Director of Business & Practice Systems
Baker Botts

Baker Botts, a full-service AM Law 100, leading international law firm recognized for our understanding of the industries that we serve, is seeking a Director of Business & Practice Systems to join our Information Technology team.

The Director of Business & Practice Systems partners with the CKO, CIO and stakeholders to evaluate, plan, develop, implement, and support technologies to support the business and practice operations of the firm. This person is a thought leader who will help build the strategic roadmap for technology, leveraging innovative solutions in support of global operational excellence. The role is responsible for overseeing the portfolio of all business enterprise applications on-premises, hosted, and SaaS, in support of Finance, Marketing, Human Resources, Knowledge Management, Records and Risk and selected practice support systems. This person is responsible for recruiting, developing and leading a team of high performing technical resources, including in-house staff, consultants and vendors. The candidate needs to be effective at developing rapport, solving issues, coaching and mentoring others. The ideal candidate is a customer-focused professional and an excellent communicator who can be a leader and consistently deliver high value results to the firm.

This is a full-time, EXEMPT position resident in our Houston office with excellent benefits.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with CKO, CIO and IT Leadership and system stakeholders to define technology roadmaps and long-term vision for core systems integrated with overall applications and processes.
• Analyze emerging technologies and proactively assess the company's operating requirements to ensure that business applications meet all current and forecasted business needs.
• Recruit, develop, nurture, mentor and guide a multi-level team of high performing technology professionals.
• Partner with functional leaders to establish ownership of business applications and support for new initiatives.
• Mobilize functional, IT, and external resources for highly effective deployment of new applications and system enhancements. Deliver projects and initiatives on scope, on schedule and within budget.
• Develop data architecture and modeling standards, governance frameworks and system integration standards at an enterprise level.
• Negotiate product license, support agreements and project agreements with external vendors to minimize operating costs while maintaining a high quality of operational services to the Firm.
• Partner with Information Security, Information Governance, IT infrastructure and other IT team members to effectively address all cloud, hardware, database, security, privacy, data and software aspects of business solutions.
• Partner with the infrastructure team to develop disaster recovery and business continuity plans for mission critical business applications and business technologies.
• Ensure deployed solutions address internal controls and privacy regulations.
• Analyze emerging technologies and proactively assess the company's operating requirements to ensure that business applications meet all current and forecasted business needs.
• Research, analyze, and document alternatives to formulate compelling recommendations to senior management. Solutions will optimize the trade-offs between cost of ownership and service.
• Identify long and short-term opportunities to outsource functions that can be managed more effectively by third party experts vs. in-house resources.

Other duties and responsibilities:

• Participate and contribute to industry organizations to foster learning and collaboration with colleagues in the field, and showcase Baker Botts as an industry leader.
• Attend industry conferences to keep up to date with new emerging technologies.

Qualifications:

• BA/BS required in Business, Computer Science, or a related major is required.
• Strong financial experience managing a multi-million-dollar budget of operational and project costs.
• Strong project and portfolio management experience (PMP certification preferred).
• Five plus years of prior experience in a Director of Information Technology or senior IT management role (business IT strongly preferred).
• Proven experience leading large-scale software implementation projects and technology management, including leading teams of 10 or more people.
• Proven experience leading multi-level teams of 20+ personnel, plus consultants and contractors as needed.
• Experience in deploying and managing enterprise applications across many disciplines.
• Experience facilitating and leading discussions with cross-functional teams to reach consensus on new technologies and embrace common solutions.
• Exceptional organizational skills and project management experience to include successful management of large-scale, company-wide initiatives and implementations.
• Experience working with InfoSec, Project/PMO and Service Management processes.
• Hands-on experience with Business Intelligence and database reporting tools.
• Legal industry experience is preferred.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills.

Extent of Contact (Within and outside the Firm):

• This position requires contact with individuals within the firms as follows: Other members of the IT team, C-Suite and departmental stakeholders throughout the Firm.
• This position requires contact with individuals outside the firm as follows: Firm software vendors, consultants, and industry peers.

Physical Demands:

• Must be able to work in a high-pressure environment with time restraints and frequent interruptions.
• Must be able to sit for extensive periods of time, either while using the telephone or computer.
• Must be able to lift to 10 pounds, squat, kneel and bend.

Working Conditions and Environment:

• Position is full-time and requires a five-day work week and standard hours as outlined in the Firm policy manual. Additional hours, including weekend and evening hours may be required to perform the essential functions of the job.
• Position requires 24x7 escalation support.
• Position may require some out-of-town travel, including weekends.
• This role may be performed remotely; however, regular in office meetings may be required and candidate should reside in the Houston area (within commuting distance of the Houston office).

Baker Botts L.L.P. is an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, medical condition, military and veteran status, gender identity or expression, genetic information or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.

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