Global Director of Knowledge & AI

The Global Director of Knowledge & AI will act in a leadership capacity within Kennedys' global Knowledge team, working closely with the Chief Knowledge Officer to shape and execute the firm's knowledge strategy worldwide. This senior leadership role involves managing a diverse, cross-jurisdictional team of knowledge lawyers, managers, and advisors, while driving innovation-particularly in AI and digital transformation-to drive value for lawyers, clients, and the firm.

The Global Director will oversee the delivery of strategic global projects, fostering collaboration across Business Services teams, and embedding a culture of knowledge-sharing and technological innovation across all regions.

Team

The Knowledge Management team is comprised of Knowledge Lawyers, Information Services Professionals and Knowledge Advisors, and is supported by our Knowledge Assistants. The Knowledge team procures and curates knowledge assets and information, champions a knowledge sharing culture across the firm, oversees legal training (internal and client facing), and ensures that all of our legal teams are kept up to date with developments in the law and practice. The Knowledge Management team also leads innovation and technology projects across the firm collaborating with IT, BD, Risk & Compliance, and legal team stakeholders.

Key responsibilities

• Act as a key member of the Knowledge Management Leadership team and set the strategic direction in line with the firm's overall Knowledge Management and innovation goals
• Shape and execute a forward-looking knowledge management strategy that leverages AI and emerging technologies to enhance legal practice and client service
• Collaborate with the Chief Knowledge Officer to lead firmwide knowledge priorities and strategic programmes (e.g. AI, digital transformation, legal training, and content) and implementation
• Act as a senior ambassador for the value of knowledge at partner and leadership levels across practice groups and jurisdictions
• At a firmwide level, foster an innovation mindset, encouraging adoption of AI tools, automation, and collaboration platforms in line with agreed strategic direction and initiatives.

Required experience

• Significant experience in a knowledge leadership or senior knowledge lawyer role within a law firm
• Strong understanding of AI
• Experience of using and implementing legal tech, AI, and matter management tools
• Experience of supporting and driving legal technology adoption, and AI and tech tool rollouts, and coordinating and supporting the related change management,
• Strong people leadership skills with proven experience managing distributed, cross-jurisdictional teams
• Excellent understanding of legal practice, law firm operations, and the value of knowledge in legal service delivery
• Strategic mindset and experience translating firm strategy into practical, measurable knowledge programmes
• Confident communicator with strong influencing skills and stakeholder management experience.

Please let us know if you require any additional support or adjustments to be made in order to submit your application to Kennedys.

*where a level of experience is indicated, this is a guideline only and represents the amount of time we would usually expect a candidate to accumulate the requisite level of experience. This does not preclude applications from candidates with more or less experience.

About Kennedys

Kennedys is a global law firm with expertise in dispute resolution and advisory services. With over 2,750 people worldwide across 47 offices in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and America we have some of the most respected legal minds in their field.

Our lawyers handle both contentious and non-contentious matters, and provide a range of specialist legal services, for many industry sectors but we have particular expertise in litigation and dispute resolution, especially in defending insurance and liability claims.

We're a fresh-thinking firm, and we're not afraid to bring challenging new perspectives to the table way beyond the traditional realm of legal services. We empower our clients with a diverse range of ideas, tools and technology to make their lives easier, as well as delivering exceptional results, every time.

What do we have to offer?

We welcome high-performing lawyers, business services professionals, secretaries, graduates and apprentices to join our rapidly expanding global firm. Whatever your role at Kennedys, you'll be involved in exciting and stimulating work, where your input will make a difference.

Our culture and values form a big part of who we are and we take them seriously. We make a difference by being approachable, straightforward, supportive and distinctive. Our values are at the core of who we are and what make us a great firm to work with and for.

The Firm recognises the value of investing in our people's development and believes our culture and values contribute to the quality of our work and of our client relationships. With a culture of on-the-job and experiential learning, peer to peer learning, mentoring, resources and tools that enable you to drive your career, we can support your development in your current and future roles. A variety of other opportunities are available including secondments to clients and our global offices.

We strive to celebrate diversity, empower our people and ensure everyone can bring their authentic selves to work. We've created a culture based on client service, professional excellence, hard work and trust, where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a key priority. We recognise that many of our people want to work for an employer that is aligned to their values, which is why we are building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations and supporting our people to thrive at work. Our people are the key to driving this change and helping us to make a difference to our clients, our people and the communities in which we live and work.

Kennedys is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. We expect all employees to be aware of and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within their jurisdiction, including those relating to Information Security, Data Protection and Quality Management, refer any breach promptly to Risk & Compliance and to complete all mandatory training when requested.

Documents

• JD - Global Director of Knowledge _ AI - September 2025.pdf (95.87 KB)