At Fried Frank, we’re a community of 800 lawyers and 500 business services professionals across New York, Washington, DC, London, Frankfurt, and Brussels. We advise leading corporations, investment funds, and financial institutions on high-stakes M&A, securities, regulatory matters, real estate, and litigation. Our culture is grounded in our core values — excellence, integrity and collaboration — and is designed to foster continuous learning, meaningful mentorship, and lasting professional growth. We are firmly committed to pro bono service and social justice, building on a proud legacy in civil rights. Our inclusive talent strategy is a core part of our broader talent management efforts and we remain steadfast in fostering a workplace where everyone has the opportunity to grow, thrive, and become their best professional and personal selves. Our business services professionals are integral to the firm’s success, driving innovation, operational excellence and exceptional client service across all areas of the firm. We offer competitive compensation and a comprehensive benefits package, including comprehensive medical coverage, retirement plans and health and wellness initiatives designed to support your personal and professional wellbeing. We welcome passionate, driven individuals to join us, and be part of a team where you’ll be supported, inspired and empowered to build an exceptional career.
Position Summary:
The Manager of Financial Systems leads the Firm through the modernization of its financial applications and processes, championing improvements and supporting the Finance function in delivering exceptional service to the Firm’s Partnership and business leaders.
Working closely with both IT and Finance teams, the Manager plays a key role in shaping and continuously enhancing the Firm’s financial systems landscape. This includes driving the development of effective business process improvements, understanding and adopting new data and compliance requirements, maintaining optimal system performance, and contributing to strategic planning and budgeting of fiscal projects and initiatives.
Duties & Responsibilities:
This role requires a highly motivated and driven individual who will serve as a key member of the IT team, leading innovation, best practices, and operational excellence across the Firm’s financial systems and processes. The Manager will help the Firm embrace change and adopt a continuous‑improvement mindset to keep financial systems operating at optimal levels. Success in this role requires a strategic mindset, strong technical leadership, and the ability to navigate complex business processes.
Qualifications:
Education: Bachelor's degree in finance/accounting or computer sciences.
Experience: A minimum of 5 years supporting financial systems, preferably in a law firm or other professional service organization.
Ideally, the individual will have experience in both IT and Finance. Should the education qualification be in Accounting/Finance, then demonstrated experience is required in IT and vice versa.
Skills and Abilities:
- Strong understanding of professional services financial process including time entry, billing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, collections, general ledger, budgeting, forecasting, reporting, month and year-end closings client/matter intake and rate management.
- Deliver strong technical expertise serving as a subject matter expert on finance technology, providing guidance, training and documentation, and support to finance teams and stakeholders across the organization.
- Previous experience with, and proficiency in, 3E required.
- Adopts a continual improvement/continual development approach to optimizing systems and processes across the firm’s financial systems.
- Analyzes current business processes, makes recommendations for improvements, and manages implementation of new practices.
- Excellent technical skills including SQL, advanced Excel, experience with data models and data integrations is also strongly preferred.
- Maintains the firm’s financial systems with uncompromising data integrity to support accurate reporting, analytics and decision-making.
- Interacts effectively with all levels of the organization, employing tact, diplomacy, and professionalism.
- Excellent communication skills, both oral and written, and the experience and understanding to simplify complex technical issues for attorneys and other professionals.
- Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple concurrent objectives, and effectively make judgments in prioritizing and time allocation.
- Leadership and team building and skill in developing and retaining talent.
- Outstanding client service skills and responsiveness.
Success factors
- Thorough knowledge of law firm financial and accounting practices and procedures
- Collaborate with the Finance teams on continuous system and process optimization.
- Displays a strong commitment to project management principles.
- Stay current with platform capabilities and best practices. Continuously expand your knowledge and expertise through training, networking, and peer events.
- Takes initiative in their professional development, seeks out feedback, and continues to seek out new learning opportunities.
- Promote and champion a culture of data-driven decision making across the Firm.
Top Skills
What We Do
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP advises the world's leading corporations, investment funds and financial institutions on their most critical legal needs and business opportunities. The firm's more than 650 lawyers are based in North America, the UK and Europe.
