Director - Strategic Pricing (San Francisco)

Join Goodwin’s Global Operations Team, and make a real impact on a global scale. At Goodwin, we work with some of the world’s most successful and innovative investors, entrepreneurs and disruptors in the life sciences, private equity, real estate, technology and financial industries, and where they converge. As part of the Global Operations Team – all business professionals at the firm – you’ll collaborate with colleagues from varied backgrounds and experiences, fostering an environment where cross-functional learning, networking, and collaboration are at the core of what we do.Here, we’re not just supporting a law firm; we’re partnering with attorneys and clients to deliver cutting-edge solutions in high-stakes litigation and dispute resolution, world-class regulatory compliance and advisory services, and complex transactions. Our commitment to integrity, ingenuity, agility, and ambition drives us, and we’re proud to have been recognised as the “Best Business Team” by The American Lawyer.This is your opportunity to grow professionally in a dynamic, global environment, surrounded by forward-thinking peers.The legal industry is at an inflection point. Clients are sophisticated, cost-conscious, and increasingly intolerant of opacity. The days of the billable hour as the sole pricing mechanism are numbered — not because firms are being forced away from it, but because the most forward-thinking firms are choosing to move beyond it. AI and legal technology are reshaping how legal work gets done, which means they must reshape how legal work gets priced.Goodwin is not waiting. We have built a Client Value team with a genuine mandate to rewire how the firm engages with clients on price, scope, and value. This is not a pricing admin role. This is a strategic function with direct access to the firm's leadership, a seat at the table on the firm's most significant client relationships, and the freedom — and expectation — to challenge convention.The Pricing Director will be a senior commercial leader within the Client Value team, owning pricing strategy and execution across a defined portfolio of practice and industry groups. You will be the expert your partner community turns to when they need to win work, retain clients, and deliver matter economics that work for both sides of the relationship. Critically, you will be a catalyst for change — introducing AFAs, structuring pricing in an AI-enabled service environment, and helping Goodwin define what value-based pricing looks like in practice.You will report directly to the Managing Director, Client Value, and work closely with colleagues across Strategic Pricing, Legal Project Management, and Client Success, as well as Finance, Rate Operations, FP&A, Client Development, and the Voice of the Client function. This is a genuinely collaborative role in a team that is building something new. As a Director, you will lead a team of Pricing managers and analysts, team size will reflect the breadth of your practice group coverage, and will evolve as the function matures. People leadership – developing commercial talent, setting high standards, and creating capacity for the team to do its best work is a core part of this role.What You’ll Do :Strategic Pricing & AFA DesignLead pricing strategy across your allocated practice and industry groups — from single-matter estimates to complex, multi-jurisdictional engagements and panel arrangements.Design, negotiate, and manage a full suite of alternative fee arrangements: fixed fees, capped fees, phased fees, success/contingency structures, blended rate models, portfolio pricing, and hybrid arrangements tailored to matter type and client risk appetite.Develop pricing frameworks and scoping models that reflect how work is actually being done — including matters where AI tools are driving efficiency — and price accordingly, ensuring the firm captures value rather than eroding it.Build and maintain a suite of pricing templates, precedent models, and proposal tools that partners can deploy confidently in client conversations.Partner with Rate Operations and FP&A on annual rate reviews, rate card design, rack rate strategy, and client-specific discount frameworks.Client engagement & Partner AdvisoryServe as a trusted advisor to partners and practice group leaders on all pricing matters — pitches, RFPs, renewals, panel bids, and in-flight matter repricing.Participate directly in client conversations and pitches where pricing expertise adds strategic value, positioning Goodwin as a commercially sophisticated partner.Translate client feedback — gathered through the Voice of the Client function — into pricing adjustments and commercial proposals that strengthen relationships.Coach partners and associates on commercial awareness, matter scoping, and the economics of legal service delivery. Help build a culture where everyone understands the value of what they do.Support the Client Development