Lead Software Engineer – CoCounsel Legal Desktop App

CHE003 Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH; Zug; Hybrid; CHF 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Flexible work arrangements

Mental health days

Headspace app access

Tuition reimbursement

Volunteer days

Job summary

Thomson Reuters seeks a Lead Software Engineer to establish the technical bar for the CoCounsel Legal Desktop App on Windows and macOS, delivering native-feeling AI-powered experiences and enduring desktop performance.

You will set architecture, ship production code, and mentor engineers while collaborating with Product, Design, and backend teams to connect the desktop app to agent APIs, streaming data, and file systems. Hybrid work model with growth opportunities.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering with desktop focus.
• Experience leading desktop product direction and architecture.
• Proven track record shipping production desktop apps.
• Hands-on with Electron, Tauri, or native Windows/macOS APIs.

Responsibilities

• Establish the technical foundation and architecture for the CoCounsel Legal desktop app.
• Deliver hands-on production desktop code across core features and system integration.
• Integrate with backend services, APIs, and authentication flows.
• Define and uphold desktop engineering standards and testing strategies.
• Mentor and grow desktop engineers and participate in code reviews.

Skills

Desktop app development

Technical leadership

Production desktop apps

Electron / Tauri / native

OAuth / SSO integration

Mentoring engineers

Technical communication

Tools

Electron

Tauri

Win32 APIs

macOS APIs

Job description

Lead Software Engineer – CoCounsel Legal Desktop App

Do you want to be the founding engineer who sets the technical bar for CoCounsel Legal on desktop? Are you energized by the challenge of making an AI‑powered product feel truly native on Windows and Mac — fast, integrated, and indispensable to the lawyers who use it every day? If so, this role is for you.

As Lead Software Engineer for the CoCounsel Legal Desktop App, you will be the technical anchor of a new desktop engineering team — defining the architecture, setting engineering standards, and personally shipping code that brings CoCounsel Legal to lawyers’ machines. You will work closely with the Engineering Manager and Product to shape the product from its earliest decisions, and mentor the engineers who join you.

About the Role

• Establish the technical foundation of the CoCounsel Legal desktop app, making early architecture decisions on framework choice (e.g., Electron, Tauri, native), project structure, IPC patterns, packaging, and auto‑update infrastructure that will shape how the team builds for years.
• Deliver hands‑on engineering contributions, writing production‑quality desktop code across core features — from the main agent experience and local file integrations to OS‑level notifications, clipboard handling, and system tray presence.
• Integrate with the CoCounsel backend, working closely with Agent Core and AI Platform teams to connect the desktop app to agent APIs, streaming responses, file and workspace infrastructure, and authentication flows.
• Define and uphold desktop engineering standards, establishing code review practices, testing strategies (unit, integration, end‑to‑end), cross‑platform compatibility requirements, and performance benchmarks.
• Mentor and support desktop engineers, providing technical guidance, pairing on hard problems, and helping engineers develop expertise in a greenfield environment.
• Partner with Product and Design, translating requirements and designs into technically sound, performant desktop experiences — and raising constructive concerns about feasibility or quality tradeoffs early.
• Contribute to the broader Application Experience engineering community, sharing desktop‑specific patterns and insights with peer teams building the web and mobile experiences.

About You

You’re a fit for the role of CoCounsel Legal Desktop App if your background includes:

• 7+ years of software engineering experience, with significant depth in desktop application development for Windows and/or macOS.
• Proven experience leading technical direction on a desktop product — framework choices, architecture patterns, packaging, and engineering standards — not just execution.
• Track record shipping high‑quality, production desktop applications in a professional or enterprise context.
• Hands‑on experience with one or more desktop frameworks: Electron, Tauri, native Win32/macOS APIs, or equivalent.
• Experience integrating desktop applications with cloud APIs including streaming, authentication (OAuth/SSO), and local file system access.
• Ability to mentor and elevate engineers through code review, design discussions, and technical pairing.
• Clear technical communicator — able to articulate tradeoffs to both engineers and non‑technical product partners.

Additional Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building greenfield desktop applications — ideally as the first or founding engineer.
• Background in legal tech, productivity software, or professional‑services SaaS.
• Experience building AI‑powered desktop features — streaming chat interfaces, local inference, context‑aware actions.
• Familiarity with enterprise desktop deployment patterns (MSI/PKG packaging, MDM, SSO, app configuration).

#LI-IG1

What’s in it For You?

• Hybrid Work Model: We’ve adopted a flexible hybrid working environment for our office‑based roles while delivering a seamless experience that is digitally and physically connected.
• 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, 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 Grow My Way programming and skills‑first approach ensures you have the tools and knowledge to grow, lead, and thrive in an AI‑enabled future.
• Industry Competitive 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.
• Culture: Globally recognized, award‑winning reputation for inclusion and belonging, flexibility, work‑life balance, and more. We live by our values: Obsess over our Customers, Compete to Win, Challenge (Y)our Thinking, Act Fast / Learn Fast, and Stronger Together.
• 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.
• Making a Real‑World Impact:We are one of the few companies globally that helps its customers pursue justice, truth, and transparency. Together, with the professionals and institutions we serve, we help uphold the rule of law, turn the wheels of commerce, catch bad actors, report the facts, and provide trusted, unbiased information to people all over the world.

About Thomson Reuters

Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward. As a global business, we rely on the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all employees to deliver on our business 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 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. More information on requesting an accommodation here.