Staff Software Engineer - AI II

Thomson Reuters•Eagan, MN

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Staff Software Engineer will help define and build the AI foundation for the next generation of Westlaw experiences. The role is part of Global Westlaw Engineering, which builds and operates the technology behind Westlaw, and focuses on secure, scalable, and intelligent legal research solutions. The engineer will work across engineering, AI, data, platform, and product disciplines on agentic systems, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI platforms, and large-scale knowledge services. This hands-on individual-contributor role combines enterprise AI architecture and implementation with technical strategy, engineering leadership, and cross-functional delivery. The engineer will guide AI system design and adoption, mentor colleagues, promote MLOps and LLMOps practices, and ensure AI products meet quality, security, compliance, and operational expectations while delivering measurable customer and business value.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience; a master’s degree is preferred.
At least 8 years of software engineering experience, including at least 4 years in senior or lead roles on AI/ML systems.
Track record as a software engineer with AI expertise, rather than primarily as a data scientist or researcher.
Hands-on generative AI, RAG, or LLM-based systems experience spanning discovery, architecture, agentic tools, evaluation, deployment, and metrics.
Expert-level proficiency in Python or another object-oriented language.
Strong backend service and API design skills.
Solid understanding of machine learning principles, evaluation methodologies, and distributed systems.
Working experience with AI/ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
Advanced experience with AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, and Terraform.
Experience integrating AI models into large-scale production systems through APIs, data pipelines, and cloud-native architectures.
Strong technical leadership and mentoring experience as an individual contributor, with communication skills to influence senior stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading technical direction for teams building agent-based systems or enterprise integrations with AI APIs such as OpenAI or Anthropic.
Advanced knowledge of vector databases, embeddings, semantic search, and information retrieval.
Hands-on knowledge-graph experience, including graph data modeling, ontologies and taxonomies, graph databases such as Neo4j or Amazon Neptune, and combining graphs with LLMs through methods such as GraphRAG and entity extraction.
Domain expertise in legal, tax, accounting, other regulated industries, or large-scale search platforms.
Successful AI product launches and experience scaling AI systems for enterprise customers.
Experience with AI governance, model risk management, and regulatory compliance.
Publications, patents, or speaking experience in AI/ML.

Responsibilities

Design and lead implementation of enterprise-scale AI systems, including multi-component pipelines, RAG and knowledge-graph architectures, and autonomous agents with multi-step reasoning.
Work hands-on across AI orchestration, RAG, API gateways, microservices, and modern web user interfaces.
Evaluate emerging AI techniques, lead proof-of-concept work, assess technical feasibility, follow AI research, and translate relevant findings into technical roadmaps.
Represent the organization at industry conferences and events.
Make architecture decisions and translate business requirements into scalable technical specifications.
Mentor senior and junior software engineers.
Champion MLOps and LLMOps practices and governance across the AI model lifecycle.
Design and implement testing, monitoring, and observability for AI systems at scale.
Ensure AI systems comply with ethical AI principles, security standards, and regulatory requirements.
Partner with AI researchers, engineering leadership, design, and product teams to turn AI capabilities into customer-facing applications.
Set technical priorities and remain engaged through delivery to help ensure AI investments produce measurable business value.
Optimize system performance for latency, cost, and user experience.
Influence product strategy through technical expertise.

Benefits

Flexible vacation and paid time off, including sick and safe time and paid holidays.
Two company-wide Mental Health Days off annually.
Access to the Headspace app and Employee Assistance Program.
Retirement savings and a competitive 401(k) plan with company match.
Tuition reimbursement.
Employee incentive programs and possible annual bonus based on enterprise and individual performance.
Health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance.
Parental leave and sabbatical leave.
Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts.
Fitness reimbursement.
Commuter benefits.
Adoption and surrogacy assistance.
Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
Optional hospital, accident, sickness, life, and AD&D insurance.
Group legal identity theft protection benefit.
Access to a 529 Plan.
Two paid volunteer days off annually.
Flexible hybrid work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year.
Resources and programs for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.