team on competitive bids, credentials, and differentiated pricing narratives.Commercial PerformanceWork closely with broader Finance team including FP&A to monitor matter-level profitability — flagging risk, identifying scope creep, and recommending corrective action before it becomes a client or firm problem.Develop and maintain profitability benchmarks by matter type, practice group, and client tier, enabling more intelligent pricing decisions at the point of engagement.Own the post-matter review process for your portfolio — building the institutional knowledge that makes every subsequent pricing decision smarter.Support the Legal Project Management team in embedding budget discipline on fixed-fee and AFA matters from day one.AI-Enabled Pricing & InnovationHelp define and operationalize Goodwin's approach to pricing legal work delivered with AI — a genuinely novel challenge that requires commercial creativity and an understanding of both technology and client psychology.Work with the firm's technology and digital leadership to understand how AI tools are changing the cost base of legal service delivery, and build pricing models that reflect this new reality.Identify opportunities to introduce pricing tools, automation, and data-driven models that improve the speed, consistency, and quality of pricing outputs.Stay current on market developments — including what peer firms, legal tech vendors, and sophisticated in-house legal teams are doing — and bring those insights back into the team.Benchmarking & Market IntelligenceOwn pricing benchmarking for your practice group portfolio, drawing on external data sources e.g. Thomson Reuters Real Rate Report, CLOC/ACC surveys, BTI Consulting, PACER data, and structured partner intelligence.Maintain and develop a living pricing database that captures internal matter data, market rates, and competitive positioning.Contribute to firm-wide benchmarking initiatives, including those commissioned by leadership to inform rate strategy and client negotiations.Team Collaboration & Knowledge SharingWork in close collaboration with your fellow Pricing Directors and the broader Client Value team — sharing precedents, models, and market intelligence to build a cohesive and consistent firm-wide pricing capability.Contribute to the development of pricing methodology, standard approaches, and guidance materials that elevate the quality of pricing advice across the firm.Support the onboarding and development of more junior team members, including analysts and managers, creating a team culture of learning and commercial curiosity.Who You Are:Experience10+ years experience in a senior pricing, commercial finance, or legal operations role, ideally within a law firm or professional services environment.Deep, practical knowledge of alternative fee arrangements: not just awareness, but a track record of designing, negotiating, and managing them successfully.Demonstrated ability to work directly with senior stakeholders — partners, C-suite clients, or equivalent — on commercial and pricing strategy.Experience building pricing models, financial analyses, and commercial proposals from the ground up, with strong Excel / financial modelling skills.Exposure to legal technology, AI-enabled workflows, or pricing tools in a professional services context is a significant advantage.Experience pricing technology-enabled legal services, AI-assisted work product, or managed legal services — and have thought about how value is defined and captured in that context.Commercial AcumenA genuinely commercial mindset: you think about value, not just cost, and you understand the difference between price and worth.Comfort with ambiguity and complexity — legal engagements are rarely standard, and neither are their pricing solutions.An instinct for identifying where standard hourly billing is the wrong tool, and the confidence to say so — diplomatically, persuasively, and with alternatives in hand.Influence & RelationshipsThe credibility and interpersonal skill to earn the trust of skeptical senior partners — not through hierarchy, but through expertise, preparation, and consistently good judgment.Strong communication skills: able to explain complex pricing concepts clearly to lawyers who didn't study finance, and to clients who are comparing you against three other firms.A collaborative instinct — you see other parts of the business as partners, not obstacles, and you know how to get things done across organizational lines.MindsetEntrepreneurial energy: comfortable building in an environment that is still maturing and willing to create the tools and processes that don't yet exist.Intellectually curious about the future of legal services, AI, and how pricing needs to evolve to keep pace.High standards, low ego. You care about the quality of the work more than who gets the credit.#LI-MS1Benefits and MoreAt Goodwin, you will discover your next career opportunity with a rewarding compensation package a