Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), Legal-NYC
Remote • New York City • FullTime
Posted 18d ago
Remote Work Policy
Fully remote
Employment Type
FullTime
Categories
Applied AI Engineer
About the job
OpenAI is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to build and deploy AI systems specifically for the legal industry. In this role, you will work closely with customers, often senior legal practitioners, to identify key use cases, rapidly prototype solutions, and demonstrate measurable value. Your work will span from initial discovery and proof of concept to production adoption, and you will be responsible for translating customer needs and constraints into actionable product feedback. As successful deployments mature, you will develop repeatable patterns and tools that can be scaled across the legal market.
Responsibilities
- Embed with law firms and legal teams to understand workflows and identify high-value opportunities.
- Build full-stack systems to deliver customer value and improve learning.
- Guide customer adoption of developed solutions.
- Balance scope, speed, and quality to ensure delivery.
- Contribute code directly when necessary for progress or clarity.
- Codify working patterns into reusable tools and playbooks.
- Share field feedback to inform Research and Product teams about model performance and areas for improvement.
Requirements
- 5+ years of software engineering, ML engineering, or technical deployment experience with customer-facing ownership.
- Experience in financial services or adjacent regulated industries is preferred.
- Experience with legal technology, legal services, compliance-heavy workflows, or professional services is helpful but not required.
- Experience owning complex AI or data-driven systems end-to-end in high-consequence environments.
- Proficiency in writing and reviewing production-grade code using Python, JavaScript, or comparable stacks.
- Experience deploying systems powered by LLMs or generative models, understanding model behavior, evaluation, and guardrails.
- Ability to communicate technical trade-offs clearly to diverse stakeholders.
- Strong systems thinking and execution standards.
- Ability to remain calm and decisive in urgent, ambiguous, and high-stakes situations.
Benefits
- Hybrid work model (three days in office per week)
- Relocation assistance