Director of AI & Automation

Faegre Drinker is a firm designed for clients and designed for you. We understand that our people are critical to our success and we are committed to investing in our paraprofessional, administrative and operations professionals. We are always looking for talented, service-focused individuals to join our flexible and high-performing culture. With technology tools and resources that support our hybrid work environment, our colleagues enjoy a culture of learning, support for work and personal goals, opportunities to give back to our communities, and competitive benefits and rewards programs. At Faegre Drinker, you will have the opportunity to share your expertise within and across teams and contribute to our success. Job Description Summary Faegre Drinker has an opportunity for a Director of AI & Automation to work within our Technology & Innovation department in our New York City, Philadelphia, or Washington D.C. office. You will be part of a dynamic team dedicated to serving as the senior technical leader responsible for the hands-on design, implementation, and ongoing operation of the firm’s innovation program. This position will work with other talented individuals who share a passion for doing great work in the best interest of our clients.

Job Description What you would do:

• Leads the technical design, deployment, and continuous refinement of the firm’s enterprise AI platforms, Harvey and Microsoft Copilot, anchored by the PLIL architecture: a commercial AI platform base, a proprietary integration and workflow layer, and practice-specific AI agents, with a longer-term goal of building custom AI capabilities, potentially leveraging frontier models such as Anthropic’s Claude
• Architects and operates the firm’s AI gateway, including the Privilege Firewall API, Zero Data Retention (ZDR) contractual controls, matter-level data isolation, and RAG-based retrieval frameworks in compliance with applicable legal and regulatory standards
• Evaluates, pilots, and operationalizes AI tools and vendors in partnership with the CTIO and firm stakeholders. This includes leading structured assessments, proofs of concept, and production rollouts
• Ensures AI deployments adhere to Model Context Protocol (MCP) orchestration principles and are built to support agentic execution with appropriate guardrails for a professional services environment
• Drives automation initiatives across matter intake, invoice review, contract renewal monitoring, and other high-value operational workflows in close collaboration with attorneys and professional staff.
• Maintains a clear architectural distinction between AI-assisted automation and fully agentic execution, and implements appropriate oversight, audit, and escalation controls for each tier.
• Builds and continuously improves automation standards, playbooks, and governance frameworks that scale across practice groups and operational departments
• In collaboration with the CTIO, defines (and then independently executes) the firm’s innovation, AI, and automation roadmap aligned to business priorities, practice needs, client expectations, and the firm’s technology strategy
• Provides technical guidance on tool configuration, user experience, and capability rollout sequencing to ensure adoption tracks alongside broader innovation program delivery
• Manages the Catalyst Studio, the firm’s shared, cross-functional engineering and automation build team, distinct from the client-facing Design Lab
• Leads and develops a high-performing multidisciplinary team spanning enterprise architecture, process automation, AI engineering, legal workflow innovation, and AI governance
• Partners with the Data Management function, which engages Finance (Elite 3e), HR (Workday), DMS (iManage), and CRM (Legal 360) stakeholders, to align data products with AI platform needs
• Special projects and other duties as assigned

What Is Expected

• Strong analytical, problem-solving and diplomacy skills.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively in a virtual environment (e.g., via phone, web/videoconference)
• Ability to concentrate on tasks, make decisions and work calmly and effectively in a high-pressure, deadline-oriented environment
• Demonstrated ability to use good judgment in taking initiative while asking for direction or clarification and consulting others, as appropriate
• Willingness to be flexible with time an…