Legal Operations Lead

About Bridgewater  

Bridgewater Associates is a premier asset management firm, focused on delivering unique insight and partnership for the most sophisticated global institutional investors.  

Our investment process is driven by a tireless pursuit to understand how the world’s markets and economies work — using cutting-edge technology to validate and execute on timeless and universal investment principles.  

Founded in 1975, we are a community of independent thinkers who share a commitment to excellence. By fostering a culture of openness, transparency, and inclusion, we strive to unlock the most complex questions in investment strategy, management, and corporate culture.  

Explore more information about Bridgewater on our website here.  

Our Culture  

Our culture is anchored in excellence, meaning constant improvement, and it is deeply tied to our mission. Because markets are objective, competitive, and getting smarter everyday, we need to keep rapidly improving to have any chance of beating them. Truth is our most essential tool for engaging with the markets and constantly improving because once you know what's true about your problems and opportunities, you can determine how to get better. Valuing truth means being transparent about your decision-making and mistakes, giving and receiving feedback with humility, and fighting for the best answers over hierarchy, ego, or self-interest. Operating this way is hard – it's only possible because we build meaning in our work and relationships. This meaning comes from the audacity of the mission, and the joy of working alongside people who make you a better version of yourself. The culture, like Bridgewater itself, is always evolving. In 1997 our founder Ray Dalio wrote down his lessons, starting with a Philosophy Statement which remains our foundation. This later evolved into a set of 300+ Principles. In 2022, when Ray transitioned the company, we re-underwrote several of those principles and evolved others, with a specific focus on Meritocracy. Today the culture sits, alongside our people, as our most important edge. When we get it right, it’s the engine that powers everything else. 

Explore more information about Bridgewater’s culture on our website here. 

About the Legal & Regulatory Department 

The Legal & Regulatory Group (LRG) partners with Bridgewater’s businesses to safeguard the legal and regulatory interests of the firm and its clients, manage legal risk, and ensure employees uphold the highest legal and ethical standards. Our team maintains in-house expertise across a broad range of areas, including corporate, investment management, private funds, governance, intellectual property, employment, commercial law, dispute resolution, regulatory affairs and compliance. We work closely with departments across the firm and manage active relationships with external counsel. As part of our commitment to excellence and continuous improvement, we integrate advanced technology and broader service initiatives into our legal practice. We leverage cutting-edge artificial intelligence and advanced technology platforms to strengthen our strategic capabilities and deliver scalable, forward-looking solutions that support businesses across the firm. The team also maintains a deep and ongoing commitment to pro bono service, reflecting our belief that the full strength of our legal expertise should be deployed not only for our clients but also in service of the broader community. 

About the Role 

We are seeking an experienced Legal Operations Lead to join our Legal & Regulatory Group (LRG), reporting to the Chief Operating Officer of the Legal Department. This role owns key operational, technology, vendor, and financial workstreams that enable the department to run as an efficient, data-driven, and forward-looking business unit. 

This is a growth role by design. In the near term, the Legal Operations Lead will spend meaningful time in the details — reviewing invoices, administering our e-billing and matter management systems, managing vendors and outside counsel, enforcing outside counsel guidelines, and supporting the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence. That operational foundation has to be excellent before more strategic work can be layered on top of it. 

In the long term, the role is expected to grow into broader ownership of the Legal Operations strategy, including vendor and outside counsel guidelines, the legal technology roadmap, budget and spend management, metrics and reporting, and process design across Legal and Compliance. 

The ideal candidate brings strong operational and analytical acumen, has hands-on experience in a mature legal operations function — whether at a larger organization or law firm — and is comfortable independently owning detailed workstreams while maintaining strong governance, security, and cost discipline. We are looking for someone who is excellent at the fundamentals and eager to take on greater ownership and strategic scope as the role and function evolve. 

