Lewis Silkin works with leading businesses to protect and enhance their most important assets - their ideas, their people, their brand and their future. We call it: Ideas. People. Possibilities.
With offices in London, Oxford, Manchester, Leeds, Cardiff, Belfast, Dublin and Hong Kong, we are recognised by clients and industry alike as being distinct for our unique culture, market-leading practice areas, sector focused approach and for providing solutions to complex, multijurisdictional business challenges, with a pragmatic and human touch. We have two things at our core: people — both ours and our clients’— and a focus on creative, tech and innovative businesses.
Our culture is encapsulated by an ethos of bravery and kindness, guided by our values of Integrity, Clarity, Unity and Excellence (our ‘I-CUE’). We aim to provide a supportive environment for our people, clients and wider community and embrace diversity & inclusion, ensuring people are able to bring their full selves to work. |
This is a new role for the firm, one which will work closely with members of the Operations Board, their teams, practice and office heads as well as the wider firm to ensure the ongoing development of our operations platform.
Our operations teams include a Facilities team in London as well as Office Managers based in each of our larger offices as well as our Reception and Catering teams in London run by Williams Lea and Bartlett Mitchell with other key services provided by other third-party suppliers.
We are open to discussing location with the successful candidate but require someone to be able to come into the London office at least three days per week with travel across our UK and Ireland footprint, with more limited travel to our Asia base in Hong Kong. |
Working collaboratively with other team members, responsibilities will include:
Operations Function Design and Development
- Continue the evolution of the firm’s operations platform to ensure we have a highly effective, efficient and culturally aligned team able to collaborate with colleagues across the business.
- Continually optimise core operations services, including but not limited to the following: front of house offering/colleague concierge, catering & hospitality, reprographics, records management, mail and distribution, maintenance.
- Collaborate with our Responsible Business leadership and team to work towards our net zero and related sustainability goals.
Service, Supplier & Budget Management
- Develop new and existing services to address the day-to-day needs of the firm, deliver continuous improvement that underpins our business plans and associated growth while also supporting our distinct culture.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with key internal stakeholders as well as understand and anticipate their needs with the ability to think creatively and problem solve in line with their business plans and goals.
- Negotiate and agree operations related contracts on behalf of the firm, ensuring that they are procured on acceptable commercial terms and conditions, seeking input from the firm’s internal legal experts as required. Support any service owners in managing responses to any internal feedback or complaints, providing status updates and co-ordinating follow up activity as required.
- Ensure all current and ongoing supplier relationships operate with reference to the firm’s values and adhere to legal, ethical and responsible business codes of conduct/best practice.
- Drive longer term evolution of the wider firm’s procurement and supplier management good practice, working closely with Operations Board members to develop the necessary capabilities across our Business Teams and Practice Groups to ensure appropriate levels of consistency and excellence across the full range of our procured services.
- Budget development and ongoing management demonstrating robust controls and good return on investment across all operations areas.
Risk Management
- Ensure Lewis Silkin is compliant with all relevant legislation, relevant standards and good practice in each office and country as part of its operations platform.
- Identify and actively manage relevant risks in each office and jurisdiction, including those relating to employees and other external parties.
- Maintain our Business Continuity Plans and manage related resilience activities.
- Contribute to ISO27001 and ISO9001 certification.
Property Strategy and Portfolio
- Collaboration with the LS CFO to develop the following with direction from the Management Board and Partner leadership team:
- Lewis Silkin Property Strategy
- Building design and operating principles
- Appropriate reporting and recommendations relating to lease terms and our liabilities, building and floorplate works
- Lease term management incl. break clauses and dates
Candidate Profile
The successful candidate must demonstrate an affinity for the culture of the firm, strong alignment with our values as well as be highly organised and able to demonstrate a pro-active approach to their work.
They must enjoy working in a dynamic team-orientated environment and will need to have a flexible and co-operative nature, as well as excellent stakeholder engagement skills.
Experience and Qualifications
- Ability to carry out all relevant tasks in line with the scope and seniority of the role.
- Ability to lead, motivate, develop and inspire immediate team, as well as colleagues across the business, to deliver business goals and behavioural change where required.
- Exceptional organisational, administrative and co-ordination skills and able to work with agility.
- Ability to effectively procure, implement and manage the necessary services and associated contracts to ensure the delivery of a best-in-class operations service to the firm.
- Knowledge and experience to be able to effectively negotiate these supplier terms and conditions and provide the necessary functional, commercial, legal/regulatory expertise to ensure excellent service levels on appropriately favourable terms.
- Demonstrable experience of working with C-Suite, senior management, and wider colleagues, preferably in legal or professional services sectors.
- Excellent stakeholder engagement, influencing and communication skills, both written and oral.
- Advanced skills in preparation of presentations and documents to ensure audience interest and effective communication of content and key messages.
- Track record of service improvement, successful project delivery alongside and associated benefits management.
Educational and professional qualifications required
- Professional Operations Accreditation - Desirable
- Relevant procurement and supplier management qualifications - Desirable
- Risk Management qualifications – Desirable
- Project and programme management qualifications – Desirable
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At Lewis Silkin our ethos is simple. We strive to do the best for our clients, our people and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that an inclusive workplace allows for all kinds of ideas and thoughts, a variety of points of view that can trigger discussions or deliver innovative results, and a wide range of versatile skills and expertise. We are proud of the diversity within Lewis Silkin and of our culture that allows people to be themselves at work, ensuring we provide the best possible service to our clients. We are committed to finding the right person for this role and are open to discussing flexible working patterns and office location. |