Director, Research Engineering - CoCounsel For Tax

Thomson Reuters; United States; Remote; USD 203,000 - 377,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Director of Research Engineering to lead a talented team in developing cutting-edge AI solutions. This role involves overseeing the integration of machine learning into software products, driving innovation, and managing high-performing teams. You will collaborate with product leaders to shape the future of tax and compliance software, ensuring excellence in AI systems. Join a culture that values diversity, inclusion, and personal growth while making a significant impact in the legal and tax sectors. If you are passionate about AI and leadership, this opportunity is perfect for you.

Benefits

Flexible vacation

Mental Health Days Off

Work-from-anywhere options

Comprehensive health benefits

Tuition reimbursement

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Fitness reimbursement

Parental leave

Sabbatical leave

Commuter benefits

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software development experience with a focus on ML products.
• 5+ years managing high-performing teams in an agile environment.
• Experience integrating ML solutions into production-grade software.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of 15+ research engineers to deliver AI solutions.
• Drive end-to-end model development lifecycle in a fast-paced environment.
• Foster innovation and manage project portfolios across multiple initiatives.

Skills

Machine Learning

Python

Natural Language Processing

Agile Methodologies

Software Development

Team Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology or Computer Science

Master's or PhD in a relevant specialization

Tools

Numpy

Scipy

Pandas

Dask

spaCy

NLTK

scikit-learn

AWS

Azure

Job description

Director, Research Engineering – CoCounsel For Tax

Are you excited about working at the forefront of applied AI research in an industry setting? Thomson Reuters Labs in North America is seeking a seasoned engineering Director to lead a team of high performing research engineers and to guide delivery of cutting-edge AI solutions from concept to production.

What does Thomson Reuters Labs do? We experiment, we build, we deliver. We support the organization and our customers through applied research in informational retrieval, natural language processing and machine learning. We work closely with product and domain experts to identify compelling solutions at the intersection of user need and technical feasibility. Our team is responsible for designing the next generation of tax, accounting and audit compliance software for Tax Professionals and Corporates in the US, and across the global markets. We own AI innovation for Thomson Reuters’ core tax products, including Cloud Audit Suite, SurePrep, Materia and ONESOURCE.

The Labs Tax & Corporates team is seeking an experienced software leader and manager to direct research engineering work in CoCounsel for Tax, Accounting and Audit which is formed around the recent acquisition of the startup Materia. Cocounsel for Tax provides LLM and agent driven experiences to automate workflow steps in tax preparation, tax research, advisory and audit. The successful candidate will work with the team to further push the envelope of agentic AI as well as information retrieval & RAG systems.

About the Role:

In this opportunity as an Director, Research Engineering you will:

Lead:

• You will lead and structure a high performing team of 15+ research engineers, setting clear expectations, modeling expected behaviors and actively coaching.
• You will be a proactive communicator who is excited to share their work and even more excited to highlight the accomplishments of their team.
• You will work directly with customers as well as with TR product and technology leaders to shape the future of CoCounsel for Tax, Accounting and Audit.

Deliver:

• With a sense of urgency and the desire to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment, you will enable your team to solve complex business problems and build solutions with clearly defined outcomes.
• You will drive the end-to-end model development lifecycle partnering effectively with a collaborative cross-functional team.
• You will help our partners operate and maintain AI systems with operational excellency.

Innovate:

• You will be empowered to try new approaches, learn new technologies, and take informed risks with good judgement. Furthermore, you will encourage and empower your team to do the same.
• You will foster innovative ideas to solve real-world challenges. You will help lead the way in growing the understanding and adoption of AI/ML research engineering practices and frameworks across the enterprise.
• Have oversight on multiple large projects and initiatives across multiple key TR product lines in Tax & Accounting.
• Collaborate directly with leaders in product management, product marketing, engineering, editorial and UX to prioritize and deliver on key initiatives and continuously improve ways of working.
• Manage the project portfolio, the budget, the priorities, and the staff allocation.
• Confidently present our work to customers and other external venues.

About You

You are a fit for the position of Director, Research Engineering if your background includes:

Required qualifications:

• A Bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, or the equivalent. A Master’s or PhD in a relevant specialization is preferred.
• 10+ years software development experience, of which at least 3 years working on Machine Learning related products and solutions.
• 5+ years of management experience – coaching & developing high-performing teams, with the demonstrated ability to successfully manage software engineering teams in an agile environment.
• Demonstrated experience with integrating machine learning solutions to production-grade software.
• Experience spearheading technical development in a cross-functional setting, with responsibility for ML applications; close partnership with Applied Scientists, R&D groups, or similar.
• Experience contributing to and overseeing large-scale rollouts and infrastructure initiatives.
• Experience designing and implementing solutions with large language models, including RAG frameworks and agentic frameworks (langgraph, langchain, haystack, etc).
• Expertise in several of the following areas: robust Python development, libraries such as Numpy, Scipy, Pandas, Dask, spaCy, NLTK, scikit-learn, MLOps, containerization, cloud infrastructure (AWS or Azure), advanced search and recommendation technology, orchestration of ML pipelines for real-time inference, microservices architecture, model monitoring and governance.

Preferred qualifications:

• 8+ years of management experience – coaching & developing high-performing teams.
• Previous exposure to Natural Language Processing (NLP) problems and are familiar with key tasks such as Named Entity Recognition (NER), Information Extraction, Information Retrieval, etc.
• Hands-on experience in other programming and scripting languages (Java, TypeScript, JavaScript, etc).

What's in it For You?

You will join our inclusive culture of world-class talent, where we are committed to your personal and professional growth through:

• Wellbeing: Comprehensive benefit plans; flexible and supportive benefits for work-life balance: flexible vacation, two company-wide Mental Health Days Off; work from another location for up to a total of 8 weeks in a year, 4 of those weeks can be out of the country and the remaining in the country, Headspace app subscription; retirement, savings, tuition reimbursement, and employee incentive programs; resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.

• Culture: Globally recognized and award-winning reputation for equality, diversity and inclusion, flexibility, work-life balance, and more.

• Learning & Development: LinkedIn Learning access; internal Talent Marketplace with opportunities to work on projects cross-company; Ten Thousand Coffees Thomson Reuters café networking.

• Social Impact: Ten employee-driven Business Resource Groups; two paid volunteer days annually; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives for local and global impact.

• Purpose Driven Work: We have a superpower that we’ve never talked about with as much pride as we should – we are one of the only companies on the planet 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.

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 exceed 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 $203,000 - $377,000. 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. This job posting will close 04/19/2025.

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.