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Challenging. Meaningful. Life-changing. Those aren’t words that are usually associated with a job. But working at Bristol Myers Squibb is anything but usual. Here, uniquely interesting work happens every day, in every department. From optimizing a production line to the latest breakthroughs in cell therapy, this is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it. You’ll get the chance to grow and thrive through opportunities uncommon in scale and scope, alongside high-achieving teams rich in diversity. Take your career farther than you thought possible.

Bristol Myers Squibb recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility in our work environment. We offer a wide variety of competitive benefits, services and programs that provide our employees with the resources to pursue their goals, both at work and in their personal lives. Read more: careers.bms.com/working-with-us.

As the Head of Strategy & Operations – Law Department, you will report to the General Counsel at Bristol Myers Squibb.  You will manage the operations of the Law Department, while working in close partnership with the General Counsel and Law Department Senior Leadership Team to drive operational excellence and continued modernization across the Law Department.  You will join the Department’s other practice group and function leads as a member of the General Counsel’s Law Senior Leadership Team. 

The successful candidate will offer a deep understanding of the in-house legal and compliance functions, expert knowledge of enabling technologies, contract management, and internal department financials, budgets and industry best practices, and team development. Additionally, the Head of Strategy & Operations - Law will build and lead the Enterprise Contract Facilitation, a new function designed to centralize enterprise contract facilitation across BMS, with a focus on buy-side and Healthcare Personnel (HCP) related contracts.   Finally, the Head of Strategy & Operations – Law Department will partner with internal BMS functions such as Finance, IT, Human Resources, Global Procurement etc. as a senior representative of the General Counsel and the Law Department.  The successful candidate will have strong executive leadership skills and a proven track record of making an impact, developing and executing on strategies and delivering superior results in both the short and long term.

Responsibilities:

Law Department Management

• Member of Law Department senior leadership team
• Develops and leads strategic planning efforts for Law Department Operations
• Creates metrics, monitoring tools to measure success against strategic plans
• Plans and executes senior leadership and Department meetings
• Leads Law Operations sub functions to include, vendor management and enterprise contract facilitation
• Develops and maintains operational plan for new hires as well as communication and engagement activities across the Law Department 
• Partners with communications team to devise strategy for Law messaging and communications internally and externally

Financial Management and Planning:

• Works with GC to: ensure accurate financial strategies and management of operating budgets (internal and external); create key performance indicators for the GC; measure performance against budgets, provide recommendations to assure adherence to budget, including external benchmarking to assure best practices.
• Works with Finance to: prepare and monitor Department budgets and financial reporting; develop and maintain effective and efficient accounts payable and spend management processes
• Create financial reporting metrics aligned to outside counsel within the e-billing application that can be used for trend reporting on all firms or individual firms
• Monitors operational performance through on-going benchmarking analysis
• Identifies drivers of legal expenses as well as trends and provide recommendations regarding productivity and process improvement
• Assists GC with recommendations to maximize resources, performance

Law Firm/Vendor Management:

• Leads processes to select, manage, and evaluate outside counsel, including the BMS Law Partners for Productivity Program (LP2).
• Works with Law Department senior leadership team to identify appropriate outside counsel; directs negotiation of financial goals
• Manages and oversees outside vendor rates, billing, and compliance; negotiates alternative fee arrangements, where appropriate
• Collects and leverages market data relevant to supplier selection and rationalization
• Establishes appropriate financial terms and pricing mechanisms

Information Technology & Knowledge Management:

• Partners with IT to design and deploy technology strategy that furthers the strategic goals of the Department.
• Supervises innovation specialists in ongoing systems administration so that Law functions are supported with current technology to allow for more efficient and effective operations

Talent:

• Works in partnership with HR and SLT to assure timely development planning for Law and traction against development actions
• Supports long range planning and global resource allocation

Required Qualification(s) and Desired Experience:

• BA/BS in accounting, business or finance.  MBA or MS preferred
• Law firm or in-house corporate legal department experience an absolute requirement, including prior management experience and experience coaching and developing employees
• 10+ years of legal operations experience, contracting, project management and execution experience, with a record of academic achievement and professional training.   
• Strong business acumen combined with solid relationship development skills, effectively interfacing with senior executive level management. These business and professional attributes will be complemented with superior emotional and intellectual acuity required to facilitate communications with company leaders across multiple functions and business units.
• Excellent consultative and client service skills; able to effectively manage key relationships.
• High degree of intellectual agility to handle complex business and technical issues; attendant demonstrated willingness to collaborate to augment current proficiencies. Proven track record of making an impact, developing and executing on strategies and delivering superior results
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple critical projects is required
• Strong financial management skills, fluency with financial aspects of business operations; strong background in management information systems, business processes
• Tech savvy, with strong knowledge of relevant industry platforms and tools
• Proactive, entrepreneurial approach to recognizing needs, solving problems, anticipating issues and developing solutions; excellent business judgment and strategic thinking (short-term and long-term)
• Skilled at influencing others through growth and change
• Team player who is results-oriented and self-motivated

If you come across a role that intrigues you but doesn’t perfectly line up with your resume, we encourage you to apply anyway. You could be one step away from work that will transform your life and career.

Uniquely Interesting Work, Life-changing Careers
With a single vision as inspiring as “Transforming patients’ lives through science™ ”, every BMS employee plays an integral role in work that goes far beyond ordinary. Each of us is empowered to apply our individual talents and unique perspectives in an inclusive culture, promoting diversity in clinical trials, while our shared values of passion, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion and integrity bring out the highest potential of each of our colleagues.

On-site Protocol

BMS has a diverse occupancy structure that determines where an employee is required to conduct their work. This structure includes site-essential, site-by-design, field-based and remote-by-design jobs. The occupancy type that you are assigned is determined by the nature and responsibilities of your role:

Site-essential roles require 100% of shifts onsite at your assigned facility. Site-by-design roles may be eligible for a hybrid work model with at least 50% onsite at your assigned facility. For these roles, onsite presence is considered an essential job function and is critical to collaboration, innovation, productivity, and a positive Company culture. For field-based and remote-by-design roles the ability to physically travel to visit customers, patients or business partners and to attend meetings on behalf of BMS as directed is an essential job function.

BMS is dedicated to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace accommodations/adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request a reasonable workplace accommodation/adjustment prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodations/adjustments in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, direct your inquiries to [email protected]. Visit careers.bms.com/eeo-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

BMS cares about your well-being and the well-being of our staff, customers, patients, and communities. As a result, the Company strongly recommends that all employees be fully vaccinated for Covid-19 and keep up to date with Covid-19 boosters.

BMS will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, pursuant to applicable laws in your area.

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