Senior Manager, Legal Operations
Adobe is hiring a Senior Manager, Legal Operations in San Jose, United States. It pays $117k-$233k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Adobe.
Level's read on this job
- Little AI ●○○○ is how Level rates this role: aI is not part of the work.
- The posting mentions legal operations, vendor management and financial operations among its tools and skills.
- Level classes it as a senior role.
- Adobe has 285 other open roles on Level.
AI in this role
Oversees legal operations, vendor management, and financial operations with an AI-first mentality for modernizing the legal function.
The Opportunity
Adobe's Legal & Government Relations (LGR) group is seeking a strategic and innovative Senior Manager, Legal Operations.
This highly visible, cross-functional leadership role is responsible for overseeing outside counsel and vendor management, legal spend and financial operations, operational intelligence, and core business operations. Partnering closely with legal leadership, Finance, Procurement, and partners across Adobe, this leader will drive operational excellence, financial stewardship, and insight-based decision making. The ideal candidate is a proven people leader who thrives in a fast-paced environment, balances competing priorities with ease, challenges conventional thinking, and brings an AI-first mentality to modernizing and elevating the legal function.
What You'll Do
Outside Counsel, Vendor & Financial Management
Manage Adobe's external counsel and legal vendor programs, including governance, performance oversight, billing adherence, fee structures, and cost efficiency.
Own LGR financial operations, including budgeting, forecasting, accruals, spend reporting, and financial controls.
Partner with Finance and Procurement to improve cost efficiency, prioritization, and financial planning.
Operational Intelligence & Business Operations
Build operational metrics, dashboards, reporting, and executive insights to promote data-driven decision making.
Provide operational and financial insights that support long-term planning and leadership decision making.
AI, Innovation & Transformation
Find opportunities to improve efficiency, decision making, and business outcomes through innovative operational practices and new technologies.
Partner with Solutions Consulting to support transformation initiatives by providing operational context, data, governance, and value measurement.
Guide and Grow a High-Performing Team
Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team.
Establish clear priorities, goals, and operating rhythms that drive accountability, execution, and continuous improvement.
Build organizational capability and foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and high performance.
What You Need to Succeed
Significant experience in Legal Operations, Business Operations, Finance, Consulting, or a related field.
Proven experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
Deep expertise managing outside counsel programs, legal spend, vendor relationships, budgeting, and forecasting.
Strong business and financial competence with the ability to translate data into actionable executive insights.
Proven ability to lead multiple complex initiatives simultaneously in a dynamic environment.
Outstanding communication, collaborative and positive attitude, and influencing skills.
Track record of driving innovation, challenging the status quo, and delivering measurable business impact.
Passion for AI, technology, and modernizing how organizations operate.
About Adobe
Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.
Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours.
Let’s Adobe together
At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture, focus on people, purpose and community, Adobe for All, comprehensive benefits programs, the stories we tell, the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.
Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.
Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email accommodations@adobe.com.
AI Use Guidelines for Interviews:
Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.
At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI — and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it’s restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience.
Expected Pay Range:
Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $116,800 - $232,800 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process. In California, the pay range for this position is $160,800 - $232,800 In New York, the pay range for this position is $160,800 - $232,800 In Washington, the pay range for this position is $138,200 - $200,150At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans. Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).
In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.
State-Specific Notices:
California:
Fair Chance Ordinances
Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.
Colorado:
Application Window Notice
If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.
Massachusetts:
Massachusetts Legal Notice
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
How we rate this
Senior Manager, Legal Operations at Adobe rates 25 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Little AI. AI is not part of the work.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where legal operations was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where vendor management was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where financial operations was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where budgeting was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where operational intelligence was part of your work. What did you do?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Legal Operations, Vendor Management, Financial Operations, Budgeting, and Operational Intelligence. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
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