Gowling WLG is a new international law firm created by Gowlings, a leading Canadian law firm, and Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co (WLG), a leading UK-based international law firm. We built Gowling WLG to provide clients with legal services at home and around the world, and to help you succeed no matter how challenging the circumstances.

Gowling WLG clients have access to in-depth expertise in key global sectors along with a top-tier suite of legal services. With more than 1,400 legal professionals across offices in 18 cities worldwide and specialised expertise in countries around the globe, we’re positioned to help clients rise to the challenges they face – both today and tomorrow.

Main purpose of the role:

To lead, oversee and ensure the successful delivery and management of single or multiple BIS supported change projects within scope, quality, time and cost constraints that may be clearly defined or may require dynamic change management in order to deliver business value.

Direct reports: None
Indirect reports: Lead project teams as required

Budgetary / financial responsibility:

To be agreed with the Head of Function and in accordance to the budgetary and financial authority limits of the firm

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

To manage individual projects using a standard approach within BIS and provide appropriate support to business Sponsors and Change Managers by: 

• Conducting thorough methodological investigations to identify all key stakeholders impacted by the change and when the timing of that change might be

• Liaising with project stakeholders (including suppliers, internal and external resources) to understand, document and communicate the business, operating and technical requirements to achieve the desired outcomes

  • running workshops as necessary to support and define processes relating to project or work deliverables

  • assessing the magnitude of change and the change readiness of the affected organisational area

• Working with internal stakeholders to evaluate the use of technology and support the case for change and transformation to be delivered by the project – and to confirm improvements in end to end business processes

• Preparing and managing detailed project plans to support project delivery

  • identifying and scheduling project deliverables, milestones and required activities and tasks

  • conferring with project staff to outline work plan

• Providing leadership and motivation to project team members throughout the project life cycle

  • acting as a coach (guiding and mentoring) to junior project managers, executives and others who need assistance and advice regarding project management practices

• Establishing the work plan and staffing for project activities, iterations or phases, and arranging for recruitment or assignment of project personnel and allotment of available departmental resources to various project phases

  • assigning duties, responsibilities and scope of authority to project personnel

• Reviewing/approving work plan of external service providers or consultancies contracted to execute the project

• Ensuring risks and issues are documented, reviewed and published throughout the project lifecycle with proactive risk/issue management through implementing mitigation plans

  • identifying "landmines" and potential points of resistance, and developing counterstrategies to mitigate or minimize potential resistance

  • conducting a gap analysis, and then promptly addressing doubts and uncertainty surrounding the change to foster a positive acceptance of change

• Preparing and distributing communications relating to projects – work in conjunction with the Portfolio Manager and Corporate Communications team as required

• Completing project tasks defined within the project plan and as agreed with the Business Sponsor:

  • monitoring project activities, ensuring the currency, quality and integrity of the information, and adhering to departmental/firm standards

  • ensuring that the project goals are accomplished in line with the business objectives

  • directing and coordinating activities of project personnel to ensure project progresses on schedule and within budget

• Reviewing and preparing status reports and modifying schedules or plans as required

  • adhering to standards and procedures for project reporting and documentation

  • working closely with the Portfolio Team to ensure the execution of plans corresponds with what is being promised

• Preparing detailed implementation plans to manage the service transition into operations:

  • working with the user experience teams to ensure that the user receives professional support throughout the project implementation and embedding period

  • supporting the business Sponsors and Change Managers to manage the implementation - this should involve collaboration (e.g. with the service desk teams, trainers and other customer experience teams) in order to meet the overall objectives of providing a professional service to the business

  • working collaboratively with colleagues throughout all stages of implementation through to user acceptance and benefits realisation

  • ensuring any necessary change management activities are planned, coordinated, measured and managed to support smooth project implementation

• Managing and communicating change requests and incidents that occur as part of project delivery using the BIS CCR process

• Observing good data governance, system controls and documentation as per the firm’s policies

• Consulting with the Information Security Officer to ensure that any proposed software developments or changes do not compromise the security of the firm’s data

• Developing collaborative working relationships with IT colleagues and understanding BIS systems dependencies and the operating environment

• Ensuring that both segregated and overlapping project team roles are identified and coordinated

• Maintaining team knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; attending professional conferences and events; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organisations such as ILTA and Litig

• Participating in knowledge gaining and sharing amongst Enterprise Architects, Digital Innovators, SMEs, Developers, Solutions Architects and SMAs by utilising corporate membership of industry bodies and knowledge providers (e.g. Gartner)

• Participating in, contributing to and networking within BIS ‘Communities of Interest’ relating to the chosen core technology platform area(s) as well as a BIS community of change agents and/or evangelists

• Educating peers, including with current business and technology trends

• Continuously benchmarking project management performance to identify improvements and achieve higher capability maturity in PPM

• Collating, reviewing and incorporating lessons learned

• Participating in the development of a visual management board that summarises the status of each change project

 To support the Head of Business Solutions and Change and BIS by:

• Performing any other reasonable operating tasks as requested, including requests from other senior BIS leaders

• Delegating tasks to and supervising Assistant Solutions Delivery Manager(s)

• Performing the Service Delivery Out of Hours Support (OHS) ‘Duty Manager’ role on a rota basis

• Supporting Service Delivery with global incident management, business continuity and resolution

• Responding to service incidents/BAU (RUN tasks) as required by the Service Delivery Business Partners – this should always be the highest priority for all BIS staffs

Qualifications

Key Skills and Experience:

• Ideally a graduate qualified in project management (or computer science/information systems/related fields) and/or

• Three or more years of IT and Business User experience, with sensitivity and commitment to business problem solving - ideally experience of working with a range of technologies (including Microsoft) within business/operations areas of the legal profession or other professional services

• A minimum of two years of demonstrated competency in a project management role involving the successful execution of multiple projects or a large project

• Knowledge of project management processes and methodologies (e.g. PMI, Prince II or Agile)

  • with good knowledge of project planning tools (e.g. MS Project or similar project management software)

  • with demonstrable ability to develop and execute a project resource plan that ensures the right people are in the right place, doing the right things, at the right time

• Strong knowledge and understanding of business needs, with the ability to establish and maintain a high level of customer trust and confidence

• Distinctive blend of business, IT, financial and communication skills, as this is a highly visible position with substantial impact

• Good understanding of current and emerging technologies and how other enterprises are employing them to drive digital business

• Demonstrated experience and ability in successfully utilizing "soft skills" or "people skills"

  • ability to lead and motivate others; demonstrating empathy and knowledge of personality types

  • evidence of strong interpersonal skills and conflict resolution expertise

  • evidence of senior stakeholder management - should be challenging and possess ability to convince and manage stakeholders, with sensitivity to working in a ‘political’ environment

  • expertise in setting and managing customer expectations

  • effective influencing and negotiating skills in an environment where this role may not directly control resources

  • excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate project management and technical concepts to non-technical people at all levels

• Proven ability to collaborate, build relationships and influence individuals at all levels in a matrix-management environment (as well as with external vendors and service providers)

• Evidence demonstrating ability to work efficiently and effectively under pressure including expertise in prioritising competing workloads for self and project team members

Equal Opportunities:

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment.  The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity.  This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work.  Our aim is to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

Standard hours of work are 9.30 am to 5.30 pm Monday to Friday with 1 hour for lunch (35 hours per week).