VP & General Manager, LR Legal Markets

The Vice President (VP) of the Legal Markets Group (LMG) serves as a member of the LRUS Executive Team and is responsible for managing a P&L of ~ $130 million in revenues. The VP-LMG sets the vision and strategic approach for the entire Legal Markets Group and ensures all business objectives and goals are met, with a focus on developing leading digital products.

The individual must be able to manage directly and through influence across a highly complex and matrixed organization, of varied functions and business units. S/he is focused on delivering solutions that create significant strategic and go to market value.  S/he ensures adequate opportunity identification and testing, business case development, strong management of roadmaps, budget, quality and scope of product development.

This role has primary responsibility for leading rapid digital product innovation from ideation and conceptualization to product proto-typing, market testing and go-to-market planning and launch. Team consists of product managers, UX/UI designers and technologists (developments, database architects, quality).

Key responsibilities include the growth and transformation of LMG products and services (e.g., to include GenAI capabilities, upgrade electronic platforms), adapting the WK business model to meet evolving market needs, driving profitability and market position, developing and inspiring strong performance from LMG employees, and serving as a key business and thought leader within the WK organization.

**This role is a Hybrid role, requiring two days a week, in a Wolters Kluwer office**

Activities of the VP-LMG include: creating vision, value proposition and overall digital product strategy for the WK-LMG; establishing standards and processes for the LMG; overseeing and guiding individual practice areas and team in the execution of company-wide strategies and tactics; leading the management of the entire LMG team; driving growth and transformation through comprehensive electronic product development and marketing strategy; creating and maintaining a reliable system for measurement of business performance for all operations; directing budget development and administration; representing the LMG in cross organizational activities; maintaining performance standards while working remotely; and representing WK within the industry.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Creates vision, value proposition and overall digital product strategy for the Wolters Kluwer Legal Markets Group by engaging in in-depth and on-going analysis of Client and Marketplace needs and WK products, services, processes, and customer preferences; staying abreast of industry standards, methodologies, processes, and best practices; evolving and continuing the rolling 3 year vision strategic plan (VSP); identifies long and short term business opportunities including competitive positioning; developing merger and acquisition strategies to aid in the expansion of LMG’s existing market domain; translating business needs into solutions that the organization can deliver; and effectively communicating all goals, objectives and strategies to staff and associates.

• Develops market leading digital products utilizing modern product development methodologies.  Ability to develop products that integrate technology including GenAI, business needs, and customer needs into high value offerings which customers demand.  Deep knowledge of lean product development processes for delivering digital products.  Ability to understand and manage technology capabilities that can be utilized to develop world-class products.

• Oversees and owns Legal Markets Group P&L by directing forecasting of product line/market segment revenue, gross margin and operating costs; consolidating business functions plans and resource requests (e.g. business travel, training, client support, laptops, mobile phones); estimating financial resources required to support the activities; driving LMG  leaders to assemble and execute to a practical budget; ensuring budgets are captured and iterated into standard templates; reviewing and verifying the spending against the budgets throughout the year; and justifying and securing unplanned resources as necessary to maintain business operations; and collaborating with Legal & Compliance Solutions leadership to ensure P&L budget is represented in the overall operating budget.

• Drives strategy for ensuring human capital resources and capabilities are sufficient to meet the vision and value proposition standards by working to identify needs and capabilities within the organization and identify viable human capital options for a variety of business functions (e.g., product development); creating and executing RFI/RFP processes to thoroughly assess outsourcing options, costs and timelines; conducting full due diligence/analysis to determine benefits, pros, cons, costs and savings for all options, generating and iterating financial ROI models for various options; negotiating final service levels, and establishing vendor/partner SLA, SOW, and contracts with the assistance of Legal and Procurement teams.

• Establishes standards and processes for the Legal Markets Group by establishing management standards based on leading industry/ functional methodologies and best practices; utilizing consistency of best practices across the team; developing continuous improvement mechanisms; aligning and coordinating major change initiatives within a common framework; integrating organization design and development practices to ensure appropriate partnerships and skill sets are leveraged to achieve business results; and ensuring all activities meet or exceed organizational requirements for management, health and safety, legal stipulations, environmental policies and general duty of care. Ensures collaboration and alignment of team activities with other functional areas (e.g. Editorial, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support).

• Oversees and guides team in the execution of company-wide strategies and tactics by participating in strategic planning meetings, spending time to share program management strategy, motivate staff, inspect operations, and evaluate outcomes, working with senior level executive team.

• Manages and develops a team of professionals by recruiting, developing, motivating and retaining a high-performance team; monitoring key performance indicators and team member activity; evolving the organizational structure to meet business needs (e.g., staffing, allocating resources, delegating); and integrating organizational design and development practices to ensure appropriate partnerships and skill sets are leveraged to achieve business results.

• Leads organizational activities to meet or exceed company objectives by applying knowledge from background area of expertise to special projects that will help drive profitability and growth; participating in thought provoking, strategic discussions with executive management; sharing analytical, quantitative, and conceptual insights to enhance the organization; sharing insight with other leaders regarding team/department operation (e.g., performance management, strategies, company policies and procedures); identifying opportunities to collaborate across divisions and/or leverage partnerships; collaborating with peers to develop and advance company-wide initiatives and strategies; participating as a functional member of WK.

• Represents Wolters Kluwer within the industry by developing and maintaining comprehensive knowledge of Wolters Kluwer products, industry trends and general business and financial acumen through various sources and initiatives; communicating in a professional, compelling, and articulate manner of speech, writing and formal presentation; behaving in ways that demonstrate corporate core values and culture; developing professional and positive relationships with customers and colleagues; and maintaining a reputation of competence, integrity and professionalism; and serving as a key business leader, thought leader, and role model within the organization.

Job Qualifications:

Minimum: Bachelor’s degree in business, Finance, Marketing, or related discipline

Preferred: Master’s degree in business administration or related discipline.

Minimum Experience:

• 12+ years’ experience managing product development projects along with 8+ years’ experience directing and managing a product development/technology staff.

Proven track record of developing successful digital products utilizing modern product development processes and methodologies.

• Ability to create product vision based on client and business value and translate it into an effective roadmap.

• Experience managing partnerships and mergers and acquisitions.

• Strong governance of development products – deliver projects on time and on budget at scope which provides the promised value to the clients and market.

• 10+ years’ managing a P&L of $50 million USD.

Experience gathering and applying market knowledge and competitive intelligence.

Demonstrates a track record of product innovation and creating and implementing effective product strategies.

Rapid product development in a volatile complex environment and/or transformation of a large business.

•            Working at a senior level in a multi-national organization.

•            Transforming or Changing business models.

•            Effective talent management including developing or acquiring professional level staff.

Ability to serve as a change agent, building a highly productive team while enhancing collaboration with other teams within the organization.

Utilizing out / in sourced resources in different scales and in different functional areas.

Travel:

Domestic and international travel to LMG sites, customer sites, and/or industry events ~ 30--40% of work time.

Compensation:

Target salary range CA, CT, CO, HI, NY, WA: $203,900 - $262,150