Director of Data

IMS Legal Strategies is a trusted partner to law firms and corporations worldwide, providing the expertise and technology needed to solve dispute-related challenges and protect reputations. IMS delivers strategic solutions for the entire litigation lifecycle, including advisory and analytical support, specialized expert witness services, data-driven jury consulting, powerful trial graphics, and seamless presentation technology. Our integrated teams have decades of practical experience in more than 65,000 cases and 6,500 trials.  

“Together, we win” is the IMS company motto and a genuine philosophy that guides our work with clients, experts, and one another. From entry-level to executives, we are driven by five core values: 1) Ownership Thinking, 2) Humble Confidence, 3) Quality and Excellence, 4) Honor the Relationship, and 5) Operate as One. 

We invite you to join our thriving company, committed to shared success. Visit imslegal.com for more. 

JOB SUMMARY:

The Director of Data is responsible for building and leading IMS's data organization and turning 30 years of proprietary case outcome data into a durable, defensible AI and analytics advantage. This is a founding-level role: it requires someone who can define data architecture, governance, and infrastructure strategy from a relatively early baseline while also being hands-on enough to stand up pipelines, evaluate vendor/acquisition data assets, and support production AI features. The Director of Data will partner closely with the Director of Product Management to convert data assets into shippable capabilities, and with the CTO on technical due diligence as IMS continues an active acquisition strategy under Uplift Investors.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

Data Strategy & Infrastructure

• Define and execute a data strategy and roadmap covering architecture, quality, governance, and security across all five IMS service lines
• Build modern data infrastructure — cloud data warehouse/lakehouse, ingestion pipelines, and MLOps foundations — to support AI-powered product capabilities
• Establish data quality, lineage, and metadata standards across legacy systems inherited from 14+ acquired companies, resolving inconsistencies that block reliable analytics
• Stand up and lead a data engineering and data science function, including hiring, org design, and mentorship as the team scales

AI & Analytics Enablement

• Partner with the Head of Product Management to convert IMS's 30-year proprietary case outcome data into production AI capabilities: predictive verdict modeling, expert-witness matching, and behavioral/consumer science analysis augmentation
• Build and operate the feature stores, model deployment pipelines, and monitoring needed to run predictive models reliably in a client-facing litigation context
• Advise product and consulting teams on what the data can and cannot credibly support, protecting IMS's reputation for defensible, expert-grade analysis

Governance, Compliance & Risk

• Own the data governance framework governing privilege, client-conflict walls, retention, and access controls appropriate to a legal services environment
• Ensure data privacy and security practices meet the expectations of law firm and corporate legal clients, including relevant regulatory requirements
• Support international expansion (UK presence) with data residency and GDPR-aligned governance practices

M&A & Technical Due Diligence

• Lead technical assessment of data assets, systems, and quality for acquisition targets as part of IMS's continued M&A activity
• Own post-close data integration planning — migrating, reconciling, and unifying acquired-company data into the IMS data platform
• Report data infrastructure investment ROI and AI capability progress to the CTO, board, and Uplift Investors

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE:

• Demonstrated experience building ML/AI infrastructure that supports production predictive models — feature stores, MLOps, and model deployment/monitoring
• Track record integrating disparate data systems following acquisitions, including data migration and reconciliation at scale.
• Strong data governance and security background, ideally in a regulated or confidentiality-sensitive industry
• Working knowledge of data privacy regulations relevant to legal industry operations and UK/EU expansion, including GDPR.
• Proven experience building, leading, and developing high-performing data teams as the function scales
• Strong people leadership skills, including coaching, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration
• Experience with legal, financial services, or other regulated professional services data strongly preferred
• Familiarity with litigation case outcome data, expert witness or consulting engagement data structures a meaningful plus

EDUCATION & TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required
• 10+ years in data engineering, data architecture, or analytics leadership, including 5+ years in a senior leadership role.
• Deep expertise in modern data platforms: cloud data warehousing/lakehouse architecture, ETL/ELT pipelines, and pipeline orchestration
• Experience with unstructured, document-heavy data, not just structured tabular data
• Knowledge of vector databases and retrieval architectures — predictive verdict modeling and expert-matching will likely lean on RAG over case history rather than pure structured ML
• Master data management experience specifically for entity resolution across acquired companies (e.g., the same expert witness or case entity represented differently across legacy systems)
• Data security certifications or hands-on experience with SOC 2 / ISO 27001 frameworks, given legal clients will demand them contractually
• Experience with synthetic data or privacy-preserving techniques (anonymization, differential privacy) for training models on sensitive case data without exposing privileged information
• Background in ML observability (drift detection, accuracy monitoring) — critical for a predictive verdict model where silent degradation would be reputationally damaging

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• The essential physical and work environment requirements of this fully remote role must be performed with or without reasonable accommodation
• This role is primarily sedentary and requires remaining in a stationary position for prolonged periods while performing computer-based work, participating in virtual meetings, and communicating through company systems
• Must be able to operate a computer, keyboard, mouse, phone, and other standard office equipment necessary to perform the role
• Requires frequent use of close vision, including reading information on a computer screen, reviewing documents, and working with digital tools for extended periods
• Requires the ability to communicate and exchange accurate information by phone, video conferencing, email, chat, and other virtual communication tools
• Must be able to maintain a remote work environment that allows for reliable internet access, effective virtual participation, confidentiality, and appropriate protection of company and client information
• May occasionally move, lift, carry, or position office equipment or materials weighing up to 10 pounds
• Occasional travel may be required for business meetings, team events, client meetings, or other company needs

LOCATION: 

• This position is 100% remote and supports east to west coast time zones. Preference is for candidates who are on pacific standard time.

Our Employer Value Proposition Includes 

• Competitive compensation package with 401K match  
• Flexible PTO and 12 paid holidays  
• Robust health and welfare benefits, including medical, dental, vision, HSA, short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance, all with generous company contributions  
• Career development programs supported through an integrated Learning Platform  
• Talent Identification Program to recognize and reward our high-performing, high-potential team members through career growth opportunities and unique development experiences  
• Values-driven culture based on respect, care, growth, and excellence 

IMS Legal Strategies is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics.