Director of Connections - Flexible Location

Founded in 1920, Akerman is recognized as one of the country’s premier law firms, with more than 700 lawyers in 25 offices throughout the United States.

Akerman is seeking a Director of Connections to provide strategic leadership to develop and implement firm initiatives and activities that focus on fostering, maintaining, and enhancing the connectivity and engagement of all firm employees, including both attorneys and professional staff, regardless of whether they are working remotely, on a hybrid schedule, or in the office. Akerman has fully committed to our remote/hybrid work policy, and we are looking to develop, implement, and manage best practices for ensuring that all of our employees remain connected to each other and our firm, receive training and mentoring regardless of where they are located, and maintain a high level of morale and sense of belonging in our distributed workplace. The successful candidate will report to the COO and serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO/Chairman, as well as interact closely with C-Suite executives and departments, including Operations, IT, Recruiting, and HR. The location for this position is flexible.

Major responsibilities include: 

• Understand our firm’s existing high-trust culture that is based on integrity, respect, and fairness, and our firm’s commitment to providing outstanding service to our clients, supporting our colleagues, and giving back to our communities.
• Study and evaluate our existing remote permissive/hybrid work policy, and identify opportunities for improvement and increased connectivity and productivity.
• Develop and implement “best practices” for managing and improving our remote/hybrid work policy to ensure our employees remain connected to each other and our firm, and continue to provide the highest level of professional excellence, service, and support to our clients.
• Ensure that our employees have a positive working experience, regardless of whether they are remote, hybrid, or in person.
• Train and upskill our managers, including Practice Group Leaders, Office Managing Partners, Team Leaders, and C-Suite Chiefs, to manage remote/hybrid workers, and ensure that they are receiving appropriate mentorship and training.
• Ensure that all employees, whether remote/hybrid or in person, have equivalent benefits and opportunities for promotion.
• Assist with the transition for newly hired attorney groups to ensure they are properly integrated to the firm and assigned practice group.
• Help define and communicate an equitable framework for remote/hybrid salaries and perks.
• Adapt learning and development initiatives for remote/hybrid workers.
• Identify and replace remote/hybrid-unfriendly legacy systems.
• Work with IT to support remote/hybrid work, integrate it seamlessly with our existing technology platform, and promote cybersecurity that lessens the vulnerability of remote workers to cyberattacks.
• Work with Recruiting and HR to improve onboarding, integration, and retention of remote/hybrid workers.
• Enhance and manage the firm’s documentation strategy regarding remote/hybrid work and workers.
• Ensure that communication with our employees is quantitatively and qualitatively appropriate, and that communication voids are closed, so we can maintain meaningful connections with our entire Akerman team.
• Address challenges that are associated with remote hiring, remote interviewing, remote onboarding, remote management, remote engagement, remote retention, remote training, and remote mentorship.

Skills include: 

• Understanding of the importance of firm culture and the need to ensure that all employees remain connected operationally, emotionally, and culturally.
• Creativity and “out of the box” thinking.
• Knowledge of business operations, processes, and policies.
• Excellent leadership skills.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Working knowledge of HR and Recruiting processes, including onboarding.
• Working knowledge of IT, including technology architecture and systems.
• Working knowledge of business operations.
• Ability to set up frameworks for team and cross-functional collaboration.
• Knowledge of remote/hybrid management, mentorship, and training tools.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree, preferably in organizational management, human capital management, business psychology, and/or other related disciplines.
• Professional certificate in Leading in a Remote Environment and/or related professional certificates preferred but not required.
• Enthusiasm to embrace change and novel developments, and to identify and capitalize on opportunities to develop a competitive advantage in the “new normal” of remote/hybrid work.
• Experience managing and integrating remote/hybrid teams and workplaces.
• Experience with large law firms and/or other professional service firms preferred but not required.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong technical skills with PCs and Microsoft platforms, including Word, Outlook, and Excel.

We offer an excellent compensation and benefits package. Please submit your resume and salary requirements. EOE

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