Location: Melbourne | Reports to: Managing Partner
Employment Type: Full-time or 4 days per week

We are seeking an Operations Lead to join our dynamic Southbank commercial law firm, playing a key role in enabling a well-run, compliant and scalable legal practice. You’ll take ownership of operational processes that support our whole firm, from onboarding clients and maintaining data integrity, to ensuring our office runs smoothly and that we meet our risk and compliance obligations. You’ll bring clarity and structure to our systems and help streamline how we work.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, takes initiative, and balances day-to-day responsiveness with long-term thinking. You’ll work closely with partners, paralegals and business operations colleagues, supporting everyone from new starters to the Managing Partner.

While it includes administrative and office management elements, this is not a traditional administration role. It’s an opportunity to work with senior colleagues to build operational capability and good governance across our firm by improving processes, driving use of our systems, and supporting our lawyers to do their best work. It’s perfect for someone with experience in process improvement, or with a more traditional administration background who finds themselves itching to streamline the way things are done. A hands-on, tech-savvy, unflappable person who is excited by variety would be ideal for this position.

Key Things to Know

• Progressive commercial law firm with fantastic culture centred around collaboration and decency.

• Flat structure with limited hierarchy.

• Newly re-fitted office in the heart of Southbank (with great views!).

• Reporting to our Managing Partner with a dotted line to our Head of Growth and Strategy and working in a collaborative team including our Marketing and Legal Operations Lead and our Technology Lead.

Key Responsibilities

1. Office and Event Management

· Be the go-to person for operational queries from the team.

· Maintain our internal events calendar.

· Lead our Social Committee and arrange key people events, for example monthly team meetings, regular morning teas and milestone activities such as our Christmas dinner or strategy day.

· Manage day-to-day office logistics, including equipment, access cards, supplies and catering.

· Coordinate with building management, vendors, and suppliers (e.g. LexisNexis and Ricoh)

· Keep the office and remote working setups functioning seamlessly.

2. Risk and Compliance

· Co-ordinate client onboarding processes, including conflict checks, ID verification, and audit trails.

· Maintain accurate records of engagement letters and client documentation in our practice management system, Actionstep.

· Liaise with insurance brokers to renew all firm insurance policies.

· Implement regulatory compliance activities, for example, annual practice certificate renewals, Law Institute of Victoria enrolments.

· Support our accountant with trust account reporting.

· When in place in 2026, support compliance with AML/CTF obligations, including training records, governance documentation, and reporting to AUSTRAC.

3. Systems, Data and Technology

· Own the quality of our core data across Actionstep and other systems.

· Ensure client, matter, and billing information is accurate and consistent.

· Coordinate with external tech providers to troubleshoot and manage office IT systems.

· Maintain shared digital resources such as logins and knowledge bases.

4. Billing and Finance Support

· Assist with end-of-month billing by generating draft bills for partner review and dispatch.

· Follow up on outstanding invoices as a first point of contact before escalating to partners.

5. People and Culture

· Manage our paralegal roster and support paralegal resourcing plans.

· Support recruitment logistics, from job ads to interview scheduling and psychometric testing.

· Lead onboarding and offboarding logistics for new and departing colleagues.

· Creating and updating processes to support onboarding and offboarding activities.

· Maintain key employee lifecycle documentation and milestone tracking (e.g. reviews, check-ins).

· Assist with coordinating CPD and internal training events.

· Maintain up-to-date records of CPD points and certifications.

What We’re Looking For: Essential

Skills and Experience:

· At least 3 years previous experience in a law firm, legal operations team or professional services environment.

· Excellent working knowledge of legal practice systems (e.g. Actionstep, LEAP, Affinity or similar). Familiarity with a precise system is not required; we’re looking for experience working with practice management systems generally.

· Confidence using a range of technology tools (e.g. Sharepoint, billing systems, document management tools).

· Proven ability to work independently, prioritise competing demands, and respond flexibly to change. We’re after a self-manager – someone who can see what needs to be done and takes responsibility for doing it.

· A proactive approach to problem-solving

· Outstanding organisational skills and attention to detail.

· Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

Approach and Behaviours:

· A sociable soul who thrives being around others.

· Someone who has a sense of responsibility and takes ownership of their work.

· An individual who likes to get stuck-in and is happy to tackle a wide variety of tasks.

· The kind of person who sees something needs doing….and does it.

· A completer-finisher who stays with things through to the end.

What We’re Looking For: Desirable

· Familiarity with HR admin, recruitment processes and/or learning & development support.

· Appreciation of compliance obligations and risk management in a legal context.

· Experience supporting client onboarding compliance.

· Experience in producing draft bills to be sent to clients.

· Previous involvement in technology rollouts or process improvement initiatives.

· Familiarity with professional indemnity, cyber, and business insurance processes.

About CIE Legal

CIE Legal is a growing commercial law firm serving a broad range of businesses, many of whom are household name brands. We build collaborative and long-term relationships with our clients and, for many, act as an extension of their internal legal team.

We're known within the industry for our fantastic and friendly culture, coupled with an innovative mindset: constantly looking for new ways to deliver our services. Our values of decency and enjoyment mean we take pleasure in our work, and clients feel good about using our services. We are focused at work, to leave time for life outside of it. Based in Southbank, we have a hybrid work style model of in-office / work-from-home.

Sounds good? We’d love to hear from you.