Lead Software Engineer, AI

Lead Software Engineer - AI, Westlaw

We are seeking an experienced Lead Software Engineer to join our fast-moving, forward-thinking group that is creating AI-driven software for legal professionals, and our flagship product, Westlaw. You will be developing and implementing cutting-edge solutions using Python, REST APIs, AI technologies, and AWS cloud infrastructure.

About the Role:

In this role as a Lead Software Engineer - AI, you will:

• Innovate, implement and operationalize in a fast-paced Environment
• Be part of a fast-moving, forward-thinking group that is creating AI-driven software for legal professionals. You’ll work with top AI and software development experts, leveraging cutting-edge technology to build intelligent and scalable systems. This role is for the developing backend services for Legal Research products.
• Design and implement backend services that power generative AI agents and orchestration systems. This role requires both creativity and rigor to ensure our AI-driven solutions are performant, reliable, and adaptable to real-world use cases.
• Work closely with AI/ML engineers from TR Labs, frontend developers from Westlaw UI teams, product managers, and designers to build robust services that support generative AI experiences. Help to build out our core AI interfaces such as Conversations, Workspaces, Grid, and Knowledge Base.

Key Responsibilities:

Backend Development & AI Integration

• Develop and maintain backend services using Python, FastAPI, and PostgreSQL.
• Implement AI orchestration systems integrating LLMs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and other providers.
• Design APIs and backend logic for real-time AI interactions.
• Help to build our content services to automate many different AI driven workflows across the legal professional domain

Performance & Scalability

• Ensure backend systems are secure, scalable, and optimized for AI-driven applications.
• Monitor and enhance system performance, across millions of documents and AI driven interactions

Collaboration & Leadership

• Work closely with AI researchers, engineers, and product teams to translate AI capabilities into real-world applications.
• Foster a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement, exploring new AI technologies and methodologies.
• Work closely with AI researchers, engineers, and product teams to translate AI capabilities into real-world applications.
• Foster a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement, exploring new AI technologies and methodologies.

About You

You’re a fit for the role of Lead Software Engineer - AI, if your background includes:

• Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Related Field, or Equivalent Experience.
• 7+ years of hands-on software development experience in backend development, building scalable web services, and APIs.
• 3+ years of hands-on Python development with experience in FastAPI (Other API Tools Acceptable) and PostgreSQL (Other SQL Tools Acceptable).
• Expertise in AWS cloud services (Redis, DynamoDB, S3, SQS, Kinesis, KMS, IAM, Secret Manager, etc) or similar cloud services.
• Experience managing infrastructure with Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar IaC tooling.
• Strong Data Engineering background and experience with Retrieval Systems leveraging tools like OpenSearch.
• Experience implementing modern DevOps best practices in production environments (CI/CD using GitHub Actions and AWS services (Code Pipeline/Code Build)
• Experience with LLMs, AI Solutions, and evaluation and understanding of agentic systems and workflow
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to influence across organizational boundaries
• A pragmatic and curious mindset that drives you to find elegant solutions to complex problems
• Strong communication skills that enable you to articulate technical concepts to diverse audience
• Demonstrated ability to mentor others and contribute to engineering culture.
• ​Experience in using AI-powered tools in SDLC is required.

#LI-JF1

What’s in it For You?

Join us to inform the way forward with the latest AI solutions and address real-world challenges in legal, tax, compliance, and news. Backed by our commitment to continuous learning and market-leading benefits, you’ll be prepared to grow, lead, and thrive in an AI-enabled future. This includes:

• Industry-Leading Benefits: We offer comprehensive benefit plans to include flexible vacation, two company-wide Mental Health Days off, access to the Headspace app, retirement savings, tuition reimbursement, employee incentive programs, and resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.

• Flexibility & Work-Life Balance: Flex My Way is a set of supportive workplace policies designed to help manage personal and professional responsibilities, whether caring for family, giving back to the community, or finding time to refresh and reset. This builds upon our flexible work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year, and hybrid model, empowering employees to achieve a better work-life balance.

• Career Development and Growth: By fostering a culture of continuous learning and skill development, we prepare our talent to tackle tomorrow’s challenges and deliver real-world solutions. Our skills-first approach ensures you have the tools and knowledge to grow, lead, and thrive in an AI-enabled future.

• Culture: Globally recognized and award-winning reputation for inclusion, innovation, and customer-focus. Our eleven business resource groups nurture our culture of belonging across the diverse backgrounds and experiences represented across our global footprint.

• Hybrid Work Model: We’ve adopted a flexible hybrid working environment (2-3 days a week in the office depending on the role) for our office-based roles while delivering a seamless experience that is digitally and physically connected.

• Social Impact: Make an impact in your community with our Social Impact Institute. We offer employees two paid volunteer days off annually and opportunities to get involved with pro-bono consulting projects and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.

In the United States, Thomson Reuters offers a comprehensive benefits package to our employees. Our benefit package includes market competitive health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance programs, as well as a competitive 401k plan with company match. In addition, Thomson Reuters offers market leading work life benefits with competitive vacation, sick and safe paid time off, paid holidays (including two company mental health days off), parental leave, sabbatical leave. These benefits meet or exceeds the requirements of paid time off in accordance with any applicable state or municipal laws. Finally, Thomson Reuters offers the following additional benefits: optional hospital, accident and sickness insurance paid 100% by the employee; optional life and AD&D insurance paid 100% by the employee; Flexible Spending and Health Savings Accounts; fitness reimbursement; access to Employee Assistance Program; Group Legal Identity Theft Protection benefit paid 100% by employee; access to 529 Plan; commuter benefits; Adoption & Surrogacy Assistance; Tuition Reimbursement; and access to Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

Thomson Reuters complies with local laws that require upfront disclosure of the expected pay range for a position. The base compensation range varies across locations.

For any eligible US locations, unless otherwise noted, the base compensation range for this role is $116,900 - $217,100.

This role may also be eligible for an Annual Bonus based on a combination of enterprise and individual performance.
Base pay is positioned within the range based on several factors including an individual’s knowledge, skills and experience with consideration given to internal equity. Base pay is one part of a comprehensive Total Reward program which also includes flexible and supportive benefits and other wellbeing programs.


Do you want to be part of a team helping re-invent the way knowledge professionals work? How about a team that works every day to create a more transparent, just and inclusive future? At Thomson Reuters, we’ve been doing just that for almost 160 years. Our industry-leading products and services include highly specialized information-enabled software and tools for legal, tax, accounting and compliance professionals combined with the world’s most global news services – Reuters. We help these professionals do their jobs better, creating more time for them to focus on the things that matter most: advising, advocating, negotiating, governing and informing.

We are powered by the talents of 26,000 employees across more than 70 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments that celebrate diversity and inclusion. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward. 

Accessibility 

As a global business, we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law.

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More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on https://thomsonreuters.com.