Innovation Lead AI Developer

Kirkland & Ellis; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 233,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Kirkland & Ellis seeks an Innovation Lead AI Developer to set technical direction for AI solutions while staying close to engineering work in a hybrid Chicago office.

You will lead architecture decisions, mentor engineers, and collaborate with partners, IT, and vendor teams to deliver scalable AI platforms and legal‑tech use cases.

Qualifications

• Advanced Python and production experience with RAG pipelines and agentic workflows.
• Experience designing LLM evaluation frameworks and using results to inform architecture.
• Experience with CI/CD, monitoring, secure deployment, and performance at scale on Azure.
• Ability to mentor engineers and establish reusable patterns and standards.
• Strong communication to lead discussions with senior non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience in legal/ professional services technology, especially with Azure and vendors.

Responsibilities

• Define and document architecture, platform choices, system boundaries, integration patterns, and engineering standards.
• Hands-on development of high-risk components and reusable templates and tools.
• Review designs, unblock engineers, and mentor across career levels.
• Translate business needs into technical plans with measurable milestones.
• Oversee security, monitoring, maintainability, incident response, and health of production solutions.
• Lead build-vs-adopt assessments and evaluate vendor platforms and third-party tools.
• Lead discovery and roadmap discussions with partners and IT, explaining trade-offs.
• Collaborate with consultants, vendor teams, and forward-deployed engineers for delivery.
• Mentor developers and contribute to shared standards and training.

Skills

Python

RAG pipelines

LLM evaluation

CI/CD

Azure

Mentorship

Stakeholder communication

Legal tech experience

Tools

Microsoft Azure

Job description

At Kirkland & Elli... from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, with hours that may vary.

• Define and document architecture, platform choices, system boundaries, integration patterns, and engineering standards for an assigned workstream or product family.
• Stay substantially hands‑on by developing the highest‑risk or most novel components and creating reusable templates, libraries, evaluation tools, and deployment patterns.
• Review designs, sequence engineers’ work, remove technical blockers, and serve as the escalation point for complex architecture and design decisions.
• Translate ambiguous legal and business needs into clear technical plans with measurable outcomes, milestones, and success criteria.
• Oversee evaluation results, security, monitoring, maintainability, incident response, documentation, and the overall health of production solutions.
• Lead build‑versus‑adopt assessments and conduct technical diligence on vendor platforms and third‑party tools.
• Lead discovery and roadmap discussions with partners, practice group leaders, business unit heads, embedded teams, and Information Technology (IT), explaining technical choices and trade‑offs in clear language.
• Collaborate constructively with external consultants, vendor engineering teams, and forward‑deployed engineers to support successful joint delivery.
• Mentor developers at multiple career levels, provide input on their growth, and contribute reusable insights to shared standards, playbooks, and training.

What You’ll Bring

• At least nine years of experience delivering software or artificial intelligence solutions in professional services, legal, or technical environments, including success setting technical direction for a team or product area.
• Advanced Python skills and deep production experience with Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, agentic workflows, orchestration frameworks, vector databases, and knowledge‑graph‑backed solutions.
• Experience designing and operating Large Language Model (LLM) evaluation frameworks in production and using results to inform architecture and product decisions.
• Experience with continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), monitoring and observability, secure deployment, and performance at scale using Microsoft Azure or a comparable cloud platform.
• A record of establishing standards, infrastructure, and reusable patterns in evolving environments while helping other engineers grow through mentorship and thoughtful review.
• The credibility and communication skills to lead discussions with senior non‑technical stakeholders, explain complex topics clearly, and work effectively with vendors and consultants.
• Experience in a law firm, legal technology company, or professional services environment, particularly involving Microsoft Azure, vendor engineering teams, or legal use cases such as due diligence, contract review, and legal research.

If you’re excited to set the technical direction for meaningful artificial intelligence solutions while remaining close to the engineering work, we’d love to hear from you about the Innovation Lead AI Developer opportunity!

Compensation

The base salary range below represents the low and high end of the salary range for this position in Chicago. This range may differ based on your geographic location and cost of living considerations. At Kirkland & Eli... designed to help you realize your full potential both in life and at work.

Compensation Range:

Chicago: $233,000 - $320,000

All employment decisions, including the recruiting, hiring, placement, training availability, promotion, compensation, evaluation, disciplinary actions, and termination of employment (if necessary) are made without regard to the employee’s race, color, creed, religion, sex, pregnancy or childbirth, personal appearance, family responsibilities, sexual orientation or preference, gender identity, political affiliation, source of income, place of residence, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, marital status, military veteran status, unfavorable discharge from military service, physical or mental disability, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law. #LI-Hybrid #LI-SM1