Client Operations Manager

East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) is a non-profit legal services organization, the community-based clinical program for U.C. Berkeley Law School, and one of the Bay Area’s largest and most effective systems disrupters. With a dual service and teaching mission, EBCLC is a racial justice organization committed to building a culturally diverse workplace, centered on equity. With about 50 staff, 100 law students a year, and a $7 million annual budget, EBCLC is the largest provider of free legal services in Alameda County, providing multimodal, collaborative, and holistic legal services to over 4,000 clients annually and engaging in legislative and policy advocacy at the state and local level.

The Opportunity

The Client Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing the daily operations and communication among staff and clients, including the reception of EBCLC’s office in Berkeley. This role involves ensuring that the administrative assistant team meets clients’ needs by coordinating resources, maintaining strong communication with programs, and providing critical administrative support. The ideal candidate is a skilled supervisor, committed to creating and maintaining a professional environment that provides respectful and compassionate services to all clients, well-versed in de-escalation techniques and trauma-informed approaches, comfortable problem solving, and a strong communicator.

Primary Responsibilities

• Team supervision and support: lead and train two administrative assistants to ensure they follow policies and protocols to provide timely, high-quality assistance to clients who call or walk-in to the office. Hold regular meetings to check in on workloads, address challenges, and offer guidance.
• Provide backup client reception and administrative support on a routine, as-needed basis.
• Supervise work-study students and volunteers providing administrative support to the organization, including managing the entire work-study or volunteer lifecycle, from recruitment, selection, and scheduling, to training.
• Work closely with Program Directors to coordinate and update intakes, referrals, and meet the ongoing administrative needs of programs. Stay apprised of programmatic needs and changes.
• Ensure high-quality and professional reception support is provided to all clients, exhibited by positive and trauma-informed interactions, de-escalation practices, and accurate referrals.
• Oversee administrative tasks for the organization, including ordering and managing inventory of all office supplies.
• Assist with onboarding and orienting new employees to office systems and equipment.
• Manage EBCLC’s client case file storage on-site and off-site. Work with supervisor to establish and implement policies & procedures for case file storage and retrieval.
• Serve as an onsite response coordinator and point of contact for any law enforcement activity, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
• Additional tasks as assigned by Supervisor.

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years of client services experience in a social service, community-based, and/or legal services organization.
• Minimum 2 years of supervision experience in a social service, community-based, and/or legal services organization.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to work under pressure in an empathetic, patient, and professional manner.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail; ability to multi-task and set priorities.
• High emotional intelligence and sound judgment.
• Strong familiarity and experience with Microsoft Office.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.

Desired Qualifications

• Spanish language skills.
• Previous training in de-escalation.

Salary and Benefits

Starting salary for this full-time, exempt position is $75,000 - $86,000, based on relevant experience, as dictated by the EBCLC salary scale.

Benefits include fully paid health insurance (medical, dental, and vision) for employees and their dependents, life and disability insurance, and generous paid leave (vacation, sick, and holidays); EBCLC also offers flexible spending accounts for qualified health, dependent care, and commute expenditures; and retirement options.

Workplace Expectations

The Client Operations Manager is required to work on-site at our office in Berkeley five days per week (Monday through Friday) during business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Working at EBCLC

EBCLC is a unionized workplace and members of the bargaining unit are represented by the Engineers and Scientists of California Local 20, IFPTE. This position is part of the bargaining unit. EBCLC is strongly committed to advancing justice through education and advocacy, and the need to transform legal services and legal education. Please take time to review EBCLC’s mission, vision, programs, and website, and ensure that your cover letter reflects how your background, experience, and expertise have prepared you to be successful in performing the responsibilities of the position.

Additionally, EBCLC is committed to building a culturally diverse workplace centered on equity and providing an inclusive, welcoming, and culturally responsive environment for all members of our staff, volunteers, subcontractors, vendors, and clients. To achieve this goal, EBCLC works actively to improve our office climate, systems and structures, communications, and community engagement to create an inclusive and respectful workplace where differences are acknowledged and valued. In your cover letter, please address how your personal background and experiences, professional or otherwise, have prepared you to contribute to our commitment to cultural responsiveness and diversity amongst our staff.

We strongly encourage individuals from traditionally underrepresented communities to apply. EBCLC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior contact with the criminal legal system, or any other basis prohibited by law.