Business Solutions Manager

The Business Solutions Manager sits at the intersection of technology and the business, with direct accountability for designing, building and delivering solutions that make a tangible difference to how the firm operates.

Working closely with lawyers and business services teams, the role focuses on turning real needs into working solutions, primarily through hands-on configuration and build within the firm's technology stack.

This is a delivery-led role, with discovery and architecture undertaken in service of implementation, adoption and ongoing improvement.

Role purpose (at a glance)

• Discover and prioritise business needs, shaping them into clear, deliverable requirements.

• Design and deliver production-ready solutions in a governed environment.

• Drive adoption: release planning, documentation, training inputs and continuous improvement., Business partnership

• Build strong relationships with practice groups and business services teams to understand how technology can better support their work.

• Act as a trusted point of contact between the business and IT, translating needs and challenges into clear technology requirements and solutions.

• Represent business priorities within IT discussions and help shape the technology roadmap accordingly.

• Lead discovery and requirements definition workshops, producing clear outputs (user stories, process maps, and functional and non-functional requirements) that enable delivery teams to estimate and deliver confidently.

• Translate business needs into solution options and high-level designs (including integrations, information governance and security considerations), aligning stakeholders on scope, cost, timeline and outcomes.

• Undertake discovery and solution design with a clear bias towards delivery, ensuring outputs directly support build, configuration or informed build-vs-buy decisions., * Identify opportunities to improve how existing systems and tools are used across the firm.

• Champion best practice and smarter ways of working through the use of technology.

• Explore and promote opportunities to use emerging technologies, including AI and automation, to improve efficiency and user experience.

• Assess build-vs-buy options: identify when a low-code/configuration approach is sufficient, when bespoke development is required, and when a proven commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product will deliver better value and lower risk.

• Where appropriate, design and deliver solutions using the Microsoft stack (for example SharePoint, Teams, Power Automate, Power Apps and relevant Azure services), following agreed standards and working with IT colleagues to ensure supportability.

• Own the end-to-end build lifecycle for suitable solutions: rapid prototyping, iterative development, testing and user acceptance testing (UAT) support, release, documentation and transition into support.

• Build in line with firm standards and platform good practice (environments, packaging, connection management, permissions, data protection and information governance), working with IT to ensure secure, supportable outcomes.

Create and maintain reusable patterns (templates, connectors, components and standards) to accelerate delivery and improve quality and consistency.

Change and adoption

• Support the rollout of new systems, tools and enhancements, ensuring they land well with users.

• Work closely with training and IT teams to drive adoption and embed new ways of working.

• Help communicate the benefits of technology change in a clear and practical way.

Problem solving and continuous improvement

• Work with the business to identify technology-related challenges and coordinate solutions across IT teams.

• Make pragmatic delivery decisions and manage effective handovers: determine when work should be passed to developers/specialists, and provide the specifications, acceptance criteria and technical context needed to deliver successfully.

• Monitor how technology is being used across the firm and highlight opportunities for improvement.

• Contribute to the development and evolution of the firm's Business Solutions capability., We are based in modern offices at Blackfriars and very much value face to face collaboration and the social element of working relationships. We have introduced a Remote Working Policy which enables staff to work in an agile way - we do not monitor attendance but ask that everyone spends more time in the office than out of it, typically three days a week for full time staff.

Our firm values, which we very much "live", are Ambition, Bravery, Curiosity and Friendliness. These underpin all that we do across both our client work and our internal strategic decision making. None of our lawyers have billing targets which means we can focus on doing the best for our clients while also having the time and capacity to assist each other in a genuinely collaborative working culture.

Training & career progression

We aim to have a coaching culture with regular informal feedback to supplement the formal appraisal process. Mentoring schemes are available for fee earners while members of the HR team can provide personal coaching and guidance in non-legal and personal management skills.

Personal and professional development is much valued at all levels so we have a generous budget which enables us to meet most ad hoc requests for additional training., At Bristows we are committed to championing equality, diversity and inclusion for all, and we are a proud signatory of the Law Society's Diversity and Inclusion Charter. As a firm, and as individuals, we do all we can to treat people fairly and with mutual respect. This commitment enriches our work and our working lives and has played a key part in our success over the years.

We have an active, partner-led Diversity & Inclusion group which runs awareness raising and educational initiatives in addition to ensuring that our policies and procedures remain inclusive.

• Experience in a business-facing technology role such as IT Business Partner, Business Relationship Manager, Business Systems Manager/Architect or similar.

• Strong stakeholder management skills , with the ability to build credibility with both technical and non-technical colleagues., * The ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, practical language .

• Experience supporting or delivering technology change initiatives across multiple teams or functions.

• Hands-on experience building with Microsoft 365 and the Power Platform (especially Power Automate; Power Apps, SharePoint and Teams) , with evidence of delivering production solutions that streamline business processes.

• Working knowledge of relevant Azure services and integration patterns (for example identity, APIs, automation/integration components), sufficient to design supportable solutions and engage technical specialists where needed.

• Demonstrable experience scoping and specifying solutions (requirements, user stories, process design, acceptance criteria) and applying an architecture mindset (security, information governance, resilience and supportability).

• Experience evaluating third-party solutions and contributing to COTS selection (requirements-based assessment, proof of concept, total cost/risk considerations), alongside low-code and bespoke development options.

• A collaborative and pragmatic approach, with a focus on delivering outcomes rather than process.

Our values & culture

With around 300 staff and partners in total and one UK location, we are able to maintain a friendly atmosphere where everyone is able to get to know each other and many policies and practices can operate on a trust basis.

Our salary and bonus structure reflects our absence of billing targets and collaborative culture and any bonus is paid as a simple percentage bonus across the whole firm. We have a flexible benefits package that is kept under regular review and is designed with the wellbeing of our staff and their families.

Bristows is a market leading law firm with a global client base across the life sciences and technology sectors. The firm has maintained its high standing in the market with the strength of our legal expertise and our unique firm culture driven by our core values.