Director of Product Development

Director of Product Development

Cooley is seeking a Director of Product Development to join the Practice Engineering team.

Position summary: As the leading technology law firm in the world, Cooley is determined to become a leader in the digital practice of law. The Director of Product Development will be responsible will focus on the software development aspects of Cooley’s digital practice strategy. This role is responsible for driving technical excellence, supporting product leadership, and ensuring that software products meet the highest industry standards to create a competitive advantage for Cooley’s world-leading legal practices.

Position responsibilities:

Software leadership and strategy:

• Help define the vision and roadmap for the firm’s custom developed software in conjunction with the innovation leadership team
• Oversee and manage a portfolio of custom solutions to develop a coherent roadmap and drive strategic decisions in conjunction with other firm stakeholders
• Establish and lead a high-performing team that develops custom software solutions to support business goals that becomes a magnet for engineering talent

Software development:

• Oversee end-to-end software development processes, including design, coding standards, testing, deployment, and maintenance, ensuring the highest levels of quality and scalability
• Establish best practices for coding, testing, DevOps, and QA, working closely with the Director of Practice Engineering to ensure consistency across teams and projects
• Actively manage and mitigate technical debt, partnering with engineering leads and business stakeholders to strike an optimal balance between new feature development and maintenance of existing products
• Contribute to the creation of a long-term engineering roadmap that aligns with the firm’s broader product strategy and practice goals
• Collaborate with HR to recruit, onboard, and retain top-tier teams, fostering a diverse and inclusive environment that values continuous learning and innovation
• Responsible for the allocation of development resources (budgets, staff, tools) for maximum impact and return on investment, including the management of outside vendors
• Promote the integration of AI and machine learning into software development, coordinating with data teams to identify opportunities for automation and efficiency gains

Product leadership:

• Collaborate with the Director of Practice Engineering and the innovation team to translate firm strategies into actionable development roadmaps focused on software solutions
• Support the prioritization process for individual projects such that they can be done based on business value, user feedback, technical feasibility, and practice requirements
• Responsible for ensuring the technical development forecasts are done reasonably and following best practices

Collaboration and stakeholder engagement:

• Collaborate with other departments including data, Practice Innovation, and operational teams to drive success for the firm’s practice software development projects  
• Liaise between lawyers, product managers, and the software development team to maintain alignment between business needs, product roadmaps, and engineering priorities
• Translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for both technical and non-technical stakeholders, ensuring that software projects maintain momentum and meet objectives

Team building and mentorship:

• Lead a team of  developers with a focus on fostering a high-performance, collaborative, innovative, and results-driven team culture
• Establish and maintain a well-structured team with clear roles, responsibilities, and workflows to optimize productivity. Provide clear technical direction, mentorship, and career development opportunities for all team members
• Foster strong working relationships between the software team and other teams, including practice, technology, and operations, to ensure that software products meet business and user needs while maintaining high technical standards including compliance and security requirements
• Provide day-to-day supervision of direct reports, ensure compliance with assigned work hours and monitor for compliance with all firm and department policies. Manage staffing coverage, review and process time logs/time off requests
• Support business professional development and continued educational opportunities
• In collaboration with immediate supervisor and HR, participate in hiring, performance appraisals, counseling, termination and other employee lifecycle events
• All other duties as assigned or required

Skills and experience:

Required:

• After orientation at Cooley LLP, exhibit proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, iManage and other firm applications
• Ability to work extended and/or weekend hours, as required
• Ability to travel, as required
• Bachelor’s degree
• 10+ years of experience in integrated software development roles, (with a minimum of 5 years management experience some at senior level preferred) with experience leading others
• Experience in leading significant teams in development of customer facing software systems

Preferred:

• Domain Knowledge
• Strong understanding of the legal industry, particularly around legal software and technology,  data science and AI, and legal operations
• Experience in managing cross-functional projects involving engineering, data engineering, and operational business units
• Knowledge and experience with distributed systems and organizations
• Supervisory experience

Competencies:

• Strong leadership experience
• Ability to build, manage, and mentor Product Development team
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts to legal professionals and senior executives
• Ability to influence and collaborate with multiple stakeholders across various departments (legal, Technology, etc.)

Cooley offers a competitive compensation and excellent benefits package and is committed to fair and equitable employment practices. EOE.

The expected annual pay range for this position with a full-time schedule is $245,000 - $300,000.

Please note that final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience and skillset of the candidate.

We offer a full range of elective benefits including medical, health savings account (with applicable medical plan), dental, vision, health and/or dependent care flexible spending accounts, pre-tax commuter benefits, life insurance, AD&D, long-term care coverage, backup care for children and/or adults and other parental support benefits. In addition to elective benefit options, benefited employees receive firm-paid life insurance, AD&D, LTD, short term medical benefits as well as 25 days of Paid Time Off (“PTO”) and 10 paid holidays each year. We provide generous parental leave and fertility benefits. New employees will attend a detailed benefit orientation to learn more about our many benefits and resources.