Associate Director of Product Management, Practice Innovation Delivery

Overview At Kirkland & Ellis, we don’t just meet the standard for legal excellence — we set it. Our culture is built on teamwork, ingenuity and a commitment to continuous growth. We tackle the most sophisticated legal challenges with bold ideas and innovative solutions, powered by 7,000+ people, including 4,000+ attorneys, across 24 offices worldwide. Our dedicated professionals share our lawyers’ commitment to excellence and show up each day to do meaningful work that helps drive global business, investment and innovation forward. What You’ll Do As the Associate Director of Product Management, Practice Innovation Delivery, you’ll play a critical role within the Information Technology (IT) Innovation Delivery team, helping bring the firm’s most ambitious product and innovation initiatives to life. Reporting to the Director of Innovation Delivery, you will lead a team of product owners while remaining actively involved in delivery yourself, translating product vision into structured execution across SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) integrations, AI (Artificial Intelligence) deployments, and broader technology initiatives. This role sits at the intersection of product, engineering, and business stakeholders, where your ability to align strategy, drive execution, and champion agile ways of working will directly impact how innovation is delivered and adopted across the organization. Responsibilities Team Leadership & Delivery Excellence: Build, lead, and coach a team of product owners, establishing consistent delivery standards, agile cadences, and a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. Hands-On Product Ownership: Personally manage key initiatives—owning backlogs, defining requirements, and guiding sprint execution—to model best-in-class product ownership and delivery rigor. Strategic Alignment: Partner with Product Management and business leaders to translate strategy into executable plans, ensuring clear prioritization, sequencing, and alignment across stakeholders. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Serve as a central connector across Engineering, Quality Assurance (QA), Data, Security, and Architecture teams—surfacing dependencies and driving coordinated execution. Knowledge Portfolio Leadership: Oversee delivery across Knowledge-focused initiatives, working closely with Knowledge Services and attorneys to align priorities and deliver impactful solutions. SaaS & AI Integration: Lead the integration of SaaS platforms and AI tools into the technology ecosystem, developing reusable integration patterns and partnering with third-party vendors to ensure successful deployment. Agile & Product Mindset: Champion agile practices and product thinking—ensuring solutions are delivered on time, intuitive, valuable, and adopted by end users. Flexible Delivery Approach: Apply the right methodology—agile, waterfall, or hybrid—based on project needs, guiding teams to make informed, practical decisions. Backlog & Prioritization Management: Maintain high-quality, development-ready backlogs and guide prioritization based on business value, feasibility, and delivery capacity. Requirements & Acceptance Standards: Ensure clarity and quality of requirements, oversee user acceptance testing, and enforce a strong definition of done across all initiatives. Tracking, Reporting & Governance: Provide transparent reporting on progress, risks, and dependencies while ensuring compliance with security, data governance, and responsible AI standards. What You’ll Bring Education : Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent practical experience. Experience : At least 8 years in product ownership, delivery management, or related technology roles, including 2+ years leading teams. Leadership & Team Development : Proven ability to build, coach, and lead high-performing product or delivery teams in complex, fast-paced environments. Agile & Delivery Expertise : Deep experience with agile methodologies and delivery frameworks; certifications such as CSPO or SAFe PO/PM are a plus. Strategic & Execution Balance : Ability to contribute to product strategy and roadmap planning while remaining hands-on in execution. SaaS & AI Integration Knowledge : Experience integrating SaaS products and AI tools, including APIs, SSO, data exchange, and workflow integration. Methodology Flexibility : Demonstrated ability to apply agile, waterfall, or hybrid approaches based on project complexity. Collaboration & Communication : Strong interpersonal skills to build trust and alignment across technical teams, business stakeholders, and leadership. Governance & Risk Awareness : Familiarity with data governance, information security, and responsible AI frameworks. Technical Toolkit : Proficiency with Jira, Azure DevOps, and Microsoft Office; experience with Power BI or similar tools is a plus. Industry & Domain Knowledge : Experience in professional services or legal technology environments is beneficial. Drive & Curiosity : Proactive, organized approach with enthusiasm for emerging technologies and their potential to transform how work gets done. Compensation The base salary range represents the low and high end for this position in Chicago. This range may differ based on geographic location and cost of living. We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including healthcare, paid time off, retirement, and opportunities for learning and development. Compensation Range: Chicago: $203,000 - $253,000 Note All employment decisions, including recruiting, hiring, placement, training availability, promotion, compensation, evaluation, disciplinary actions, and termination, are made without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, pregnancy or childbirth, personal appearance, family responsibilities, sexual orientation or preference, gender identity, political affiliation, source of income, place of residence, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, marital status, military veteran status, unfavorable discharge from military service, physical or mental disability, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law. #LI-Hybrid #J-18808-Ljbffr Kirkland & Ellis