Director, Legal Operations | Hybrid | Reston, VA

About Ellucian

Ellucian is a global market leader in education technology. We power innovation for higher education, partnering with more than 2800 customers across 50 countries and serving over 20 million students. Ellucians AI-powered platform, trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, drives efficiency, personalized experiences, and strengthened engagement for all students, faculty, and staff. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle from student recruitment, enrollment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucians innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners, and user community of more than 45,000 provide best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes.

Rooted in Purpose

We embrace the power to lead, the courage to innovate, and the determination to grow. At our core, we believe in humanizing our approach, recognizing that our people are our greatest strength. With a shared vision of transformation, we endeavor to shape a brighter future for higher education.

About the Opportunity

The Director, Legal Operations, leads the operational strategy and infrastructure of Ellucians global Legal Department to ensure efficient data-driven and scalable legal service delivery aligned with business objectives. Reporting directly to the Chief Legal Officer, this role partners closely with Legal leadership, Finance, IT, and other cross-functional teams to modernize legal operations through technology, process optimization, vendor strategy, financial management, and analytics.

This role requires strong operational judgment, change leadership, and the ability to balance near-term priorities with long-term transformation. The Director will apply technology automation and data to improve efficiency, enhance visibility, and free legal talent for high-value strategic work. This is a hybrid in-person role based in Ellucians Reston, VA headquarters.

Where You Will Make an Impact

Legal Operations Strategy & Leadership

• Define and execute the Legal Departments operational strategy to support business growth, risk management, and scalability.
• Serve as a strategic partner to the CLO and Legal leadership, providing operational insight and execution support.
• Lead mentor and develop the Legal Operations team, fostering accountability and continuous improvement.
• Support execution of the Legal Departments operational strategy and annual priorities.
• Manage day-to-day legal operations programs, timelines, and deliverables.
• Provide operational support to Legal leadership, including preparation for leadership meetings and reporting forums.

Technology Process & Transformation

• Own the Legal technology strategy, including system selection, implementation, optimization, governance, and ROI measurement.
• Drive continuous optimization of legal workflows, e.g., matter intake, contract lifecycle management, knowledge management.
• Partner with internal stakeholders, including IT and Engineering, to leverage existing platforms and develop solutions for legal analytics, reporting, and insights.
• Lead change management for new tools, processes, and policies, maintaining documentation, playbooks, and standard operating procedures.
• Manage adoption of automation, AI tools, and analytics to improve efficiency and reduce cycle times.
• Oversee effective use of AI automation vendors and consultants to deliver measurable efficiency gains.

Financial & Vendor Management

• Manage the Legal Departments budget, including forecasting.
• Oversee outside counsel and alternative legal service spend to ensure efficient engagement and value.
• Manage vendor and technology ROI analysis.

Metrics Reporting & Analytics

• Establish and maintain KPIs dashboards and reporting to drive data-informed decision-making and demonstrate the Legal Departments value.
• Provide workload visibility, performance analysis, and resource planning insights.
• Identify operational risks and opportunities for improvement across legal service delivery.
• Support annual planning and quarterly business reporting cycles, including budgets, OKRs, and MBOs.
• Coordinate tracking of legal matters and support key Legal leadership forums and meetings.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with Finance, IT, Procurement, Compliance, and other stakeholders to align Legal operations with company priorities.
• Manage and drive major legal operations initiatives with clear ownership timelines and accountability.

What You Will Bring

• Bachelors degree required; advanced degree, paralegal experience, or relevant certification preferred.
• Significant experience in legal operations, legal management, or related operational leadership roles.
• Experience implementing and working with legal workflow and automation tools, e.g., Ironclad CLM, ServiceNow, Salesforce CPQ.
• Demonstrated success leading legal technology automation and data-driven transformation initiatives.
• Experience managing budgets, vendors, and outside counsel spend.
• Proven ability to design, implement, and scale legal processes, technology, and governance frameworks in a global environment.
• Advanced data and analytics capability to measure performance and inform strategic decision-making.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and executive-level stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to translate strategy into actionable plans and drive cross-functional execution through complexity and change.
• Experience supporting an in-house legal department strongly preferred.
• Collaborative, proactive leadership style with a focus on results, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Leadership and high attention to detail and ability to produce clear executive-ready work product.

What Makes Ellucian Life

• Comprehensive health coverage, medical, dental, and vision
• Flexible time off
• Thrive Flex Lifestyle Account LSA to contribute towards health, financial, or learning interests
• 401(k) w/ match & BrightPlan to help save for the future
• Parental Leave
• 5 charitable days to support the community that supports us
• Telemedicine
• Wellness
• Headspace Care mental health
• Wellbeats virtual fitness classes
• RethinkCare & Wellthy - caregiver support
• Diversity and inclusion programs providing access to internal employee resource groups
• Employee referral bonuses to encourage the addition of great new people to the team
• We Foster a learning culture with Education Assistance Program
• Professional development opportunities