Company:

Qualcomm Incorporated

Job Area:

Legal Group, Legal Group > Legal Operations

General Summary:

Working in partnership with the General Counsel and other members of the legal leadership team, the Senior Director of Legal Operations will play a crucial role in the strategic and operational effectiveness of the legal department. Reporting to the Chief of Staff to the General Counsel, the ideal candidate will help execute Qualcomm’s legal strategic roadmap and drive continuous improvement. This individual will be responsible for driving efficiency, implementing best practices, and enhancing overall performance. This role requires an accomplished legal professional with a combination of strategic thinking, operational excellence, and a deep understanding of legal processes, with extensive experience in patent litigation and a proven track record in leading and managing high-performing legal and operations teams.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Operations, or related field.

• 10+ years of Legal Operations or related work experience.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Planning and Execution

• Contribute to the development and execution of the legal department’s strategic goals and objectives, ensuring they align with Qualcomm’s overall mission and corporate priorities.

• Oversee and manage all aspects of legal operations.

• Lead and mentor a team of legal operations professionals, fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture.

• Develop and implement strategic initiatives to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of legal processes and workflows.

• Create metrics and monitor progress to measure success against strategic plans.

• Benchmark both internally and externally to stay on top of current trends and best practices.

Outside Counsel and Legal Vendor Management

• Lead law firm and third-party vendor management with the aim of reducing spend, maximizing value, and improving predictability, all while improving the quality of outside legal representation.

• Support the legal leadership team in negotiating fee arrangements, ensuring compliance with engagement terms and outside counsel guidelines, and managing key law firm relationships.

• Conduct vendor RFPs where appropriate.

• Monitor law firms’ and other vendors’ operational performance through on-going assessments and benchmarking analysis.

• Negotiate and oversee contracts and agreements with external vendors in collaboration with Procurement.

• Manage legal department subscriptions and develop a strategy to optimize costs and utilization, while regularly assessing and integrating new industry-leading resources to support the department's evolving needs.

Operational Efficiency

• Continuously evaluate and improve processes, tools, and technologies to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of legal operations, including considering the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence to improve internal processes.

• Develop and implement change management strategies to ensure smooth transitions during process, technology, and organizational changes within the legal department, fostering a culture of adaptability and continuous improvement.

• Lead and guide the legal department’s strategic use of its data. Utilize data analytics to derive insights and support decision-making and reporting within the legal department.

• Develop and present comprehensive reports, dashboards, and presentations focused on billing optimization, resource management, process improvement, legal strategy, comparative legal costs, and financial operations for legal leadership.

Legal Technology Solutions

• Serve as business lead for Legal IT projects. Evaluate feasibility and prioritize legal IT project requests.

• In partnership with Legal IT, develop the strategy for the delivery of IT solutions to the legal department; work with IT and legal stakeholders to choose and implement applications.

• Assess all department tools and technologies including matter management, document management, knowledge management, and billing management, and over time implement best in class technology, systems and processes.

• Responsible for legal department intranet sites and all knowledge management tools and processes including development of new technology solutions to further enhance legal department collaboration and efficiency.

Communications and Administration

• Stay abreast of legal industry trends and assess their potential impact on the legal department’s operations.

• Work cross-functionally with professionals in Legal, Finance, IT, Procurement, and others.

• Oversee legal department onboarding and offboarding.

• Lead and manage a team of legal operations and eBilling professionals, providing guidance, mentorship, and performance management.

• Oversee the development, implementation and management of Legal Department policies and guidelines.

• Perform special projects and responsibilities assigned by the General Counsel.

Finance and Budget Management

• Partner with legal leadership and finance to develop and manage the legal department’s budget.

• Responsible for Legal Operations benchmarking initiatives, including spend analysis, efficiency initiatives and technology.

Preferred Qualifications

• JD, MBA

• 15+ years’ experience in a corporate legal department or law firm management, with a strong background in intellectual property and litigation

• 15+ years’ experience in knowledge management, change management, legal project management, and law firm management

• 15+ years in a legal leadership role with direct reports.

• 15+ years of work experience in a role requiring interaction with senior leadership (e.g., Director level and above).

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES INCLUDE:

• Experience in corporate legal departments or law firm management, with extensive patent litigation background.

• Proficiency in legal technology and software.

• Excellent financial management and budgeting skills.

• Proven ability to facilitate legal practice group or law department management

• Dedicated professional who leads through ambiguity and independently runs projects with minimal direction.

• Self-motivated with ability to handle multiple priorities and meet aggressive deadlines.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with a focus on planning and execution.

• Strong communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to influence and build relationships at all levels of the organization.

• Professional demeanor with effective written and oral communication skills, including developing coherent and concise emails and presentations.

• Proven experience in leading and managing teams, with strong leadership and interpersonal skills.

• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement strategic initiatives that drive operational excellence.

• Ability to drive change and improve processes with a continuous improvement mindset.

• Strategic and innovative thinker.

• Trusted professional with the ability to lead strong personalities and drive open items to effective resolution.

• Communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels, including legal teams, executives, and external partners.

• Ability to think and act creatively, championing and promoting new ideas that contribute to the goals of the company and the legal department.

• Proven ability to be trusted with highly confidential and privileged information.

Location:

San Diego, CA (current policy requires 4 days a week on average in the office. This will change to 5 days a week starting October 1, 2025); This position requires travel, as necessary.

Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail disability-accomodations@qualcomm.com or call Qualcomm's toll-free number found here (https://qualcomm.service-now.com/hrpublic?id=hr_public_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0039028) . Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).

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EEO Employer: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification.

Qualcomm expects its employees to abide by all applicable policies and procedures, including but not limited to security and other requirements regarding protection of Company confidential information and other confidential and/or proprietary information, to the extent those requirements are permissible under applicable law.

Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits :

$214,400.00 - $321,600.00

The above pay scale reflects the broad, minimum to maximum, pay scale for this job code for the location for which it has been posted. Even more importantly, please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Qualcomm. We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that Qualcomm has to offer – and you can review more details about our US benefits at this link .

If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers (http://www.qualcomm.com/contact/corporate) .

EEO Employer: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification