Chief of Staff (AI and Applied Intelligence)
Linklaters · London, United Kingdom
About us
Linklaters is a leading international law firm, with over 30 offices across 20 countries. We advise many of the world's leading corporates, financial institutions and governments on their most important and complex matters.
Ours is an environment of outperformance. We achieve this not through targets and incentives, but by fostering a collaborative, supportive and inclusive culture where talented people can do their best work. We combine legal excellence with innovation, embracing new technologies and ways of working that help us deliver exceptional outcomes for our clients.
As AI becomes increasingly central to the future of legal services, Linklaters is investing significantly in technology, data and applied intelligence. This role offers a unique opportunity to join us at the forefront of that transformation and play an important part in turning an ambitious AI strategy into action across a complex global organisation.
The role
AI sits at the heart of Linklaters' strategy. We are seeking an exceptional Chief of Staff (AI & Applied Intelligence) to work closely with the Director of AI Delivery and the partner leading the firm's AI strategy, helping to drive forward one of the firm's most strategically important programmes.
This is first and foremost a strategy execution, influence and delivery role. You do not need to arrive as an AI expert. We are looking for someone with the intellectual curiosity and learning agility to build that knowledge quickly, combined with the judgement, energy and commercial awareness to help translate an evolving strategy into action.
Operating as an extension of senior leadership, you will develop a deep understanding of their priorities and help maintain momentum across a broad and sophisticated stakeholder landscape. At times, you will represent senior leaders in meetings and discussions, ensuring their priorities are understood, influencing outcomes and progressing the agenda without requiring their presence in every conversation.
You will bring structure to ambiguity, connect activity across different parts of the firm, identify where intervention is needed and ensure priorities continue to move forward at pace. You will be comfortable getting to grips with unfamiliar subject matter quickly and translating complex ideas into clear, practical actions.
You will work across legal practice groups, Business Teams, technology, data, knowledge, learning, communications, finance and HR, as well as engaging with external technology providers, clients, regulators and industry partners. The role will also provide exposure to the continued development of Linklaters' Applied Intelligence practice and its client-facing strategy.
This is an opportunity to work at the centre of a fast-evolving area, where the technology, operating model and ways of working continue to develop. You will need to be comfortable operating without an established playbook and excited by the opportunity to learn quickly, adapt and help turn an ambitious agenda into tangible outcomes.
About you
We are looking for someone who combines intellectual curiosity and strong commercial judgement with a genuine bias for action. You will be comfortable working at pace, navigating ambiguity and influencing people without relying on formal authority.
You will likely be working within a similar partnership, professional services or consultancy organisation in a transformation, business operations or consulting role and will bring:
- A proven ability to turn strategic priorities into action.
- Excellent stakeholder instincts, with the confidence and judgement to engage credibly with senior leaders, understand different perspectives and influence outcomes.
- The ability to represent senior leadership effectively, absorbing their priorities and exercising sound judgement about when to progress matters independently and when to seek their input.
- Strong learning agility and intellectual curiosity, with evidence of getting to grips with unfamiliar or complex subject matter quickly.
- A persuasive and commercially minded communication style, with the ability to simplify complexity, create alignment and move conversations towards action.
- Energy, adaptability and pace, combined with the organisational discipline to keep multiple priorities moving and follow through on commitments.
- Comfort with ambiguity and change, particularly where strategies, technologies and ways of working are still developing.
- A collaborative, low-ego approach, with the confidence to contribute, challenge constructively and learn from those around you.
Direct experience of AI is welcome, but it is not essential (and deep technical or engineering expertise is not required).
We see this as a role in which the successful candidate will grow and develop, supported by a team that is genuinely invested in building the knowledge, confidence and impact as the AI agenda continues to evolve.
Technical Skills
This list of duties and responsibilities above is not exhaustive. It is intended to describe the general content of, and requirements for, the performance of this job. As such, the role may also include the undertaking of additional tasks as required.
Application Policy
Applications and CVs (direct or via agency) are only accepted online via the portal. Queries related to our roles must be directed to the relevant recruitment team and not the partners, practices or stakeholders (lateralrecruitment@linklaters.com for legal roles or ukbtrecruitment@linklaters.com for business team roles).