Lead Software Engineer

Location: Chicago, IL (hybrid, 3 days onsite). 100% remote considered for candidates within a 90-minute commute of the client's Dallas, Houston, Miami, New York, Palo Alto, Century City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. or Boston offices.

Employment Type: Permanent, full-time (exempt)

Target Compensation: $112,000 to $200,000 depending on experience and location

About The Company: Our client is a leading global law firm building a new AI Engineering group that turns AI models into reliable, production applications for lawyers and staff.

Job Summary: The Lead Software Engineer takes technical ownership of full-stack applications built on React, .NET, Next.js and Azure, including AI-powered features. This is a hands-on technical leadership role with no direct reports: you will write and review code, set engineering standards, make architecture decisions and mentor engineers.

Key Responsibilities: Lead design and delivery of full-stack applications on .NET, React/Next.js and Azure, from architecture through production support. Set standards for code quality, testing, performance and security through code authorship and review. Make architecture decisions for new features and systems. Integrate GenAI capabilities including LLM features, RAG pipelines, semantic search and agentic workflows. Mentor engineers through pairing, design reviews and feedback. Own production reliability, observability and incident response. Partner with DevOps on CI/CD, AKS / Azure Container Apps and cloud deployment patterns.

Required Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.8+ years of professional software engineering (10-15 ideal), currently operating at a lead, staff or principal level. Strong hands-on .NET (C#), React, Next.js and REST/GraphQL API experience. Deep Azure application development and cloud architecture experience, including building new applications in Azure (App Service, Container Apps/AKS, Azure SQL, Service Bus, Azure OpenAI).System design, APIs, microservices and relational/NoSQL databases. CI/CD (Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions), Git and Agile practices. Experience leading code reviews, system design and technical projects.

Preferred Qualifications: Production GenAI experience: LLM APIs, RAG, vector search, agentic workflows. LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, Claude SDK, Temporal, n8n or Power Automate..NET Aspire, Docker, Kubernetes, serverless on Azure. Professional services background (legal, financial, accounting or consulting).AZ-204 or AZ-305 certification. Work Arrangement Chicago candidates work hybrid, 3 days onsite. Remote candidates must live within 90 minutes of an approved office. All candidates complete a final interview onsite at their nearest office, one week of onboarding in Chicago (expenses reimbursed) and travel to Chicago about once per quarter. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship, now or in the future.