Head of Software Engineering (Law Firm)

Stabile Search•Stamford, CT

About The Position

The firm is hiring its first dedicated software engineer to bring development and support of its existing legal-tech application in-house and to build new software and AI-powered tools. The engineer will take ownership of a free iPhone app and website that alert lawyers when filings are made in their court cases. The product has roughly 500 active users, mostly lawyers and reporters, and is currently built and supported by an outside vendor. Working directly with a technology-focused partner, the engineer will design and build applications for internal use and the wider legal community, some of which may become commercial products. The role includes developing AI features using large language models, transforming unstructured legal records into searchable structured information, and integrating with Microsoft 365 and public court data sources. The engineer will work with attorneys and staff to understand their workflows, prototype solutions, and ship software. This is a hands-on builder role with substantial autonomy and responsibility for deployment, monitoring, reliability, and security, including appropriate handling of privileged and confidential client information. There may be an opportunity over time to grow into a broader technology leadership role. The position is full-time and salaried (W2), with a base salary of $150,000 to $180,000 depending on experience, plus a full benefits package. Candidates in the New York tri-state area are preferred so they can come into the office as needed; remote candidates will also be considered.

Requirements

At least 3 years of experience building and shipping production software, ideally full-stack web and/or mobile applications.
Strong generalist programming ability and comfort learning whatever a problem requires.
Strong Python and/or TypeScript skills, with experience in a modern framework such as FastAPI, Django, Next.js, or React.
Solid knowledge of relational databases (PostgreSQL preferred), APIs, and cloud deployment (Azure, AWS, or similar).
Comfort with AI-assisted coding and hands-on experience building with LLMs, including prompt design, RAG, embeddings and vector search, and evaluating model output.
A product mindset and interest in whether users actually use what is built.
Clear communication skills, including the ability to explain technical tradeoffs to a trial lawyer in plain English.
Ability to work independently as the primary technical owner without a large engineering team.
Good judgment and discretion when handling sensitive, confidential information.
Authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

iOS development experience, especially familiarity with the Apple App Store review and release process.
Android development experience.
Document processing experience, including OCR, PDF manipulation, or text extraction from scanned records.
Legal technology, healthcare, or other regulated-industry experience.
Microsoft Graph or Microsoft 365 integration experience.
Early-stage startup experience, or experience taking a side project or internal tool to real users.
Familiarity with security and compliance practices such as SOC 2, HIPAA, encryption, and access logging.

Responsibilities

Take ownership of the existing application and backend from the outside vendor; maintain, secure, and scale them, and manage App Store releases.
Explore the opportunity to launch an Android version of the existing application.
Work directly with a partner to design and build applications for internal use and the wider legal community, potentially as commercial products.
Build AI-powered features using large language models, including retrieval over case files, document classification and extraction, drafting assistance, and citation checking.
Transform legal data such as scanned PDFs, medical records, deposition transcripts, court dockets, and email into clean, searchable, structured information.
Integrate software with existing systems, including Microsoft 365 and public court data sources.
Work with attorneys and staff to understand their workflows and turn observations into prototypes and shipped software.
Own deployment, monitoring, reliability, and security for software built, with sound handling of privileged and confidential client information.