Bevan Brittan is a UK-Top 100 commercial law firm
providing a comprehensive range of legal services from offices in
Birmingham, Bristol Leeds and London.
The firm advises businesses across construction, energy
& resource management, higher education and financial services,
complementing the firm's market leadership within housing, local
government and health and social care.
We currently employ over 500 people, including 80
Partners, and our award-winning teams provide construction,
commercial, corporate, property, regulatory, employment and
litigation (commercial and clinical negligence) legal advice.
Bevan Brittan is named among 'The Times Best Law Firms
2022' and has recently either won or been shortlisted for a number
of prestigious awards including 'Legal Firm of the Year' at the
Bristol Life Awards 2021.
We are driven by our 4 values: Relationships, Results,
Reputation and Responsible. These give us a sense of purpose and
ensure we always work collaboratively with clients and colleagues,
continually improve, make the right choices and act with integrity.
Bevan Brittan is an equal opportunities employer and
welcomes applicants from all backgrounds.
Rise to the Challenge
The operational responsibility for the
delivery of the firm's technology services are entirely out-sourced
and have been for over 12 years. Whilst this model has worked well
for Bevan Brittan to date, the increased scale and complexity of the
firm means that we would like to change the way the service is
delivered. This presents an incredible opportunity to join the
growing and ambitious organisation as IT Director.
For clarity, the firm will retain an
outsourced model for operational service delivery, but as described
further below, the business is looking for a genuinely strategic IT
leader to provide Board-level ownership of the technology agenda
across the firm. This is an opportunity created by growth and
ambition. The services provided from the firm's IT partners is
high-quality and works well. The new role-holder will provide the
leadership to develop this further, and directly support the next
phase of the firm's success.
Core responsibilities
Ownership, delivery and on-going development of the
firm's IT Strategy, ensuring it is tightly aligned to the Business
Strategy and Plan.
Work closely with the Risk function, and the firms
Cyber Working Group, to lead the firm's response to cyber-risk
challenges, including critical inputs to the firm's ISO27001 and
CyberEssentials+ accreditation activities.
Representation of the IT function, and technology
services more generally, at the firm's main Board.
Operational ownership of the delivery of IT service
to the firm. Critically, this includes:
Day-to-day management and development of the
relationships and services provided by the firm's IT Service
Partners (including managed IT service partner, managed network
partner, managed print partner, application development partner,
cyber-security partner).
Commercial ownership of these key contracts.
Ensuring services provided meet key service level
targets and contractual commitments.
Maintenance of the close working culture between
Bevan Brittan and the managed IT service provider in particular,
ensuring the outsourced team genuinely feel part of the Bevan
Brittan team and embrace Bevan Brittan culture and values.
Development of excellent relationships with
stakeholders throughout the firm to understand business plans and
challenges. Where appropriate identifying ideas and opportunities
as to how technology can be used to assist and add value.
Close collaboration with the Bevan Brittan
Transformation Team, and outsourced partners to develop and
successfully deliver an ambitious portfolio of programmes and projects.
Leadership and co-ordination of the firm's
'Innovation and IT Committee'. This is a sub-committee of main
Board and is an incubator and governance hub to identify, assess
and track progress of technology and change developments across
the firm.
Provision of strategic advice to the firm, acting as
a balance to the firm's strategic IT partners. Will have close
involvement and decision making responsibility in all technology
procurement activity.
With the firm increasingly utilising cloud-based
technologies, create a function whereby architectural
understanding, management of integrations, and management of data
flows is entirely understood. This will include cataloguing and
management of key cloud-supplier relationships.
Practical Responsibilities
At a more practical level, work activities
will include:
Ensure regular key supplier account meetings are
taking place providing robust supplier management and contract
management controls are embedded.
Production of monthly reports to the Board tracking
the performance of IT service, and Board level risks, issues and opportunities.
Liaising with the Information Security Manager, ISO
consultants, cyber-insurers and cyber-partners in relation to
audits of our cyber-security and the development of our
cyber-security defences.
Support the legal teams in the production of
responses to client tenders, with a relevant focus on IT controls,
developments and cyber-protection.
