Senior Legal Engineer

Ontra; United States; Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first environment

NYC office presence

Team offsites

Parental leave & benefits

Professional development resources

Job summary

Ontra seeks a Senior Legal Engineer focused on AI-native services and Contract Automation, reporting to the General Manager, Legal Engineering. The role blends prompt engineering, legal workflow design, and product advisory, collaborating with product and service delivery teams and customers to build AI-powered workflows.

You will create enablement materials, monitor industry trends, and lead initiatives to improve operational efficiency using AI, while ensuring high-quality outputs with human

Qualifications

• 3+ years of directly relevant legal experience focusing on transactional law.
• Experience drafting, reviewing, or negotiating NDAs, vendor contracts, and other commercial contracts; M&A due diligence is a plus.
• JD/LLM/LLB with US qualifications preferred but not mandatory.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Product and service delivery teams to refine contract review, drafting, and negotiation workflows.
• Create and deliver training materials (webinars, 1:1 training, self-paced courses) on contract workflows and AI use.
• Monitor markets in legal AI, contract automation, and legal service delivery to inform workflow improvements.
• Pilot AI-first legal workflows, evaluate outputs against playbooks, and measure quality and turnaround time; iterate on feedback.
• Provide consulting support on AI-native services and Contract Automation projects in meetings with product managers, developers, and clients.

Skills

Legal engineering

AI workflows

Contract automation

Prompt engineering

Education

JD/LLM/LLB

Tools

Claude

GPT

Harvey

Legora

Job description

About Ontra

Ontra is the leader in AI-powered solutions for the private markets. Powered by industry-leading AI, data from over 2 million contracts, and a global network of legal professionals, Ontra automates critical private market workflows across the fund lifecycle. Ontra’s solutions transform unstructured data trapped in static documents into actionable intelligence, enabling firms to accelerate contracts, streamline compliance, and automate entity management. Trusted by more than 1,000 global GPs, investment banks, law firms, and advisors – including nine of the top ten PEI-ranked firms worldwide – Ontra helps firms focus on what’s important.

About Ontra

Ontra is the leader in AI-powered solutions for the private markets. Powered by industry-leading AI, data from over 2 million contracts, and a global network of legal professionals, Ontra automates critical private market workflows across the fund lifecycle. Ontra’s solutions transform unstructured data trapped in static documents into actionable intelligence, enabling firms to accelerate contracts, streamline compliance, and automate entity management. Trusted by more than 1,000 global GPs, investment banks, law firms, and advisors – including nine of the top ten PEI-ranked firms worldwide – Ontra helps firms focus on what’s important.

Our Culture

Ontra is built for people who want real ownership from day one in a remote-first environment that’s built to support it. Our customers are sophisticated, and our work reflects that. AI is engrained in how we work, and curiosity about it is part of who we are. Ontranauts are sharp, genuinely collaborative, and invested in each other's success. They are excellent at what they do and even better to work with. That combination is rare, and we don't take it for granted. Learn more about our values. For this job, we are currently only hiring candidates based in the New York City Metropolitan area.

About The Role

Ontra is seeking a Senior Legal Engineer focused primarily on our AI-native services and Contract Automation businesses, reporting to our General Manager, Legal Engineering. This is a multifaceted role: part prompt engineer, part legal workflow designer, part product advisor, and part builder. We’re looking for someone excited to collaborate with product and service delivery teams and customers to develop AI-powered legal workflows, create and deliver comprehensive enablement materials, monitor industry trends to keep our products cutting-edge, and spearhead initiatives to enhance operational efficiency using AI. If you are a detail-oriented systems thinker who moves fast, experiments, and enjoys brainstorming how AI can make legal work faster and more accurate while retaining a human touch, we’d love to get to know you.

What You’ll Do

• Product Development Collaboration: Work closely with Product and service delivery teams to develop and refine contract review, drafting, and negotiation workflows, ensuring they align with client needs and industry standards.
• Enablement Material Creation: Develop and deliver training materials such as webinars, 1:1 training, and self-directed courses to educate Ontra employees and legal network members on contract workflows and practical AI use.
• Market Monitoring: Keep an eye on relevant markets, including legal AI, contract automation, and legal service delivery to inform workflow improvements.
• Efficiency Initiatives: Drive operational efficiency by piloting AI-first legal workflows, evaluating outputs against legal playbooks, and measuring quality and turnaround time. Experiment with prompts and prototypes, iterate quickly on feedback, and turn promising ideas into practical improvements.
• Stakeholder Consultation: Act as a technical subject matter expert by providing consulting support on AI-native services and Contract Automation projects, participating in meetings with product managers, development teams, and clients.

What You’ll Bring

• Relevant Experience: 3+ years of directly relevant legal experience with a focus on transactional law. Experience drafting, reviewing, or negotiating NDAs, vendor contracts, and other commercial contracts, and conducting M&A due diligence, is a plus. Experience in private practice and/or in-house in an investment bank or asset manager is a plus.
• Educational Background: Possession of a JD, LLM, or LLB, with US qualifications preferred but not mandatory.
• Communication Skills: Exceptional verbal and written communication abilities; prior experience in a customer-facing role is advantageous.
• Organizational and Problem-Solving Skills: Demonstrated organizational excellence and high ownership, with a proactive approach to building systems, problem-solving, teamwork, and results orientation.
• Practical AI Experience: Hands-on use of AI tools such as Claude, GPT, Harvey, or Legora in legal or professional work is required. Comfortable refining prompts, checking outputs for accuracy, and recognizing when human legal judgment is needed; experience with every named tool is not required.
• AI Workflow Building: Experience building a reusable AI skill or custom workflow, or experimenting with Codex or Claude Code to create a small app or more involved workflow is preferred. Exploratory or personal projects are welcome; coding experience is not required.
• Hybrid Schedule: Must be willing to work 3 days per week (typically Tuesday-Thursday) in our NYC office, building and iterating on workflows directly alongside our attorneys and engineers.

Hiring Locations

We currently hire exclusively in the locations listed below. Select jobs may have more specific location requirements due to business needs.

United States

Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington

APAC

Hong Kong

EMEA

United Kingdom

Benefits Snapshot

• Remote-first working policy, with office hubs in NYC, Santa Barbara, and London
• Twice yearly team offsites for in-person collaboration
• Paid flexible time off policy
• Paid parental leave and benefits
• Employer-supported retirement contributions, varying by country
• Monthly phone and internet reimbursement
• Company-sponsored learning and development resources, department budgets for professional development, and a robust onboarding program
• Various options for medical, dental, and vision insurance

Travel

Occasional travel is required for Ontra employees, including typically at least twice per year to attend team and larger group off-sites for in-person collaboration. For some roles, additional travel may be required based on the requirements of the role and business need.

Inclusivity

Ontra is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Ontra will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact [e-mail].

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Note on Employment Verification: All employees hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in their particular location.

Note to External Agencies: We are not accepting any blind submissions or resumes/CVs from recruitment agencies. Any candidates sent to Ontra will NOT be accepted or considered as a submission without a signed agreement in place.