The role

The firm is on an ambitious journey to designing and building bespoke products, solutions and services that will enhance our portfolio beyond legal counsel, to help clients achieve their strategic goals.

The role of Lead Venture Builder will be key to supporting the firm’s innovation agenda, by leading on a development of new ventures under the Law& brand. 

This role has a significant impact on delivering on the firm’s innovation strategy and positioning of our firm’s brand as one of the most innovative Law Firms and foster a culture of continuous innovation within DLA Piper.  

It’s a brand new role in our organisation, which presents a unique opportunity of joining the Law& Innovate Incubator at its inception, and provide resources to help our people get their initiatives and projects off the ground. It’s an opportunity to be at the forefront of a major shift in a legal industry – a shift towards innovation and entrepreneurship. 

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Identify opportunities that emerging technologies create, if aligned with strategic objectives of the firm and the long term portfolio plan / vision and matching with understanding of the legal technology and broader technology market
• Research on legal technology and the broader technology market, emerging trends and technologies, relevant to projects and initiatives in the pipeline for Innovation Investment Committee review, to support informed business decisions
• Advise on best go-to-market strategy, flagging areas of risk and opportunities, contributing and creating step-by-step plans designed to bring a new venture to market and drive demand
• Provide a counter-balance to an internal point of view on how the new venture will land in the market, by presenting a broad view on external market and influencing through insights, data and quality feedback
• Define market research approach by adopting tools and methods that are most pragmatic and relevant to achieving project milestones and support key decisions at every stage of the project
• Provide high quality insights into any external factors / considerations of importance to the project pipeline and portfolio of services, i.e. competitors, technology providers, opportunities for growth, etc.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with external communities, suppliers, supporters, potential and existing partnerships, vital to realisation of the Law& Innovation agenda and to driving projects to completion
• Identify high-growth and high-potential areas and flag as appropriate to help translate the opportunities into potential revenue streams

ABOUT YOU

• Significant experience conducting market research, technology evaluation and managing project portfolio in professional capacity, in a complex organisation of a global/ international presence
• Understanding of legal technology trends and the industry landscape
• Can provide examples of navigating complexity to introduce most relevant technology, concepts and insights and impact positively on achieving business goals
• High level of communication skills, to be able to articulate complex concepts in a concise, clear and relevant way, ability to relate to different types of audiences, with cross-cultural sensitivity
• Strategic agility to be able to anticipate future trends, advise on and support creation of competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans
• Influence, persuasion and personal impact – can provide examples of influencing and persuading others to take specific course of action when not in position of authority

Law& is DLA Piper’s brand for disruptive legal, tech and business advisory solutions – including DLA Design, our own design thinking methodology
We challenge assumptions, embrace change and discover ways to make business faster, easier and better. For our clients and for ourselves. 
In Law&, you’ll turn ideas into action, using our incubators to build solutions for success. Your vision and voice will inspire imagination throughout our firm. 
You won’t just be at the heart of creating DLA Piper’s future as a world-class innovator in legal and professional services.  
You’ll redefine the future of the legal world. 

ABOUT US
DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers and business service professionals located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Our global reach ensures that we can help businesses with their legal needs anywhere in the world. We strive to be the leading global business law firm by delivering quality, service excellence and value to our clients and offering practical and innovative legal solutions to help them succeed. Our clients range from multinational, Global 1000, and Fortune 500 enterprises to emerging companies developing industry-leading technologies, as well as government and public sector bodies.

OUR VALUES
In everything we do connected with our People, our Clients and our Communities, we live by these values:

• Be Supportive – we are compassionate and inclusive, valuing diversity and acting thoughtfully
• Be Collaborative – we are proactive, passionate team players investing in our relationships
• Be Bold – we are fearless and inquisitive, challenging ourselves to think big and find creative new solutions
• Be Exceptional – we are strategic and driven, exceeding standards and expectations

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
At DLA Piper, diversity and inclusion underpins how we live our values and everything we do. We believe that everyone has a voice, and that everyone’s voice counts. We know that the rich diversity across our firm makes us stronger, more innovative and creative, which helps us to better serve our clients and communities. We are committed to providing an inclusive working environment and culture across our global firm, where everyone can bring their authentic self to work.

Diversity of perspective, thought, background and culture combine to make us the leading global law firm; that’s why we actively seek to build balanced teams. We welcome the unique contribution that you will bring to our firm and actively encourage applications from all talented people – however your talent is packaged, whatever your background or circumstance and regardless of how you identify.

HYBRID WORKING
We recognise that people have responsibilities and interests outside of their career and that as a business, we all benefit from working flexibly. That’s why we are open to discussing with candidates the different ways in which we are able to support requests for agile working arrangements.

PRE-ENGAGEMENT SCREENING
In the event that we make an offer to you, and where local legislation permits and where relevant, we will conduct pre-engagement screening checks that may include but are not limited to your professional and academic qualifications, your eligibility to work in the relevant jurisdiction, any criminal records, your financial stability and work-related references.