Formulating and maintaining Business Continuity and
Disaster Recovery (BC / DR) plans for IT, based on Business Impact
Analysis (in line with the ISO22301 standard).
Chairing the firm's Major IT Incident Group in the
event of a major BC / DR event impacting IT services. This will
include the co-ordination of all key stakeholders to ensure timely
restoration of service (including internal and external supplier
partners, insurers etc).
Proactive development of the relationship between IT
and the Risk function ensuring recognition, documentation and
remediation of all key IT risks.
Provide input to the firms Budget and Portfolio
Planning processes with regard to the IT function.
Point of escalation for Heads of Department /
Partners etc for all issues relating to IT.
Working closely with the Business Service Directors
and Department Heads.
Working closely with the Director of Transformation
and Director of Knowledge on Innovation and Transformation
including any projects that fall outside the IT Strategy.
Board level position reporting into the Managing Partner
Who we are looking for
The ideal candidate will have the following skills and experience:
Board level exposure and expertise of running complex
IT services within a large UK business.
Exposure to delivering these services within a law
firm is preferred, but not essential.
Clear understanding and experience of running managed
IT service contracts and related services.
Excellent supplier management.
Experience in delivery of cyber-security risk
management services. Direct exposure to ISO27001 /
CyberEssentials+ preferred.
Demonstrable experience of development and delivery
of IT Strategy, closely aligned to Business Strategy.
Operational and change budget management experience
of up to £3m p.a.
Excellent IT and legal IT industry knowledge.
Exposure to complex cloud-delivered service architectures.
Understanding of architectural landscaping and
mapping to industry standards.
Excellent Project Management experience and skill.
Able to demonstrate innovative idea generation,
leading to successful business adoption.
Excellent communicator, both written and verbal.
Work-life Balance
We offer a substantial benefits package to all
employees, which includes 25 days holiday (plus the option to buy up
to an additional 5 days), a generous pension scheme and private
medical insurance through Vitality (including "phone a GP service",
discounted gym membership and 'Vitality' Partner discounts).
All of our people are entitled to a biennial private
health assessment through Nuffield Health and are included in the
group life assurance scheme. We also have an Employee Assistance
Programme (free telephone support and counselling service) and a
cycle scheme (Save Tax & NI on a bike for cycling to work).
Where possible, we want to offer
all Bevan Brittan people flexibility to work their week in a way
that suits them - we operate a hybrid working model based on the
needs of our clients, teams and that of the individual. Our core
business hours are 9am - 5:15pm Monday to Friday, however we are
open to individuals working more flexibly around those times and
would welcome a conversation with you if you have any questions.
Responsible Business
To us, being a responsible business is second nature; a
core part of Bevan Brittan's identity, running through our culture
and embodied by the clients we serve.
Bevan Brittan seeks to play an active role within its
local office communities. Through regular fundraising events,
support for local initiatives and annual charity donations at
Christmas, we have established a culture of giving within the firm.
In December 2021 we donated a total of £60,000 to our four regional
office charities, with each charity receiving £15,000 to help fund
their vital services.
We want to demonstrate our commitment to these causes
through actions rather than words; colleagues from across the firm
are already heavily involved, living and breathing the four pillars
of our Responsible Business strategy:
Community Engagement
Environmental Sustainability
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Wellbeing
Collectively, these four pillars ensure we look after
our colleagues' wellbeing; offer an environment in which all can
progress on merit, regardless of personal circumstances or
background; give something back to the communities in which we work;
and protect the environment.
Bevan Brittan is proudly a carbon neutral firm. We have
achieved the UN's Climate Neutral Now accreditation and our
environmental sustainability plan is focussed on achieving our net
zero carbon target.
Each lawyer has the opportunity to undertake pro bono
legal work for local charities and not-for-profit organisations.
This has seen colleagues support the Great Western Air Ambulance
Charity (Bristol), Moseley Road Swimming Baths (Birmingham),
Yorkshire Cat Rescue (Leeds), Great Western Credit Union (London),
and several others.
