Senior Legal Operations Manager

Ripple Ripple · Fintech · San Francisco, CA +1 · Legal

This role is for a Senior Legal Operations Manager at Ripple, a fintech company. The primary focus is on designing and scaling the operational infrastructure of the global Legal Department, including processes and technology. The role involves managing external legal spend, developing a legal technology roadmap (including AI-assisted workflows), leading automation and data-driven initiatives, building a legal operations dashboard, and optimizing legal systems. While the role interacts with AI tools and initiatives, it does not involve building AI models or core AI systems.

What you'd actually do

  1. Review, modify and enforce billing guidelines, manage billing, and drive cost rigor across external legal spend.
  2. Audit existing technology tools, identify gaps, and develop a multi-year legal technology roadmap covering matter management, CLM, e-billing, and AI-assisted workflows.
  3. Lead efforts that push automation, AI, and data-driven insights into how we deliver our work throughout the organization.
  4. Help drive the Legal Department's annual planning cycle, including budget, and headcount.
  5. Build a legal operations dashboard tracking matter volume, cycle times, contract turnaround, and outside counsel spend.

Skills

Required

  • 10+ years in legal operations experience
  • Proven track record building or significantly transforming a legal operations function
  • Experience leading or supporting AI, automation, or data-driven transformation initiatives within a legal department
  • Strong data and analytics skills
  • Experience managing outside counsel relationships
  • Capacity for managing budgets, timelines, and team members
  • Highly effective interpersonal skills
  • Ability to collaborate across all levels inside and outside the organization

Nice to have

  • builder's mentality

What the JD emphasized

  • building or significantly transforming a legal operations function
  • builder's mentality — this role requires writing the playbook, not following one
  • leading or supporting AI, automation, or data-driven transformation initiatives within a legal department