Director, Engineering

Goodwin; Redwood City (CA); On-site; USD 225,000 - 325,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Retirement & Savings Plan

Paid vacation and holidays

Professional development opportunities

Employee recognition programs

Job summary

Goodwin is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead a growing team delivering AI-enabled systems and full-stack services. You will architect scalable, secure platforms, align technical strategy with business goals, and drive engineering excellence across cross-functional teams.

The role requires 8+ years of engineering experience with 3+ years in leadership, expertise in LangChain, LlamaIndex, and vector databases, plus a strong focus on CI/CD, testing, and performance optimization.

Qualifications

• Typically requires a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field.
• 8+ years of progressive engineering experience with 3+ years in leadership or management.
• Occasional travel.

Responsibilities

• Lead a high-performing engineering team and set performance expectations.
• Define technical roadmaps, standards, and architecture for AI-enabled systems.
• Oversee AI-driven applications and backend services with strong CI/CD and testing.
• Track engineering metrics (DORA, latency, inference performance).
• Collaborate with security, compliance, product, and business stakeholders.

Skills

AI system architectures

LLM orchestration

LangChain

LlamaIndex

vector databases

secure API design

distributed full-stack development

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

Monitoring/observability tooling

Job description

Join Goodwin’s Global Operations Team, and make a real impact on a global scale. At Goodwin, we work with some of the world’s most successful and innovative investors, entrepreneurs and disruptors in the life sciences, private equity, real estate, technology and financial industries, and where they converge. As part of the Global Operations Team – all business professionals at the firm – you’ll collaborate with colleagues from varied backgrounds and experiences, fostering an environment where cross-functional learning, networking, and collaboration are at the core of what we do.

Here, we’re not just supporting a law firm; we’re partnering with attorneys and clients to deliver cutting-edge solutions in high-stakes litigation and dispute resolution, world-class regulatory compliance and advisory services, and complex transactions. Our commitment to integrity, ingenuity, agility, and ambition drives us, and we’re proud to have been recognised as the “Best Business Team” by The American Lawyer.

This is your opportunity to grow professionally in a dynamic, global environment, surrounded by forward-thinking peers.

The Director of Engineering will provide strategic and operational leadership to a high-performing team of engineers and full-stack developers. This role is responsible for driving the technical vision, architectural integrity, and execution of scalable, secure, and production-grade AI-enabled systems. As a key engineering leader, you will bridge the gap between complex business strategy and robust technical execution, fostering a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and engineering excellence.

What You Will Do

• Provide direct, empathetic, and growth-oriented leadership to an expanding engineering organization. Attract, mentor, and retain top-tier talent while fostering a high-accountability, inclusive, and collaborative team culture.
• Define the technical roadmap, engineering standards, and architectural blueprints for AI-enabled systems and backend services. Ensure all solutions are scalable, maintainable, resilient, and seamlessly aligned with enterprise architecture.
• Oversee the lifecycle design, rapid development, and production deployment of AI-driven applications and full-stack services, ensuring robust integration between modern AI frameworks and core backend infrastructure. Champion rigorous development practices—including advanced CI/CD pipelines, robust automated testing, thorough code reviews, and comprehensive operational readiness—to guarantee the highest standards of code quality and system reliability.
• Establish, track, and optimize key engineering metrics (e.g., DORA metrics, system latency, model inference performance, and infrastructure cost efficiency) to drive continuous operational improvement
• Supervise agile resource allocation, sprint prioritization, and capacity planning across multiple cross-functional initiatives to balance velocity with engineering health.
• Partner with security and compliance teams to ensure all AI system deployments adhere to stringent corporate policies, security protocols, data privacy standards, and evolving regulatory requirements.
• Act as a strategic liaison between engineering, product management, and business stakeholders to translate organizational vision into executable technical roadmaps.
• Drive internal innovation by spearheading engineering guilds or communities of practice focused on emerging AI paradigms, agentic workflows, and modern backend architectures.
• Partner with recruiting to build a highly competitive hiring pipeline, design technical evaluation frameworks, and lead onboarding strategies for incoming engineering talent.

Who You Are

• Deep, hands-on understanding of modern AI system architectures, LLM orchestration frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex), vector databases, secure API design, and distributed full-stack application development.
• A tracking record of scaling engineering teams and developing technical leaders (Managers and Principal/Staff Engineers) within fast-paced environments.
• Exceptional ability to translate ambiguous, high-level business requirements into structured, phased, and executable engineering sprints.
• Outstanding communication skills, with the proven ability to articulate complex technical architectures to non-technical executive stakeholders and align diverse teams toward a unified technical vision.
• Typically requires a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, alongside 8+ years of progressive engineering experience, with 3+ years in a dedicated engineering management or leadership capacity.
• Occasional travel.

Benefits And More

At Goodwin, you will discover your next career opportunity with a rewarding compensation package and comprehensive benefits, including:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Life and disability insurance
• Retirement & Savings Plan
• Emergency back-up child and adult care
• Paid vacation, sick time off, and holidays
• Professional development and career advancement opportunities
• Employee recognition and reward programs
• Employee wellness and assistance programs
• Employee discounts and perks

This position is eligible for overtime: No

The Target Salary Range For This Position Varies By Location And Is Commensurate With Relevant Experience: $225,000.00 - $325,000.00