Partner Services Director in Chicago, Illinois at Sidley Austin LLP

Summary:

The Partner Services Director is responsible for leading and coordinating the Firms Partner Services function, including Partner Relations, Partner Operations, and Partner Compensation & Evaluation. This role helps deliver a high-touch, relationship-driven, and well-coordinated experience for Partners across the full lifecycle, including onboarding, ongoing support, compensation and evaluation activity, transitions, retirements, separations, governance, compliance, and related cross-functional matters.

The Partner Services Director will modernize the Partner Services model by establishing clearer ownership, stronger coordination, more consistent execution, and scalable ways of working. The role balances white-glove Partner support with operational discipline, confidentiality, sound judgment, and Firm risk management.

Working closely with the Partner Matters Senior Director, Partner Accounting, OGC, Tax, Finance, HR, Payroll, Directors of Administration (DOAs), office leadership, and Firm leadership, this individual will serve as a key escalation point, integrator, and trusted advisor on sensitive, high-priority, and cross-functional Partner matters.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Partner Services Leadership

• Lead and coordinate Partner Relations, Partner Operations, and Partner Compensation & Evaluation.
• Establish clear priorities, accountabilities, decision rights, handoffs, and escalation paths across Partner Services.
• Align Partner Services work with Partner Matters priorities, Firm leadership expectations, and Partner lifecycle needs.
• Improve service delivery, workload management, team effectiveness, and cross-functional coordination.
• Promote a coordinated service model that provides Partners and internal stakeholders with clearer guidance and less fragmentation.

Partner Experience and Relationship Oversight

• Oversee the Partner-facing service model, ensuring Partners receive timely, thoughtful, and coordinated support.
• Support Partner Relations in managing complex, sensitive, or high-profile Partner matters.
• Ensure regional / office-based Partner Relations coverage supports strong relationships with Partners, DOAs, local HR, and office leadership.
• Balance Partner responsiveness with consistency, discretion, and Firm risk management.
• Identify recurring Partner experience issues and drive improvements in communications, handoffs, and service quality.

Partner Operations, Process, and Governance

• Oversee Partner Operations in building and maintaining the operational infrastructure for Partner lifecycle processes.
• Ensure standard processes, playbooks, templates, controls, and workflow tools are developed and maintained.
• Support consistent execution across onboarding, offboarding, governance, compliance, documentation, and related workflows.
• Monitor process risks, handoff gaps, recurring issues, and areas of ambiguity across Partner Services and adjacent teams.
• Drive continuous improvement through process documentation, workflow redesign, technology enablement, reporting, and automation opportunities.

Partner Compensation & Evaluation Oversight

• Provide leadership oversight for Partner Compensation & Evaluation as the function grows in scope and complexity.
• Support recurring evaluation cycles, compensation analysis, documentation, stakeholder coordination, and leadership reporting.
• Ensure strong coordination with Partner Accounting, Partner Relations, Partner Operations, Tax, Finance, and Firm leadership.
• Promote strong confidentiality, controls, documentation, and process discipline in compensation and evaluation-related work.
• Help manage operational implications of evolving Partner compensation structures, including income partners.

Cross-Functional Coordination and Escalation Management

• Serve as a coordination point between Partner Services and Partner Accounting, Retirement Plans, Partner Investments, OGC, Tax, Finance, HR, Payroll, DOAs, and Firm leadership.
• Manage escalations involving sensitive Partner matters, high-profile separations, policy exceptions, or cross-functional decisions.
• Coordinate with OGC on legal guidance and agreement-related legal work, while ensuring appropriate liaison and operational support.
• Provide timely updates, recommendations, and decision support to the Senior Director of Partner Matters and other leaders.
• Build productive relationships across Partner Matters and adjacent Firm functions.

Team Leadership and Talent Development

• Lead and develop Partner Services leaders and team members.
• Promote a culture of accountability, discretion, collaboration, service excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Coach managers and team members on sensitive Partner matters, ambiguity, and cross-functional issue resolution.
• Support staffing, performance management, training, role clarity, and capability development.
• Identify talent, process, system, and governance gaps that may affect long-term effectiveness.

Education and/or Experience:

Required:

• Bachelors degree in Business, Human Resources, Finance, Accounting, Organizational Leadership, or related field.
• Minimum of 20 years of progressive experience in professional services, law firm administration, human resources, partner affairs, operations, finance, compensation, or a related function.
• Significant experience leading teams, managing managers, and coordinating work across functions.
• Experience handling sensitive, confidential, and high-stakes matters involving senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to operate in a complex, matrixed, service-oriented environment.

Preferred:

• Experience in a large law firm or sophisticated professional services organization.
• Advanced degree, MBA, CPA, SHRM certification, or related credential.
• Experience with partner lifecycle, compensation, professional services operations, or executive stakeholder management.

Other Skills and Abilities:

The following will also be required of the successful candidate:

• Strong executive presence and ability to build credibility with Partners, Firm leadership, and senior staff.
• Excellent judgment, discretion, emotional intelligence, and confidentiality.
• Strong leadership, coaching, and team development skills.
• Ability to influence without direct authority and build alignment across functions.
• Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage ambiguity, competing priorities, and time-sensitive escalations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Comfort balancing high-touch service with process discipline, controls, and risk management.
• Ability to identify process improvement opportunities and drive sustainable change.

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The target salary range for this role is:

Salaries vary by location and are based on numerous factors, including, but not limited to, the relevant market, skills, experience, and education of the selected candidate. Our compensation package also includes bonus eligibility and a comprehensive benefits program. Benefits information can be found at Sidley.com/Benefits.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the Duties and Responsibilities above satisfactorily and meet the requirements. The requirements listed above are representative of the minimum knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job. If you need such an accommodation, please email sidleytalentacquisition@sidley.com (current employees should contact Human Resources).

Sidley Austin LLP is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Sidley is an elite global law firm with a known reputation of deploying innovative strategies to achieve powerful results.