Service Delivery Manager - Bristol

Mewburn Ellis is the forward-looking IP firm, 150 years old, but very much with a focus on the future. We are at the top of our profession, being ‘Top Tier’ in Legal 500, ‘Band 1’ in Chambers & Partners UK, ‘Gold Ranked’ for EPO work and ‘Top Tier’ in IAM Patent 1000, as well as being ‘Recommended’ in MIP IP Stars and WTR. We are proud to have been awarded the prestigious EcoVadis Platinum Medal in 2024, the highest rating you can earn in sustainable business practices.

We provide commercially focused, creative advice about obtaining, enforcing, and exploiting intellectual property rights including patents, trade marks and designs to a wide range of clients who enjoy our straightforward approach and flexible working practices. Our attorneys and lawyers assist our clients across the entire range of IP services, with experience working in numerous diverse industry sectors.

There has never been a more exciting time to work for a firm like Mewburn Ellis. We are an ambitious and growing firm that puts our people at the heart of our culture, with over 350 staff across five offices in Bristol, Cambridge, London, Manchester and Munich. The culture and personality of the firm is ambitious but also relaxed and friendly.

We are recruiting for an experienced leader, ideally with Intellectual Property experience, to join our IP Support Services department in the role of Service Delivery Manager. This is a great opportunity to join one of Europe’s top specialist Intellectual Property firms. If successful, you will be joining an award-winning team, recently awarded Highly Commended in the Best Law Firm Paralegal Development category at the National Paralegal Awards 2024.

The Service Delivery Manager is a new role, where you are required to lead your team to provide excellent service to clients and attorney teams. The role involves implementing and embedding strategic change initiatives to ensure a consistent, high-quality work product and service experience to our attorneys and clients, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and collaborating with teams across the firm to deliver great service.

Your team includes client-facing paralegals aligned to specific offices and clients, and back-office administrators aligned to specific client groups and/or roles. The role requires high visibility within the firm, as you will be the first point of contact for service-related issues occurring within your team. You are required to have a good understanding of the firm’s standard processes so that you can drive adherence, identify the root cause of service-related issues, and resolve or identify opportunities for improvement in those processes.

You will build meaningful working relationships with Partners, Attorneys, and cross-functional teams for the purpose of achieving service excellence. You will implement and embed strategic initiatives to elevate the professional paralegal/client relationship beyond transactional activity. You will report to the Senior Service Delivery Manager for Client Services and form part of the Client Services Management team. You and your peers will be responsible for continuously improving service delivery by driving through change and accountability as well as process and performance improvements.

We have an excellent benefit package which includes:

• A blended office and home working approach
• 30 days leave (exc. Bank Holidays)
• Interest-free season ticket loan
• Enhanced family leave
• Cycle to work scheme
• Firmwide discretionary bonus scheme
• Paid day off for charitable endeavours
• Discount Voucher Scheme
• Electric Car Scheme
• Workplace ISA
• Care concierge

Our successful growth story is down to our people. We take the wellbeing of our people seriously, offering a huge suite of initiatives to de-stress, engage and enthuse. We care about wider society too and the communities in which we operate.

As an experienced leader, you will possess the communication skills, adaptability and gravitas to influence change and improvement within your team. You’ll want to deeply understand our business’ people and processes and will be keen to build relationships with all key stakeholders to enable you to focus on strengthening performance and building trust and collaboration.

As our new Service Delivery Manager, you’ll have worked in a similar role in a professional services environment (Intellectual Property experience being highly desirable) and will understand the significance of working with a high-quality focus and in a time-driven way. You will be familiar with working at pace with a flexible approach. You will be committed to team deliverables and be willing to be hands-on when necessary, leading from the front. You will be comfortable dealing with employee relations or performance issues with a calm and respectful manner.

Your experience will showcase the following key skills:

• Adaptability and Agility
• Effective Communication
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Teamwork and Collaboration
• Leadership
• Client focus

This role is based at our Bristol office, and we work on a hybrid 50/50 office/home working model. Flexibility to travel to our other offices across the UK is required as needed.

Your career is important to us, and we will invest in you to allow you to develop and grow. If you are excited by the prospect of this role and where a career with Mewburn Ellis could take you, we’d love to hear from you. Please send your CV to Victoria Moore at recruitment@mewburn.com.

We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome a broad diversity of talent to apply.