Kirkland & Ellis · 7 hours ago
Innovation AI Developer
New York, NY
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level
$177K/yr - $197K/yr
7+ years expKirkland & Ellis is a leading law firm known for its commitment to legal excellence and innovation. They are seeking an Innovation AI Developer to design and deploy AI applications that enhance legal services and operational efficiency, collaborating closely with various stakeholders throughout the AI lifecycle.
GovernmentFinanceLegalFinancial ServicesLaw Enforcement
Responsibilities
AI Solution Architecture & Development – Collaborate with legal and business stakeholders to identify high-value AI use cases, define measurable success criteria (e.g., efficiency, quality, risk reduction), and architect scalable solutions using Python and modern AI frameworks such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Hugging Face, LangChain, and LangFlow
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) & Intelligent Systems – Design, build, and maintain RAG pipelines using vector databases and knowledge graph solutions. Develop AI agents that automate multi-step workflows and enable sophisticated task orchestration
Reusable Engineering & Scalable Innovation – Create reusable libraries, patterns, and documentation that support long-term innovation and maintainability across the firm’s AI ecosystem
Evaluation & Model Governance – Design and maintain LLM evaluation frameworks to measure accuracy, robustness, safety, and alignment to use-case objectives. Ensure AI systems meet firm security, privacy, and governance standards
Production Deployment & Infrastructure Enablement – Support continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) workflows, containerization (Docker), and orchestration (Kubernetes) to ensure production readiness. Partner with infrastructure and security teams to support hybrid cloud and on-premise deployments in sensitive data environments
Stakeholder Partnership & AI Enablement – Serve as a subject matter resource for attorneys and business teams, advising on prompt engineering, model selection, and architecture decisions. Support pilot implementations, user training, and feedback loops to drive adoption and measurable impact
Emerging Technology & Strategy Contribution – Evaluate new tools, open-source libraries, and vendor platforms to inform firm AI strategy. Contribute to internal education and thought leadership on AI best practices
Qualification
Required
Experience – 7+ years of experience in professional services, legal, or technical environments, with demonstrated hands-on experience building and deploying AI applications
AI Engineering Expertise – Strong Python development skills and experience designing and implementing RAG pipelines, working with vector databases (e.g., Pinecone), and building AI agents and multi-service AI architectures—particularly within Azure environments
Cloud & DevOps Proficiency – Familiarity with Azure services (e.g., Cognitive Search, Cosmos DB, AI Studio), as well as Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD practices that support scalable, production-ready deployments
Evaluation & Data Integration – Experience designing and maintaining LLM evaluation frameworks (e.g., Promptfoo, OpenAI Evals, LangSmith) and integrating structured and unstructured data sources into AI systems
Security & Governance Awareness – Experience operating within environments that require strict adherence to security, privacy, and governance standards for sensitive data
Business Acumen & Communication – Proven ability to conduct stakeholder discovery, quantify return on investment (ROI), and translate ambiguous challenges into clearly defined AI requirements. Strong communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences
Preferred
Education – Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field preferred
Legal Domain Exposure (Preferred) – Experience supporting legal use cases such as due diligence, contract review, or legal research, and prior law firm experience
Benefits
Comprehensive healthcare
Paid time off
Retirement
Personal support
Tailored learning and development opportunities
Company
Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis is a law firm that offers a wide range of legal assistance in labor, government, and intellectual property litigation.
5001-10000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Kirkland & Ellis has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (44)
2024 (55)
2023 (27)
2022 (54)
2021 (45)
2020 (26)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageLeadership Team
Erica Berthou
Member of Executive Committee, Partner
H.T. Flanagan
Partner
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