Role information:
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Hybrid workplace - 3 days a week in office, 2 days remote
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This role is based in Leeds
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Monthly travel to our London and Bristol offices may be required
About Legal 500:
Legal 500 was founded by John Pritchard in 1987 as the original clients’ guide to law firms, the first of its kind. It is now a data-driven, AI-optimised research platform which benchmarks, informs and connects providers and users of legal services in over 100 countries worldwide.
Our research and data are trusted and relied upon by corporate clients globally as an essential part of the process, both of instructing law firms with new mandates, and when reviewing existing mandates or panels.
We exist to empower both buyers and sellers in the international legal marketplace to make better decisions and have improved outcomes for their organisations. This is achieved by leveraging a trusted, comprehensive research process with a unique, vast, proprietary and constantly updated set of client-supplied data, unrivalled in the market.
About the Role:
Legal 500 is a growing, multi-site organisation professionalising its operations. We have doubled our headcount and trebled the number of offices over the last 12 to 15 months as we've expanded our regional footprint and embedded significant change into how we work. We have therefore created a new position - People & Culture Manager - and you'll have the remit of owning our culture, employee experience, and manager capability programmes that make change sustainable. You'll also have the opportunity to lead the people-side delivery of organisational change programmes as they arise.
We see this role as a hands-on senior practitioner role working directly with managers and employees to shift behaviour, build capability, and create a consistent, connected experience across London, Leeds, and Bristol. You'll work alongside our People Operations Manager and report to our Director of People & Business Operations.
This is a role with real ownership. You'll work within broad strategic parameters set by the Director, but you'll define the delivery approach, make judgement calls on sequencing and scope, and operate as a credible, trusted advisor to managers and senior stakeholders.
What you'll be doing:
Culture and Employee Experience
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Own culture coherence across our London, Leeds, and Bristol sites. We see this as a continuous improvement exercise to ensure Legal 500 feels like one organisation with genuine local character at each site
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You'll sit alongside our People Operations Manager as a peer. The two roles are complementary: they lead People operations, policy, compliance, and employee relations, while you lead culture, manager capability, and change delivery. Employee experience is shared ground.
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Lead local activation in Leeds: onboarding experience, cultural embedding, and connection to the wider organisation for new joiners and growing cohorts
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Own the rituals, rhythms, and touchpoints that reinforce shared culture and management practice across sites
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Design and run employee listening mechanisms that surface real insight, and ensure visible follow-through so that feedback leads to action, not just data.
Manager Capability
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Deliver the manager capability programme across Legal 500, translating strategic objectives into practical, sustained behavioural change
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Work with managers across all sites, building trust and influencing how they lead through coaching, peer community, and structured support
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Contribute to reducing ER demand by improving the quality of management practice upstream
Organisational Change Delivery
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Lead the people-side delivery of defined organisational change programmes - communications planning, stakeholder engagement, training design and coordination, manager readiness, and adoption support
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Work alongside functional leads to help them understand and fulfil their responsibilities as change sponsors
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Track whether behaviour is actually changing, not just whether activities have been completed
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Surface adoption risk, engagement signals, and blockers to the Director in a timely way
Cross-functional Programmes
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Work alongside key stakeholders on programmes requiring coordinated people-enablement
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Support change communications, behavioural readiness, and adoption support on programmes where project management alone is insufficient
What we're looking for in a People & Culture Manager:
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Significant experience in culture, employee experience, manager capability, or organisational change delivery - we would like this experience to be as a primary discipline rather than a small part of a more generalist role
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Demonstrable track record of delivering manager capability programmes that produce sustained behavioural change
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Able to own communications planning, training design, and adoption tracking without heavy methodology support
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Experienced operating in low-maturity, growth and/or change environments
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Confident influencing managers and senior stakeholders without formal authority
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Comfortable adapting your approach across teams with different levels of management maturity, from well-established practices to environments where the basics are still being built.
Even better if:
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Experienced with technology adoption or significant operational change programmes
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Familiarity with a unionised or ER-sensitive environment
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Background in research, professional services, data, or technology-led organisations
