Lead Backend Engineer

Harnham; Plano (TX); Hybrid; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full benefits package

Equity up to 15% of total base compensation

Annual bonus

Job summary

A leading legal technology company is seeking a Lead Backend Engineer to drive the development of AI-enabled solutions. This role requires a blend of technical expertise in Python, AWS, and API design, along with team leadership. Candidates should have at least 5 years of experience and a proven track record in AI product development. The position offers a hybrid work schedule and a competitive benefits package.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years commercial experience in backend engineering or related fields.
• Demonstrated experience as a technical lead or engineering manager.
• Proven 0→1 AI product development experience.

Responsibilities

• Serve as technical lead for a backend engineering team.
• Deliver hands-on backend development using Python and FastAPI.
• Lead the AI platform development and deployment.

Skills

Backend Engineering

Python

AWS

FastAPI

PostgreSQL

API Design

AI Product Development

Tools

pgvector

LLMs (Anthropic, OpenAI)

Job description

Join a leading legal technology company as a Lead Backend Engineer, driving the development of high-impact AI-enabled enterprise solutions for the legal industry. This is a player-coach role, blending hands-on technical work with team leadership as you guide a group of ~5 engineers in building and integrating backend systems for next-generation legal products.

Role Overview

• Serve as technical lead for a backend engineering team, both architecting and implementing solutions in a fast-paced innovation lab setting.
• Deliver hands-on backend development using Python, FastAPI, AWS, PostgreSQL, pgvector (or comparable vector dbs), and LLMs (Anthropic, OpenAI).
• Lead the full lifecycle of AI platform development, orchestration, and deployment, with 0→1 product creation responsibilities.
• Design and iterate on secure, scalable APIs supporting real-time interactions, integrations, and enterprise workflows.
• Drive best practices in backend development, including high performance, extensibility, and robust data management for legal domain use cases.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical leadership: Coach, mentor, and review work for a team of backend engineers; set standards for architectural decisions and development velocity.
• Full-stack backend engineering: Write, test, and deploy code, architectural diagrams, and technical documentation supporting integration and product delivery.
• AI product innovation: Lead the technical design for new-to-market, AI-powered legal tech products (0→1 development), including data pipelines, orchestration, and API interactions.
• Enterprise integration: Develop backend services and APIs for seamless integration with legal market tools, third-party applications, and client-facing solutions.
• Platform reliability: Own operational excellence in platform performance, security, and scalability.

Requirements

• Minimum 5 years commercial experience (outside of education) in backend engineering or related fields in high-scale environments.
• Demonstrated experience as a technical lead, team lead, or engineering manager, with direct responsibility for engineering deliverables and mentorship.
• Proven 0→1 AI product development experience, from concept/prototyping to deployment (ideally in legal, enterprise, or SaaS).
• Advanced proficiency in Python, FastAPI, and AWS infrastructure and services.
• Strong hands-on experience with PostgreSQL, pgvector (or similar vector databases), and designing data models for AI/ML applications.
• Experience building, integrating, and deploying LLM-driven features using platforms such as Anthropic or OpenAI.
• Deep understanding of API design for real-time interactions, backend orchestration, and multi-system integration.
• Hybrid schedule: 2 days/week onsite in Plano, TX, Twin Cities, MN, or NYC (remaining days remote).
• Full benefits package: health, dental, vision, vacation leave, parental leave.
• Equity up to 15% of total base compensation
• Annual bonus