Manager Data Science (LLM/RAG/agentic systems)

LexisNexis; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

LexisNexis seeks a Manager of Data Science to lead a team building LLM-powered drafting and retrieval systems. You will drive strategy, execution, and growth of AI-enabled legal assistants, integrating structured and unstructured data sources for contextual outputs.

You will shape architecture that combines foundation models with RAG pipelines, mentor data scientists and ML engineers, and collaborate with Legal SMEs, product, and design to deliver compliant, enterprise-grade solutions.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of people management of teams building LLM-based applications in rigorous domains.
• Hands-on delivery of systems using LangChain, LLM agent frameworks, vector databases, and prompt orchestration pipelines.
• Strong experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) for grounded, auditable outputs.
• Proven track record taking LLM-powered applications from prototype to production.

Responsibilities

• Define the roadmap for applying LLMs and agentic AI to real-world legal drafting.
• Evangelize and embed AI-driven change across legal product platforms.
• Translate evolving generative AI capabilities into tangible customer value in the legal domain.
• Architect systems that combine foundation models with RAG pipelines to draft contracts and pleadings.
• Guide development of AI agents for multi-step reasoning and compliant outputs.
• Mentor and grow a multidisciplinary team of LLM-focused data scientists and ML engineers.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration with Legal SMEs, Data Engineers, Product Managers, and Design.
• Establish best practices for evaluation, observability, and responsible use of generative AI.

Skills

LLM-based apps

LangChain

LLM agent frameworks

Vector databases

Prompt orchestration

Python

HuggingFace Transformers

OpenAI APIs

Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP)

Team management

Education

Graduate degree in CS/AI/ML

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

TorchServe/Triton/Ray Serve

Elasticsearch/Weaviate/Solr

Qdrant

Weaviate

Job description

We are seeking a Manager of Data Science to lead a high-impact team focused on building intelligent systems powered by LLMs and RAG architectures. This role will focus on improving LLM-powered drafting and retrieval solutions through advanced search, embeddings, reranking, evaluation, and production-grade ML components.

You’ll drive the strategy, technical execution, and team growth necessary to build next-generation legal assistants, capable of contextual document drafting, and interaction with structured and unstructured data sources.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define the roadmap for applying LLMs and agentic AI to real-world legal drafting.
• Evangelize and embed AI-driven change across legal product platforms.
• Translate evolving generative AI capabilities into tangible customer value within the legal domain.

Technical & Product Leadership:

• Architect systems that combine foundation models with RAG pipelines to draft contracts, memos, and pleadings grounded in enterprise knowledge.
• Guide the development of AI agents that perform multi-step reasoning, cite evidence, retrieve domain-specific content, and produce compliant outputs.

Team & Operational Excellence:

• Mentor and grow a multidisciplinary team of LLM-focused Data Scientists and ML Engineers.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration with Legal SMEs, Data Engineers, Product Managers, and Design.
• Establish best practices for evaluation, observability, and responsible use of generative AI.

Core Qualifications:

Experience

• Previous people management experience (3+ years) of teams building LLM-based applications, especially in domains requiring rigor and traceability like legal, finance, or compliance.
• Hands-on experience delivering systems using LangChain, LLM agent frameworks, vector databases, and prompt orchestration pipelines.
• Strong background in deploying retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems for grounded and auditable responses.
• Demonstrated success in taking LLM-powered applications from prototype to production.

Technical Proficiency

• Proficient with Python and LLM tooling: LangChain, HuggingFace Transformers, OpenAI APIs, and prompt tuning techniques.
• Familiarity with vector databases (e.g., Solr, Elasticsearch, Qdrant, Weaviate), knowledge graphs, and hybrid retrieval architectures.
• Working knowledge of containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), CI/CD, and model serving tools (TorchServe, Triton, Ray Serve).
• Cloud infrastructure experience on AWS, Azure, or GCP.

Preferred Background

• Graduate degree in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, or equivalent experience.
• 6 years of post-degree experience, with 3+ years in a data science or applied AI leadership role, with a focus on NLP/LLM systems.
• Prior experience in legal tech, legal AI, or document-intensive domains is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with ethical/legal considerations in deploying generative AI in professional settings.