Director of Cloud Services

Founded in 1920, Akerman is recognized as one of the nation’s premier law firms, with more than 700 lawyers across the United States. We are seeking a Director of Cloud Services to lead the migration of the firm’s applications to the cloud and to shape the long-term direction of our cloud infrastructure.

In this role, you will work with the CIO in developing the strategy, planning, and execution of moving the firm’s legal and business applications from on-premises and legacy environments to cloud-native and hybrid platforms. You will work closely with attorneys, practice groups, and application owners to deliver migrations that protect client data, minimize disruption to billable work, and meet the confidentiality and compliance expectations of a modern law firm. Our Microsoft environment (Azure, M365, and Entra ID) provides the foundation for this work.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Cloud Migration & Application Modernization

• Lead the firm’s application migration program from assessment through cutover, including portfolio discovery, dependency mapping, and prioritization.
• Determine the right migration path for each application (rehost, replatform, refactor, replace, or retire) based on business value, risk, and cost.
• Plan and execute migrations of core law firm applications, such as document management, time and billing, practice management, e-discovery, conflicts, and records systems, with minimal downtime and no loss of data integrity.
• Coordinate cutover schedules with practice groups and firm leadership to avoid disruption during critical matters, filing deadlines, and month-end financial close.
• Work with third-party legal software vendors on cloud-hosted, SaaS, and hybrid deployment options, including vendor readiness and support commitments.

2. Cloud Strategy & Architecture

• Develop and execute the firm’s cloud roadmap, aligned with legal technology strategy, risk profile, and operational requirements.
• Evaluate and recommend cloud platforms and services, and design target-state architectures that are scalable, resilient, and cost-effective.
• Establish landing zones, networking, identity, backup, and disaster recovery standards for migrated workloads.
• Manage cloud cost, capacity, and performance through FinOps practices and regular optimization reviews.

3. Microsoft Cloud Platform Leadership

• Oversee the deployment and lifecycle management of Azure, Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, and Entra ID as the platform foundation for migrated workloads.
• Evaluate and introduce productivity and AI capabilities, including Microsoft Copilot, as part of the firm’s broader cloud adoption.
• Partner with Microsoft and managed service providers to stay current on product roadmaps, licensing models, and emerging features.

4. Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Work with IT Information Security to build cloud governance frameworks that reflect legal industry security and regulatory standards (e.g., ABA guidance, GDPR, HIPAA) and client outside counsel guidelines.
• Ensure migrated applications meet requirements for access control, data residency, encryption, and retention.
• Support client security questionnaires and audits related to the firm’s cloud environment.

5. Operational Excellence & Support

• Oversee monitoring, incident response, and troubleshooting to ensure high availability of migrated applications.
• Provide escalation support for complex cloud and identity issues.
• Develop documentation, SLAs, runbooks, and support protocols with internal IT and helpdesk teams.

6. Change Management & Adoption

• Partner with attorneys, practice groups, and administrative departments to prepare users for application transitions.
• Help develop communication, training, and change management plans that drive user adoption, including adoption of collaboration tools such as Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field (Master’s degree preferred).
• 5+ years of experience in IT infrastructure and cloud services, with at least 3 years in leadership roles within professional services or legal environments.
• Demonstrated success leading large-scale application migrations to the cloud, ideally in a law firm or other professional services setting.
• Working knowledge of legal technology applications (e.g., document management, time and billing, Intake etc. and their cloud deployment models.
• Strong expertise in Microsoft cloud services, including Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, and Exchange Online.
• Experience with legal compliance requirements and risk-sensitive cloud deployments.
• Relevant Microsoft certifications strongly preferred.
• Strong vendor management and contract negotiation skills.

Key Attributes:

• Strategic thinker with strong execution discipline and a track record of delivering complex migrations on schedule.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed legal environment.
• Clear communicator who can influence attorneys, business leaders, and IT teams.
• Committed to continuous improvement, security by design, and user-centric service delivery.

Tools & Platforms:

• Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, Copilot)
• Entra ID
• Cloud migration and infrastructure tooling (e.g., Azure Migrate, Infrastructure as Code)
• Legal industry applications (document management, time and billing, Intake, etc.)

We offer an excellent compensation and benefits package. Please submit your resume, cover letter, and salary requirements. EOE

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