Responsibilities 

• Own the day-to-day administration of the Legal Department’s technology stack, including matter management, contract lifecycle management (CLM), e-billing, document management, legal research, and compliance-monitoring platforms; manage vendor relationships, renewals, implementations, and ongoing adoption. 
• Own the e-billing and outside-counsel invoice review process end to end, including reviewing invoices for compliance with billing guidelines, managing approvals, timely tracking accruals, maintaining accurate spend data, and identifying and resolving spend leakage. 
• Manage the operational lifecycle of outside counsel and other legal service providers, including onboarding, matter setup, billing questions, timekeeper rates, staying apprised of outside counsel market rate data, guideline compliance, vendor records, and ongoing performance management. 
• Help evolve the department’s outside-counsel and vendor management strategy, including designing and running RFPs, negotiating alternative fee arrangements, discounts, and caps, and building a more formal outside-counsel panel and performance scorecard process. 
• Partner with the COO on departmental budgeting, forecasting, and financial management, maintaining accurate spend reporting, identifying variances and trends, and preparing data and analysis to support planning and executive-level decision-making. 
• Build and maintain Legal Operations reporting and KPIs, including metrics on spend, matter volume, cycle times, vendor performance, and other measures of departmental efficiency and effectiveness. 
• Help shape and execute the Legal Department’s technology and AI roadmap, evaluating new tools and automation opportunities, leading implementations and pilots, measuring outcomes and business impact, and driving adoption consistent with the firm’s governance, security, and responsible-use requirements. 
• As the role matures, partner closely with stakeholders and department leaders to identify opportunities and redesign how legal work gets done to stay ahead of industry leaders. Evaluate where technology, AI, alternative legal service providers, or redesigned processes can improve quality, speed, capacity, or cost effectiveness, shaping the department's approach and leading implementation. 
• As the role matures, design and implement scalable Legal Operations processes as the department’s long term strategy needs evolve, partnering closely with Finance, IT, Procurement, Information Security, and other functions to deliver integrated solutions across the firm. 

Qualifications   

• 4–6 years of experience in Legal Operations or a related operational role within an in-house legal department, law firm, or alternative legal service provider. 
• Hands-on experience administering legal technology platforms, particularly e-billing and matter management systems; experience with CLM or document management systems is a plus. 
• Experience managing outside counsel and vendors, including billing guidelines, rates, alternative fee arrangements, RFPs, and vendor performance. 
• Strong financial and analytical acumen, including experience with budgets, accruals, spend analysis, and reporting. 
• Demonstrated initiative and interest in improving how legal work gets done through better processes, technology, AI, and automation. 
• Excellent communication, judgment, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to independently manage multiple priorities and operate effectively at both the detailed and strategic levels. 
• Bachelor’s degree required; experience in asset management or financial services and relevant Legal Operations certifications are a plus. 
• Exposure to asset management or financial services, including specialist legal areas such as fund formation or ERISA, is a plus. 

 Physical Requirements 

This role will follow a hybrid schedule, with an onsite requirement of two days per week at our Westport, CT campus. 

 Wage Range 

The wage range for this role is $165,000 - $250,000 inclusive of base salary and discretionary target bonus. The expected base salary for this role is between 80% - 90% of this wage range.  

 Why Choose Bridgewater? 

It takes all types to make Bridgewater great. We seek a diverse group of innovative thinkers and push them to engage in rigorous and thoughtful inquiry. We develop people through an honest examination of their abilities and performance, enabling personal growth and professional development. We strive to provide you with opportunities that will challenge you and unlock your potential.  

One of our core priorities at Bridgewater is to enable our employees to build a great life and career, and we believe our benefits are an important extension of that philosophy. As such, currently Bridgewater offers a competitive suite of benefits. Explore more information about Bridgewater’s benefits on our website here. 

Bridgewater reserves the right to change its current benefits program at any time, in a manner that is consistent with applicable federal and state regulations.  

This job description is not a contract and confers no contractual rights, privileges, or benefits on any applicant or potential applicant. Bridgewater has the right to change any and all terms of this job description, including, but not limited to, job responsibilities, qualifications and benefits. Nothing in this job description constitutes an offer or guarantee of employment. Please note that we do not provide immigration sponsorship for this position.  

Bridgewater Associates, LP is an Equal Opportunity Employer