Coursera was launched in 2012 by two Stanford Computer Science professors, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. It is now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with 87 million registered learners as of June 30, 2021. Coursera partners with over 200 leading university and industry partners to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including Guided Projects, courses, Specializations, certificates, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Institutions around the world use Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in many high-demand fields, including data science, technology, and business. Coursera became a B Corp in February 2021.

Legal and Compliance is responsible for managing all legal and regulatory matters, including contracts, corporate governance, general compliance, academic compliance, employment law matters, intellectual property, product counseling, government relations, and claims. The team includes dedicated teams that support every aspect of Coursera's platform, including university, enterprise and industry partnerships. 

The position will work closely with the General Counsel, Legal & Compliance leaders, and business stakeholders at all levels of the company to define and drive strategic and operational initiatives with on-time and on-budget results. As our Director of Legal Operations for a team of 25+, you will be key in creating and automating processes and practices to improve the day-to-day efficiency and effectiveness of the Legal & Compliance team, facilitate change, and control costs. You will provide creative thinking and real solutions to increase value, reduce low value work and optimize outside legal spend while maintaining excellent legal representation. You will manage a team of 1-2, and oversee legal service providers and 3rd-party resources.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the department’s efforts to create and refine systems, processes, procedures, forms, and playbooks
• Plan for, select, implement, champion, and maintain legal techLead implementation of the Company’s information governance and records management programs in collaboration with internal stakeholders and external experts
• Report on key operational metrics for the department to better inform decision-making, including benchmarking, matter and work product analyses, and dashboards
• Manage department budgeting, forecasting, reporting and accruals, serving as primary liaison with finance team, and assist with headcount planning and staffing ratios
• Develop and enforce processes and policies to manage outside counsel usage and spend
• Promote best practices for knowledge management and tracking regulatory developments
• Evaluate and improve how legal intakes, assigns, and manages legal work, including outsourced vendor contract process
• Create strategies and processes to manage recruiting, and oversee onboarding of new team members 
• Coordinate the department’s delivery of training across the company, the training of department members, and team offsites
• Assist with the collection of feedback through customer satisfaction surveys
• Stay aware of legal operations industry trends and advise on needed upgrades and improvements to business processes and tools
• Manage special projects as required or requested

Basic Qualifications:

• 6+ years of legal experience, including 3 with legal operations
• The ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, in a professional manner
• The ability to work independently and to be self-motivated 
• Experience with Mac, Google Suite and Microsoft Office suite, including Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint, and Google Docs, Slides, Forms, and Sheets 
• Demonstrated history of accountability, integrity and taking ownership over projects and responsibilities and resolving issues proactively, leading to continuous improvement
• Experience with developing, implementing, and using legal department technology solutions (e.g., e-Billing, contract and matter management)

Preferred Qualifications:

• JD or MBA preferred
• 5+ years legal operations experience
• Superior written and verbal communication skills, and strong analytical abilities
• Excellent project management and operational skills
• Demonstrated ability to independently move projects forward by gaining support needed from others 
• Proven track record of collaborating with cross-functional groups (e.g., Finance, Operations, Sales, IT) to set objectives and produce meaningful results 
• A record of past achievement, including the ability to spearhead process creation and improvement
• Experience managing outsourced functions and vendors
• Entrepreneurial drive and comfort working in ambiguous, quickly-changing environments
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills
• Excellent organizational skills, keen attention to detail, and unfailing follow-up to effectively manage multiple activities of varying difficulty, priority and complexity

If this opportunity interests you, you might like these courses on Coursera:

Project Planning: Putting it all together

Fundamentals of Operations with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women

Coursera is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected class.

If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, please contact us at [email protected].

Please review our CCPA Applicant Notice here.