Supervisor, Administrative Support Services

Overview

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is one of the world’s leading international law firms. The Firm was established in 1884 and has approximately 2,000 lawyers. Headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Dallas, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Palo Alto, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., the Firm provides coordinated legal advice and transactional capability to clients around the globe.

Job Summary

The Supervisor, Administrative Support Services provides operational leadership for the pooled administrative support team. Reporting to the Manager, Administrative Support Services, this role is a key enabler within the Firm’s new U.S. administrative support function by promoting  service consistency, staffing stability, workflow governance, performance management, and continuous improvement for Administrative Assistants in the Administrative Support Center, based in Simpson Thacher’s Houston office.

Essential Job Duties & Responsibilities

Operating model leadership & governance

• Own and enforce standardized administrative workflows and expectations for the  administrative assistants within the assigned pooled group.  
• Maintain clear decision rights and escalation paths for administrative support delivery.
• Establish and manage the processes by which administrative attorney support work is performed.
• Partner with the Manager, Administrative Support Services to promote operational consistency, process alignment, and continuous improvement.
• Champion the adoption of ServiceNow, to streamline administrative processes, improve efficiency, and support effective team operations.
• Provide regular reporting to the Manager, Administrative Support Services on service performance, staffing trends, and operational improvements.

Coverage planning & resource management

• Build and manage coverage plans to ensure seamless attorney support during PTO, absences, transitions, and periods of peak demand.
• Monitor workload distribution and utilization across the administrative assistant pool, reassigning resources as needed to meet demand.
• Identify structural gaps and recommend staffing or ratio adjustments as needed.
• Provide overall support for the Administrative Support Center, including Practice Assistants, as needed.
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Escalation management & issue resolution

• Serve as the first point of escalation for service concerns, urgent attorney requests, workflow bottlenecks, and operational breakdowns.
• Ensure timely resolution of service issues and communicate corrective action plans, as appropriate.

Performance management & coaching

• Conduct routine performance check-ins and quality reviews for administrative assistants.
• Provide coaching and feedback to strengthen professionalism, responsiveness, and proactive execution.
• Partner with HR and the Manager, Administrative Support Services on performance improvement plans, recognition, retention, and career development.
• Drive a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Training, onboarding & standardization

• Ensure consistent onboarding and training completion for all administrative assistants.
• Maintain and promote adoption of playbooks, SOPs, templates, and best practices.
• Proactively identify new opportunities for skill building or areas in need of training refreshers.
• Coordinate ongoing training on firm tools and administrative workflows.  

Education

Required

• Bachelor’s degree

Skills and Experience

Required

• 4-6 years of relevant administrative support experience
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams, manage performance, and oversee operational delivery
• Must be able to effectively coach, mentor and train others to meet performance expectations
• Ability to influence without direct authority and build credibility with attorneys, administrative professionals, and firm leadership
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to set expectations, manage difficult conversations, and reinforce accountability
• Strong judgment, confidentiality, and stakeholder management skills
• High emotional intelligence, with the ability to manage sensitive attorney and staff dynamics
• Strong change management skills, with the ability to drive adoption of new processes, tools, and service standards
• Proven ability to build and enforce standardized workflows, service expectations, and escalation protocols
• Proficiency administrative applications such as MS Office Suite and expense systems, such as Chrome River
• Strong attention to detail; ability to examine work for accuracy and conformance to policies and procedures

Salary Information

The actual salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job. This role is exempt meaning it is not overtime pay eligible.

Simpson Thacher will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.

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Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is committed to a collegial work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. The Firm prohibits discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, marital or partnership status, sexual orientation, veteran’s status or any other legally protected status. This Policy pertains to every aspect of an individual’s relationship with the Firm, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, benefits, training and development, promotion, transfer, discipline, termination, and all other privileges, terms and conditions of employment.