PA Services Manager
Location: Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds or Glasgow
Reporting to: Head of PA & Administrative Services
The Role
This role plays a pivotal part in delivering firm-wide strategy through consistent service excellence, commercial thinking, and strong people leadership. You will be responsible for ensuring a future-proofed PA service that delivers dependable results, supports business priorities, and provides an exceptional internal client experience.
The PA team may comprise staff from multiple business units, with structure and size evolving in line with the Firm’s needs.
Key Responsibilities Strategic & Operational Leadership
- Deliver firm-wide strategy and business plans through effective leadership of the PA Services function.
- Develop and implement commercial and operational plans to ensure a resilient, future-ready service.
- Ensure consistent, high-quality service delivery aligned to business and client expectations.
- Maintain a strong understanding of practice group priorities, anticipating challenges and proactively responding.
- Continuously innovate and improve PA service delivery models.
People Leadership & Talent Management
- Lead, motivate, coach, and develop a high-performing and cohesive PA team.
- Manage performance robustly in line with HR policies, addressing issues promptly and constructively.
- Oversee recruitment, induction and integration of new starters within the service.
- Own the annual review and feedback process, prioritising talent management, retention, and succession.
- Proactively manage team capacity and workload allocation.
Stakeholder Engagement & Client Service
- Build strong, trusted relationships with key stakeholders across the Firm.
- Promote effective collaboration, networking, and strong internal client relationships.
- Advocate correct utilisation of PA Services and constructively challenge non-compliance.
- Address operational issues swiftly using a solutions-focused, results-driven approach.
Change & Continuous Improvement
- Energetically lead and manage change initiatives within the PA function.
- Drive a culture of continuous improvement through regular team engagement and feedback.
- Own preparation and circulation of management information, performance data, and trend analysis.
Skills & Experience
- Proven experience managing a PA, secretarial, or administrative services function within a professional services environment.
- Strategic and commercially minded leader with the ability to translate strategy into practical delivery.
- Strong people management capability with a coaching-led leadership style.
- Highly resilient with the ability to influence, challenge, and lead change.
- Proactive, autonomous, and confident in driving priorities.
- Strong analytical skills and commitment to continuous improvement.
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills (written and verbal).
- Professional, objective, and trusted to handle confidential information.
Why Join Us?
- A high-profile leadership role with significant influence across the Firm.
- Opportunity to shape and modernise PA service delivery.
- Collaborative, people-focused culture with strong emphasis on development.
- Hybrid working model offering flexibility and balance.
Our strength lies in our differences.
We are a top Stonewall employer, a Valuable 500 member, a signatory of the Race at Work Charter and a proud partner of Neurodiversity in Law. We encourage and value different ideas and styles of thinking. It’s with different perspectives that we’ll find solutions to our clients’ most complex challenges. It’s how we’ll deliver outstanding results today, and tomorrow. We want everybody attending an interview to be comfortable and able to fully demonstrate their experience and talents.
Skills Required
- Proven experience managing a PA, secretarial, or administrative services function within a professional services environment
- Strategic and commercially minded leadership capability, including translating strategy into practical delivery
- Strong people management capability with a coaching-led leadership style
- Resilience and ability to influence, challenge, and lead change
- Proactive, autonomous approach to driving priorities
- Strong analytical skills and commitment to continuous improvement
- Exceptional written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills
- Professional, objective approach and ability to handle confidential information
What We Do
Pinsent Masons is a multinational law firm with a reputation for delivering high-quality legal advice rooted in its deep understanding of the sectors and geographies in which our clients operate. Our expertise is recognised globally. In recent years we have achieved more tier 1 rankings in The Legal 500 UK guide than any other firm, and been counted among the most innovative law firms in Europe and Asia Pacific by the Financial Times. With over 1,500 lawyers operating from 27 locations throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, we are well-placed to advise on complex multi-jurisdictional matters across a full range of legal disciplines. The firm has significant international credentials in the global energy, infrastructure, financial services, real estate and technology, science and industry sectors. Pinsent Masons looks at your business needs differently. This means we don't just apply lawyers to solve clients' problems; we deploy a wider range of professional disciplines, enabled by people, process and technology, to deliver a global professional service with law at its core.
