Operational Standards Manager - Bristol, London or Manchester

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.

As we continue to grow and further develop Service Excellence for our clients, we are recruiting for a new role in our IP Support Services function, Operational Standards Manager. For this role, we are seeking an experienced leader to develop and deliver our Quality Assurance programme. Ideally, you will have Intellectual Property (IP) experience and a good understanding of excellence in IP with a strong desire to explore, learn, and understand the way we work to deliver continued improvements.

This role works within the Operational Standards team, reporting to the IPSS Director, playing a pivotal role in the way we progress our Service Excellence strategy. You will drive best practice, embedding and maintaining our standard processes to deliver our service proposition across the Client Services function, which includes client-facing paralegal teams and back-office support teams, including our Records function. This is an important role, requiring a confident, hands-on leader.

You will be responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining a new Quality Assurance programme that ensures our work product and service delivery meets and exceeds both attorney and client expectations, in terms of quality, consistency and timeliness. You will work with the Service Delivery Managers to identify and resolve issues, beyond the transactional level. You will manage and review all service-related feedback from clients and attorneys, using this insight to improve our overall service proposition. You will also have responsibility for managing any associated business controls and working with our Compliance team when necessary. You will drive continuous improvement initiatives, standardise practices, and leverage technology to enhance service delivery.

This position requires a high degree of visibility, acting as a change agent and advocate of Service Excellence across the Client Services function. You will be a strong, confident communicator, creating alignment across the function, and communicating our service proposition and performance across the firm. You will have good critical thinking skills and problem-solving ability.

Your success will ultimately be measured by how effectively you establish and drive adherence to our operational service standards, and the effect that this has on our attorney and client service experience.

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 and embed change across our Client Services functions. 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 Operational Standards Manager, you’ll have worked in a similar role in a professional services environment (Intellectual Property experience being highly desirable) and so 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.

Your experience will showcase the following key skills:

• Experience in Operational Standards
• Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills
• Communication and Interpersonal Skills
• Leadership and Team Management Skills
• Training and Development Skills
• Proficiency in Relevant Software

This role can be based at either our Manchester, Bristol or London office, depending on the location of the successful candidate. We work on a hybrid 50/50 office/home working model. Flexibility to travel to our other offices across the UK and in Munich is an essential part of this role.

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.