Overview
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is one of the world’s leading international law firms. The Firm was established in 1884 and has approximately 2,000 lawyers. Headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Dallas, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Palo Alto, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., the Firm provides coordinated legal advice and transactional capability to clients around the globe.
The Client Development & Engagement (CDE) function sits at the heart of the Firm’s growth strategy, bringing together business development, marketing, events and communications. Working closely with Partners, practice leaders, and cross functional teams, CDE supports high impact initiatives such as pitches and RFPs, strategic marketing and communications, and practice level business initiatives. The team leverages data, insights, and creative problem solving to help Partners drive sustained growth through repeatable excellence and differentiated client experience.
The Role
The Specialist, Strategy, Planning & Infrastructure supports the planning, coordination, and execution of strategic initiatives that strengthen how the Client Development & Engagement function operates. Working closely with the Senior Manager, this role helps manage cross-functional workstreams, maintain project governance and documentation, support technology and AI-related initiatives, and drive follow-through on high-priority operational projects.
This position is ideal for a highly organized, proactive professional who can balance detail-oriented execution with broader operational awareness. The Specialist serves as a key operational partner to CDE leadership, helping ensure strategic initiatives remain organized, visible, on schedule, and positioned for successful delivery.
Essential Job Duties & Responsibilities
Project Governance & Strategic Initiative Support
- Maintain project plans, timelines, trackers, dashboards, status updates, and documentation for CDE strategic initiatives.
- Track milestones, deliverables, dependencies, risks, action items, and key decision points to ensure timely progress and appropriate escalation.
- Prepare briefing materials, meeting summaries, project updates, and other materials that support CDE leadership decision-making and visibility.
- Help create scalable templates, processes, and documentation to support consistent planning and execution across initiatives.
Operational Enablement & Process Improvement
- Coordinate internal operations that support the Client Development & Engagement function, including budget tracking, candidate pipeline support, vendor coordination, event logistics, and document preparation as needed.
- Identify opportunities to improve internal workflows, templates, operating rhythms, and team processes in support of scalability and cross-functional visibility.
- Support the development and rollout of new processes, systems, and tools that help CDE manage work more consistently and efficiently.
- Draft, coordinate, and maintain internal communications, including team updates, meeting summaries, project briefs, and process documentation.
Technology & AI Enablement
- Support technology, AI, and infrastructure-related initiatives by helping organize requirements, track implementation tasks, document decisions, and coordinate stakeholder input.
- Support the evaluation, planning, testing, documentation, and rollout of new technologies that improve operational efficiency.
- Coordinate AI adoption initiatives within CDE for Firm-approved technologies, involving including Microsoft Copilot, Harvey, DeepJudge, and other emerging AI solutions.
- Develop and maintain implementation documentation, training resources, user guides, and adoption materials supporting technology rollouts.
- Coordinate stakeholder feedback, issue tracking, testing activities, and project documentation during technology pilots and implementations.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Build collaborative relationships with stakeholders across CDE, IT, Knowledge & Innovation, HR, Finance, and other Firm functions.
- Coordinate project updates, timelines, deliverables, and communications across multiple workstreams.
- Support change management activities associated with new technologies, operational processes, and strategic initiatives.
- Contribute to special projects and strategic initiatives as assigned by the Senior Manager, Strategy, Planning & Infrastructure.
Education
Required
- Bachelor’s degree required
Skills and Experience
Required
- Minimum 4+ years of relevant experience in business development, operations, project coordination, executive support, professional services, or a law firm environment
- Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across levels and functions.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities, synthesize information, support data-driven decision-making, and advance continuous improvement in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience coordinating concurrent cross-functional initiatives, deadlines, and stakeholders.
- Experience preparing executive presentations, dashboards, status reports, meeting materials, and operational documentation.
- Proficiency with project management and collaboration tools, such as Smartsheet, Microsoft Planner, Microsoft Project, Asana, Lupl, or similar platforms.
- Strong organizational, analytical, project coordination, and documentation skills, with exceptional attention to detail.
- Highly organized, proactive, self-directed, and accountable, with the ability to work independently and drive deliverables to completion.
- Adaptable, resourceful, and comfortable navigating ambiguity in a dynamic environment.
- Collaborative team player with a strong customer-service mindset and commitment to continuous learning, professional growth, and innovation.
Preferred
- Experience supporting strategic planning, operational excellence, PMO, business transformation, or professional services initiatives.
- Familiarity with CRM, Power BI or other analytics tools, and AI-enabled productivity platforms such as Microsoft Copilot, Harvey, Claude, DeepJudge, or similar technologies.
Salary Information
NY Only: The estimated base salary range for this position is $100,000 to $120,000 at the time of posting.
The actual salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job. This role is exempt meaning it is not overtime pay eligible.
Simpson Thacher will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.
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Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is committed to a collegial work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. The Firm prohibits discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, marital or partnership status, sexual orientation, veteran’s status or any other legally protected status. This Policy pertains to every aspect of an individual’s relationship with the Firm, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, benefits, training and development, promotion, transfer, discipline, termination, and all other privileges, terms and conditions of employment.
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