Principal Software Engineer

Remote (US)

Our Client is a default-services law firm building its own software in-house. Leadership builds directly alongside a tight engineering team using modern AI development tooling. This is not a traditional law-firm IT department – it is a real engineering organization inside a law firm, building a category-defining automation platform with direct impact on the firm’s strategic direction. Our Client hires few, exceptional engineers and gives them outsized ownership.

The Role

Our Client is hiring a very small number of exceptional engineers – people who can challenge its most senior engineers on architecture, make the case for a better approach, and be right often enough that it matters. This is not a role for a fast, tidy executor of someone else’s design – that is already covered. Our Client wants the engineer who sees the better way to build it, wins the argument, and then ships it.

You will work at the core of Our Client’s automation platform – designing and building the systems the firm runs on – force-multiplied by modern AI tooling, with near-total autonomy and outsized ownership.

What You’ll Do

Build end-to-end across the stack – front-end, back-end, data, integrations – production systems the firm depends on.

Turn ambiguous, high-level problems into shipped, working software, fast. You own the path from “here’s the problem” to “it’s live.”

Use AI development tooling as a genuine force multiplier – the team builds with Claude and Claude Code; you get more done because you leverage the tools, not despite them.

Own what you ship – design, build, deploy, and stand behind it.

Raise the technical bar – bring architecture and engineering judgment strong enough to challenge and sharpen the team’s most senior people, not just execute their decisions.

What We’re Looking For

Technical depth that challenges the best in the room (the differentiator). You can look at how a strong engineer is approaching a hard problem, see a better architecture, make the case, and be right. System design and engineering judgment are your edge – not just how fast you type.

Autonomy and throughput – assumed. Given an assignment, you run without hand-holding and move fast. The team keeps a light daily cadence to assign and track work – you show up to it with shipped progress, not a list of blockers. This is the floor, not what sets you apart.

Build-anything breadth. Genuinely full-stack; not boxed into one layer or one language. You learn what you need and build it.

AI-tooling fluency. You are already elite at building with AI dev tools – the team builds with Claude and Claude Code, and that fluency is central to the role, not a bonus.

Ownership. You stand behind what you ship and don’t need the problem fully specified before you start.

You do not need to know the legal domain or Our Client’s systems on day one – you will learn those. Our Client is hiring for architecture judgment, raw building ability, and the confidence to push back.

What This Role Is Not

Not a role for a fast executor who needs the design handed to them. That’s a different (also-valued) seat. This one owns the design.

Not a DevOps / reliability / ops role. There is separate ownership for the deployment pipeline and operational work; this is a build seat.

Not a management role. This is a hands-on senior individual contributor position.

How We Hire

Our Client hires on demonstrated ability, not pedigree. Candidates can expect a design conversation with the Head of Engineering where they are encouraged to push back. Expect to defend your technical choices and argue for a better approach. Our Client is hiring people who make its technical leadership think.

Fully remote (US). Competitive cash compensation and full benefits.