Applied AI Engineer

Fenwick & West; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 126,000 - 189,000; Full time

Job summary

Fenwick & West is seeking an experienced software engineer to help build and deploy AI-powered applications across the firm. You will turn business opportunities into production-ready AI agents and workflows, partnering with attorneys and business teams to translate needs into working solutions.

The role requires leading the technical implementation of AI projects from concept to deployment, integrating AI with internal systems, and ensuring scalable, secure, and reliable solutions.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience building and deploying business applications.
• Experience with Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, or similar.
• Experience integrating APIs and enterprise systems.
• Strong problem-solving and communication skills.
• Curiosity and enthusiasm for AI technologies.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy AI-powered applications, agents, and workflow automations that solve real business challenges.
• Partner with attorneys and business teams to understand needs and translate opportunities into working solutions.
• Prototype concepts, validate value, and evolve successful solutions into production-ready systems.
• Identify opportunities to improve productivity, knowledge access, client service, and operational efficiency through AI.

Skills

Software engineering

Python

JavaScript/TypeScript

APIs integration

Communication

AI technologies

Job description

Job Description Summary:

Join Fenwick’s AI Innovation team to build and deploy the next generation of AI-powered solutions across the firm.

This role is focused on turning real business opportunities into production-ready AI applications, agents, and workflows that improve how attorneys and business professionals work. You will partner directly with stakeholders to identify high-impact use cases, design practical solutions, and deliver systems that drive measurable results.

The ideal candidate is an experienced software engineer with a builder mindset, strong product instincts, and a passion for applying emerging AI technologies to solve meaningful business problems.

Job Description:

Build AI Solutions That Deliver Business Value

• Design, develop, and deploy AI-powered applications, agents, and workflow automations that solve real business challenges.
• Partner directly with attorneys and business teams to understand needs, define requirements, and translate opportunities into working solutions.
• Rapidly prototype concepts, validate value, and evolve successful solutions into production-ready systems.
• Identify opportunities to improve productivity, knowledge access, client service, and operational efficiency through AI.

Own Solutions End-to-End

• Lead the technical implementation of AI projects from concept through production deployment.

• Integrate AI capabilities with internal systems, knowledge repositories, and business applications.

• Develop reliable, secure, and maintainable solutions that can scale across the organization.

• Monitor solution performance and continuously improve quality, accuracy, and user experience.

Advance the Firm’s AI Capabilities

• Evaluate emerging AI models, frameworks, tools, and platforms and determine their practical application within the firm.
• Contribute to reusable patterns, frameworks, and components that accelerate future development.
• Help establish engineering best practices for agent development, evaluation, deployment, and operations.
• Stay current on advancements in AI, agentic systems, orchestration frameworks, and enterprise AI technologies.

Collaborate Across the Organization

• Work closely with Innovation, IT, Knowledge Management, and Business Operations teams to deliver impactful solutions.
• Communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences.
• Support adoption of solutions through documentation, demonstrations, and stakeholder engagement.
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor on AI implementation opportunities.

Desired Skills and Qualifications:

• 5+ years of software engineering experience building and deploying business applications.
• Experience developing applications using modern programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, or similar technologies.
• Experience integrating APIs, data sources, and enterprise systems.
• Strong problem-solving skills and an ability to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Demonstrated curiosity and enthusiasm for AI technologies and their practical application.

Experience

• Experience building AI-powered applications using large language models and modern AI platforms.
• Familiarity with agent architectures, retrieval systems, orchestration frameworks, or workflow automation platforms.
• Experience with cloud platforms and modern software delivery practices.
• Experience evaluating and improving application performance, reliability, and quality.
• Experience working directly with business stakeholders throughout the product development lifecycle.

Benefits and Compensation Details:

At Fenwick, we believe that our partners and employees are our most important asset. Helping you and your families achieve and maintain good health - physical, emotional, and financial - is the reason we offer a comprehensive benefit program. We provide benefits to eligible employees under plans such as Healthcare, Life Insurance, Health Savings Accounts, Flexible Spending Accounts, and Wellbeing. Except as otherwise required by law, temporary employees are generally not entitled to these benefits.

The anticipated range for this position is:

$126,000 - $189,000

Depending on the role, the actual base salary offered may depend upon a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job.

A discretionary bonus for eligible employees may also be available based on performance. Additional information about employee eligibility for benefits and discretionary bonus will be made available upon request.