager, Legal Project Management, you will partner directly with partners and fee earners across assigned practice groups and sectors to drive matter delivery, commercial discipline, and client transparency. You will work closely with the Head of LPM and the broader Client Value & Pricing team to embed LPM into the fabric of how Goodwin delivers work.

Requirements

5+ years' experience in legal project management, legal operations, or a related role within a law firm, in-house legal team, or professional services environment.
Demonstrated track record of embedding LPM in a nascent environment, e.g. where partners have not previously used LPM.
Exposure to design thinking, Lean, Agile, or Six Sigma methodologies.
Prior involvement in training, coaching, or change management initiatives.
PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent project management certification.
Expertise in the fundamentals of project management and change leadership.
Strong commercial mindset with deep expertise in AFAs, matter budgeting, profitability analysis and commercial risk management.
Strong analytical and financial acumen.
Comfortable interrogating data, building models, and making commercial recommendations.
Hands-on experience with legal tech platforms (e.g. workflow automation, collaboration, matter management, BI/reporting tools) and a genuine curiosity about AI and emerging tech.
Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and build credibility with senior partners and demanding clients.
Ability to set a vision and bring others on the journey.

Responsibilities

Build trusted advisory relationships with partners and senior associates, engaging at matter inception to shape scope, resourcing, risk mitigation, and fee structures.
Collaborate with the Pricing team to deliver integrated pricing and project management solutions.
Act as strategic partner to new business development, supporting client pitches, fee discussions, and acting as a voice of innovation and commercial rigor.
Lead end-to-end LPM support on complex, high-value matters, ensuring that work is delivered within scope, on budget, on time, while protecting matter profitability.
Ensure that matters are reviewed on completion to capture lessons and best practices.
Drive commercial conversations around scope change, budget risk, and profitability, proactively identifying and addressing commercial issues before they escalate.
Develop and maintain matter plans, budgets, and resource trackers that provide partners and clients with real-time visibility of matter health.
Build direct client relationships, supporting transparent communication on matter progress, budget status, and delivery timelines.
Develop and utilize real-time dashboards to support client transparency and risk management.
Articulate Goodwin's delivery performance in client-friendly terms through value reports and post-engagement reviews.
Champion the adoption of AI, automation, and data tools to transform matter planning, tracking, and reporting.
Contribute to predictive budgeting models and data-driven tools that improve matter forecasting accuracy.
Embed design thinking and process improvement into how matters are scoped and managed, building scalable templates and workflows.
Help create the LPM operating model, toolkit, and ways of working – building intellectual capital that will scale across the firm.
Develop frameworks, playbooks, and training materials that will form the backbone of the function's operating model.
Mentor junior team members as the function grows, modeling excellence and fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation.