Director, Certification & Standards

Position Summary

The Director, Certification & Standards will lead CLOC's strategy to establish and sustain the professional standards and certification for the legal operations profession. This role will translate the CLOC Core 12 into a rigorous competency framework and use those standards as the foundation for CLOC's certification, continuing education, and professional development efforts.

As the program owner, the Director will lead the development, launch, governance, and ongoing evolution of the CLOC Certified Legal Operations Professional credential, ensuring it is credible, relevant, rigorous, and valued by professionals and employers. The role will work closely with CLOC leadership, volunteers, industry experts, employers, and external partners to strengthen CLOC's position as the trusted authority on legal operations standards and professional competency.

• Lead the development, publication, and ongoing evolution of CLOC's professional standards for legal operations.
• Ensure standards reflect professional judgment, analytical ability, ethical practice, and the evolving needs of legal operations.
• Lead research and stakeholder engagement to validate standards with professionals, employers, and the broader legal ecosystem.
• Establish a sustainable process for reviewing and updating standards as the profession evolves.

• Lead the strategy, roadmap, launch, and ongoing evolution of the credential.
• Serve as staff lead for the Certification Advisory Committee and related governance bodies.
• Oversee certification eligibility, policies, candidate experience, appeals, credential maintenance, and quality assurance.
• Develop the long-term governance roadmap, including the transition to an independent Certification Board.

• Oversee assessment development, validation, administration, and continuous improvement in partnership with certification and psychometric experts.
• Manage assessment blueprints, item-bank governance, standard setting, scoring, and ongoing evaluation of assessment quality.
• Monitor assessment data and outcomes to maintain the rigor, validity, reliability, and credibility of the credential.

• Establish and manage continuing education and recertification requirements for certified professionals.
• Oversee CLOC's CE approval process, including eligibility criteria, documentation, tracking, and reporting for CLOC and external educational activities.
• Partner with the Learning & Engagement team to ensure CLOC programs can be efficiently evaluated for CE eligibility.

• Build relationships with legal operations leaders, General Counsel, employers, hiring managers, educators, and other industry stakeholders to strengthen the relevance and recognition of CLOC standards and certification.
• Develop employer-facing resources and strategies that position certification as a meaningful benchmark for hiring, career development, and workforce planning.
• Use research, surveys, round tables, and market intelligence to inform standards, assessment, and credential evolution.

• Oversee certification operations, technology platforms, vendors, candidate support, credential records, and program delivery.
• Develop scalable processes and systems that support certification, CE tracking, renewal, and future growth.
• Manage program budgets, forecasts, performance metrics, and vendor relationships.
• Partner with Marketing, Membership, Education, and other CLOC teams to drive awareness, adoption, and member value.
• Establish and monitor measures of program success, including enrollment, candidate experience, renewal, employer recognition, and financial sustainability.

• Recruit, engage, and support subject matter experts, committee members, reviewers, and other volunteers who contribute to standards and certification development.
• Facilitate effective working groups and governance processes, ensuring clear roles, decisions, and accountability.
• Build a sustainable volunteer pipeline and foster strong collaboration across CLOC teams and external stakeholders.

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Seven or more years of experience in professional certification, credentialing, professional education, workforce development, standards development, association leadership, or a…