Associate Director of Quality and Process Engineering

Associate Director of Quality and Process Engineering

At Kirkland & Ellis, we don’t just meet the standard for legal excellence — we set it. Our culture is built on teamwork, ingenuity and an unwavering commitment to continuous growth. We tackle the most sophisticated legal challenges with bold ideas and innovative solutions, powered by the exceptional experience and ambition of our 7,000+ people, including 4,000+ attorneys, across 23 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.

The Litigation & Practice Technology (LPT) Associate Director of Quality & Process Engineering reports to the Director of Litigation & Practice Technology and is primarily responsible for designing, implementing, and continuously advancing a framework of quality and operational excellence across LPT's full range of service delivery. This role is focused on evaluating and optimizing both the processes and the quality of outputs through which the team delivers services, spanning eDiscovery, document review, case management, litigation support applications, and related matter delivery tasks.

The Associate Director brings deep hands‑on experience in litigation support and legal technology service delivery and applies a continuous improvement mindset to one of the most technically complex and high‑stakes environments in legal services. This is both a strategic and hands‑on role, requiring a thorough understanding of LPT’s operational portfolio, close engagement with team leads and subject matter experts, and the ability to build the standards infrastructure that enables the team to deliver exceptional work consistently and at scale.

• Design and implement a quality framework establishing clear standards and checkpoints across both the technical and service delivery dimensions of LPT’s work, covering how tools are configured and operated, and how projects are managed, communicated, and delivered.
• Define quality standards for each major service area and workflow phase, addressing the accuracy and consistency of outputs and the quality of the attorney and client experience.
• Establish a regular quality and standards review cadence at the matter and service line level, defining scope, sampling methodology, and criteria that yield actionable insight into standards consistency; document findings, track follow‑up activities, and report results to LPT leadership to inform improvement priorities.
• Partner with team managers and the Associate Director of Team & Knowledge Development to conduct performance‑level assessments of individual and sub‑team standards adherence, translating findings into constructive feedback and ensuring identified gaps are surfaced to the training function for resolution.
• Serve as the team’s internal advocate for quality and operational excellence, fostering a culture of continuous improvement across all LPT service lines.

• Engage with subject matter experts across LPT’s service delivery workflows to evaluate current practices and identify opportunities to enhance consistency, efficiency, and scalability across technical operations and project delivery.
• Standardize and document best‑in‑class approaches across all service lines, capturing the team’s collective expertise in repeatable, scalable practices applicable across matters of varying size and complexity.
• Align and refine standards across sub‑teams for data management, platform configuration, quality control checkpoints, project communication, and operational handoffs throughout the full project lifecycle.
• As part of each workflow review, assess opportunities to streamline, automate, or apply AI, identifying where platform capabilities, scripting, or generative AI tools can enhance or evolve existing practices. Develop prioritized recommendations for leadership distinguishing between near‑term enhancements and longer‑horizon innovations.
• Review and optimize the team’s work request systems,…