Regional Operations Manager

Regional Operations Manager, California

About FBFK

For more than 20 years, FBFK Law has been a people-first, entrepreneurial business law firm. With a 150 people across Texas and California, we are growing deliberately under FBFK 2.0, and that growth has been recognized: 18 regional rankings in the 2026 Best Law Firms® guide, #1 Overall Leading Law Firm among Small Firms in Bloomberg Law's 2026 rankings, and a place on Fortune's 2026 America's Most Innovative Companies list. Our Orange County office was named one of the Orange County Business Journal's 2026 Best Places to Work.

Our California offices have grown quickly. Irvine, Century City, and San Diego (Del Mar) now form a real region that needs an operations leader on the ground. This is the senior non-attorney operations role in California. You will report to our Director of Operations in Plano, Texas, which means most days the call is yours. We want someone who wants it that way.

The job is to run California well and build how it runs. You will take the firm’s operating standards and make them work in three offices, and where a standard doesn’t fit, you will make the case for a better one. You will lead the support staff, keep the region compliant, and give our managing partners their time back for clients.

Why this role

• Authority. You decide operational and support staff matters within the approved budget.
• Something to build. Much of the California playbook is yours to write: the staff assignment model, lateral onboarding, the compliance calendar, coverage plans.
• Work people see. You will be in front of partners, staff, and firm leadership every week, and your results will show up fast.

What you will own

• Operations in three offices. Staffing, coverage, office services, facilities, vendors, and landlord relationships in Irvine, Century City, and Del Mar.
• Support staff and capacity. Supervise legal assistants, office assistants, and reception. Own the staff-to-attorney assignment roster, track workload and utilization, and plan coverage for leave and turnover.
• Lateral onboarding. Work with HR, Talent, Finance, and Marketing so incoming partners and their teams have systems, space, support, and billing ready on day one.
• On-site HR. Partner with the Director of HR on recruiting, onboarding, reviews, and discipline for California staff. Harassment, safety, leave, and accommodation matters go to HR right away.
• California compliance. Run the compliance calendar (meal and rest periods, timekeeping, postings, harassment prevention training, leave notices, exempt classification) and lead the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, IIPP, and emergency planning.
• Budget and billing. Build and manage the California budget with the CFO, review variances monthly, approve spending within your authority, and monitor time entry and billing deadlines.
• Systems. Keep Paycom data and payroll inputs accurate each pay cycle, and lead Aderant adoption among California staff after the December 1 go-live.
• Your plan. Within 60 days, assess each office and give the Director of Operations a written operating plan with priorities, owners, and dates. From there, run weekly check-ins with each office managing partner and a monthly California operating review.

Who you are

You do your best work with a clear standard and room to meet it your way. You set priorities, check your own work, and don’t need someone down the hall telling you what comes next. You care about getting the details right, whether that is a coverage schedule, a compliance deadline, or a budget line, and when the same problem keeps coming back, you fix the cause.

You also like people, and they tend to trust you. You can walk into a partner’s office, explain a decision with the facts behind it, and leave with the relationship intact. Staff know where they stand with you because you hold everyone to the same standard, including the most senior people in the building.

What you bring

• 8 or more years of office or operations leadership, including law firm experience, with at least 5 years supervising staff and experience supporting more than one office.
• A track record of standardizing operations across multiple offices.
• At least 3 years of hands-on HR work, including recruiting, employee relations, and leave administration.
• Working knowledge of California employment law, including wage and hour, meal and rest periods, exempt classification, and leaves.
• Experience preparing budgets, explaining variances, and approving invoices and expenses.
• Experience managing hybrid or remote staff with clear availability and output expectations.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, human resources, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Nice to have: Aderant, HRIS/Payroll experience; onboarding lateral attorneys and their teams; experience in both Texas and California; CLM, SHRM-CP/SCP, PHR, or SPHR; ALA involvement.

Location, schedule, and pay

Based in our Irvine office, with regular travel to Century City and San Diego (Del Mar) and occasional travel to Texas. Primarily office-based, with occasional evening or weekend work for moves, firm events, or urgent matters. Occasionally lift up to 25 pounds, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Base salary is $165,000 to $195,000, plus a 15% target bonus and the firm’s benefits package. The range is our good-faith estimate of what we expect to pay, DOE.alifornia notices

Pay transparency and salary history. Consistent with California Labor Code section 432.3, the pay scale for this position is listed above. We do not ask applicants about their salary history.

Equal opportunity. FBFK Law is an equal opportunity employer. We make employment decisions without regard to race (including hair texture and protective hairstyles), color, religion and creed (including religious dress and grooming), sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions, reproductive health decision making, national origin, ancestry, age (40 and over), physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.

Reasonable accommodation. If you need accommodation to apply or interview, contact Human Resources at [email protected].

Fair chance hiring. We will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in a manner consistent with the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, and the San Diego County Fair Chance Ordinance, as applicable. Any offer is contingent on a background check. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with these duties: access to confidential client, financial, and employee information; approving invoices and expenses; handling petty cash and firm purchasing; and holding keys and building access for firm offices.