Accolades & Rankings Manager

Cooley is seeking an Accolades & Ranking Manager to join the Communications team.

Position summary: Under the supervision of the Director of Communications, this role offers great opportunity to an ambitious professional who specializes in this arena: to build something unique, impactful and enduring. The Accolades & Rankings Manager will have firmwide responsibility for managing the processes for responding to accolades and ranking opportunities and working withing the communications team to optimize the results with most impact and engagement. The position requires a blend of superb project management and communications skills.
Position responsibilities

• Instituting a new era of improved processes for the intake, evaluation and pursuit of ranking and accolade opportunities, being discerning in focusing on those that best assist the promotion of particular lawyer, partner, practice area, department and firmwide brand, in line with Cooley’s business development objectives
• Close collaboration with members of the communications and marketing & business development teams to assign submissions, manage workflow, provide guidance on approach and requirements, and meet deadlines
• Research award and ranking opportunities, track and record results, and provide reports and analysis to marketing colleagues and firm partners and leaders for use in internal communications, benchmarking, and marketing materials
• Build and deepen relationships with department and practice group leadership teams, focus partners and so as to best understand their work and strategic objectives and identify the ranking and recognition opportunities best placed to support such objectives
• Project managing the compilation of key high-level award and survey responses and serving as a lead writer where appropriate
• Provide information to firm leadership on rankings research processes and best practices for submissions and nominations in an ongoing effort to improve and scale education, training and support on ranking submissions
• Serve as direct supervisor and mentor to direct reports
• Provide day-to-day supervision of direct reports, ensure compliance with assigned work hours and monitor for compliance with all firm and department policies. Manage staffing coverage, review and process time logs/time off requests
• Support business professional development and continued educational opportunities
• In collaboration with immediate supervisor and central HR, participate in hiring, performance appraisals, counseling, termination and other employee lifecycle events
• All other duties as assigned or required

Skills and experience:

Required:

• After orientation at Cooley LLP, exhibit proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, iManage and other firm applications, including firm marketing systems software
• Ability to work extended and/or weekend hours, as required
• Ability to travel, as required
• 5+ years related experience (e.g., in awards and rankings, public relations, communications, marketing, or business development, preferably with law firm experience)
• Senior level candidates must have 7+ years’ directly applicable exempt work experience, at least 4 of which include management experience in the applicable field, along with the proven ability to operate at an elevated level in terms of scope of responsibility, judgement and autonomy
• Project management skills
• Experience in a law firm or professional services environment, with a working knowledge of professional services sectors

Preferred:

• Bachelor’s degree in English, Journalism, Communications, Marketing, Business or related field
• Direct experience with legal rankings and awards is strongly desired
• Supervisory experience

Competencies:

• Ability to lead multiple projects and work with little direction in a highly collaborative environment
• Excellent communication skills both written and verbal
• Comprehensive, accurate note-taking and excellent proofreading skills
• Ability to multi-task, problem-solve, work well under pressure and coordinate sophisticated communications programs with good results
• Ability to consistently meet deadlines, including self-set and multi-tasked
• Strong analytic and research skills
• Experience in earning the trust and respect of high-performing senior professionals in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to develop professional relationships both internally (with department members, lawyers and firm staff) and externally (with industry/regional associations, etc.)
• Reliable and punctual
• Adept at new and rapidly transforming technologies
• Ability to manage multiple deadlines and projects while overseeing overall workflow for a busy ranking and award submission schedule
• Ability to deal with fluid situations, changing priorities and requirements, and tight deadlines.
• Attention to detail and excellent organizational skills
• Exceptional written and verbal communications skills and ability to communicate with partners and professional colleagues across the firm

Cooley offers a competitive compensation and excellent benefits package and is committed to fair and equitable employment practices.

EOE.

The expected annual pay range for this position with a full-time schedule is $120,000 - $160,000. Please note that final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience and skillset of the candidate. Senior level candidates may be considered for this position and would be eligible for a higher salary range based on experience.

We offer a full range of elective benefits including medical, health savings account (with applicable medical plan), dental, vision, health and/or dependent care flexible spending accounts, pre-tax commuter benefits, life insurance, AD&D, long-term care coverage, backup care for children and/or adults and other parental support benefits. In addition to elective benefit options, benefited employees receive firm-paid life insurance, AD&D, LTD, short term medical benefits as well as 21 days of Paid Time Off (“PTO”) and 10 paid holidays each year. We provide generous parental leave and fertility benefits. New employees will attend a detailed benefit orientation to learn more about our many benefits and resources.