Legal Domain Expert for AI Training and Evaluation

OpenTrain AI; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 125,000 - 208,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Job summary

OpenTrain is seeking a senior legal domain expert to support research and program management work focused on improving how AI models reason about legal work. This is a full-time hybrid contract engagement based in the Bay Area, California, requiring 40 hours per week for an initial six-month term.

The role requires on-site collaboration with the project team several days a week. You must reside in the Bay Area; relocation assistance is provided under OpenTrain's project defaults.

Qualifications

• JD from an accredited law school; top-ranked school preferred.
• At least 5 years of substantive post-qualification practice.
• Bar admission in at least one US state, in good standing.
• Hands-on experience using large language models.
• Excellent written communication and precise feedback.

Responsibilities

• Vet legal knowledge-work tasks and model outputs for quality, missing behaviors, weak reasoning, and professionally unsound answers.
• Write detailed instruction specifications and produce high-quality solutions to legal problems.
• Define new legal tasks that reflect how legal work is performed in practice.
• Design challenging legal tasks and evaluation sets for advanced AI models.
• Help build legal-specific skills and tools with the research team.
• Calibrate with researchers to keep evaluation standards consistent.
• Translate tacit legal judgment into explicit, teachable evaluation criteria.

Skills

Legal evaluation

AI model review

Feedback writing

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Juris Doctor degree (JD)

5+ years post-qualification practice

Job description

About OpenTrain

OpenTrain is the #1 platform for finding and building careers in AI training and data labeling. We connect skilled contributors with projects that help shape how modern AI systems learn, reason, and respond, while giving you a place to build your AI training career.

Creating an OpenTrain account is free, and candidates can apply in minutes.

About AI Training and Evaluation

AI training is the human side of building artificial intelligence. Experts review model outputs, create high-quality examples, and define evaluation standards so AI systems can perform reliably in real-world situations.

In this role, your legal judgment will help translate professional standards into teachable criteria for evaluating complex legal reasoning.

The Role

OpenTrain is seeking a senior legal domain expert to support research and program management work focused on improving how advanced AI models reason about legal work. This is a full-time hybrid contract engagement based in the Bay Area, California, requiring 40 hours per week for an initial six-month engagement.

The role requires on-site work with the project team multiple days each week when required. You must live in the Bay Area. Relocation assistance is handled through standard OpenTrain project defaults.

• Pay: $60-$100 per hour, depending on experience and qualifications
• Commitment: 40 hours per week
• Initial engagement: 6 months
• Location: Bay Area, California
• Work arrangement: Hybrid

What You'll Do

You will apply practical legal expertise to task design, model evaluation, and the development of legal-specific AI capabilities. The work calls for careful reasoning, strong written communication, and the ability to identify answers that sound plausible but would not meet professional standards.

• Vet legal knowledge-work tasks and model outputs for quality, missing behaviors, weak reasoning, and professionally unsound answers.
• Write detailed instruction specifications and produce authoritative, high-quality solutions to legal problems.
• Define new legal tasks that reflect how legal work is performed in practice.
• Design challenging legal tasks and evaluation sets for advanced AI models.
• Help build legal-specific skills and tools with the research team.
• Calibrate with researchers and adjacent specialists to keep evaluation standards consistent.
• Translate tacit legal judgment into explicit, teachable evaluation criteria.

Requirements

This opportunity is intended for an experienced practicing attorney with substantial ownership of legal matters and a strong understanding of how large language models can succeed or fail in professional work.

• Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school; a highly ranked school is strongly preferred.
• At least 5 years of substantive post-qualification legal practice.
• Experience at a reputable law firm, corporate legal department, regulatory body, or court.
• Genuine specialization in corporate and transactional law, litigation and dispute resolution, regulatory and compliance, intellectual property, employment and labor, or tax.
• Progression to a senior level such as partner, of counsel, counsel, senior associate, senior in-house counsel, or general counsel.
• Real ownership of legal matters.
• Active admission to at least one U.S. state bar in good standing.
• Hands-on professional use of large language models.
• Ability to distinguish well-reasoned legal answers from plausible-sounding but incorrect responses.
• Excellent written communication and precise, well-structured written feedback.

Helpful Background

Experience creating evaluation benchmarks or instruction specifications for AI models is helpful. Familiarity with AI training can make it easier to turn legal expertise into clear, repeatable standards, but the substance of the role is grounded in your legal experience.

Why This Work Matters

Your legal expertise will directly shape how advanced AI models understand and reason about complex legal work. By creating rigorous examples and evaluations, you will help develop AI systems that can better assist legal professionals with real-world tasks.