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Product Engineer, Applied AI
whitecase
Source: Headcount Labs · original listing ↗
Job data: Headcount Labs, ODbL 1.0. Job descriptions belong to their employers.
Posted Oct 16
About this role
Team Summary Our Practice Solutions team leads the Firm’s innovation initiatives, supporting our lawyers in client delivery excellence. The team has deep expertise in working with established and emerging technologies, data analytics and data science, knowledge solutions and process re-engineering. The Practice Solutions team works with our lawyers to identify innovative solutions to support our clients. Through fostering a Firmwide culture of innovation, we encourage our lawyers to think creatively about how to deliver the best value to our clients and we ensure that White & Case remains at the forefront of advancements in the legal industry. Position Summary Join White & Case’s Applied AI team to turn promising, rapidly developed prototypes into secure, reliable products that can be used and supported across the Firm. You will work directly with the Associate Director, Applied AI, to assess existing applications, decide what should be retained, refactored or rebuilt, and take ownership of the engineering needed to move them into production. This includes integration, security, testing, deployment, monitoring and early live support, working closely with Technology and security colleagues. Our backend centres on Python, using FastAPI and FastMCP. Django is likely to be used for the first project, but the framework may vary for later projects depending on their needs. Many applications will be accessed through AI assistants via the Firm’s MCP gateway, making backend services, data modelling and secure integration central to the role. We need a practical product engineer who can bring structure to incomplete or experimental code, make sensible trade-offs and get useful software safely into users’ hands. Over time, there will also be opportunities to shape and build new prototypes. Duties and Accountabilities: * Assess prototypes for production readiness, including architecture, code quality, dependencies, data handling, security, scalability, supportability and user value. Recommend whether each prototype should be hardened, refactored, rebuilt or stopped, and agree a practical route to production. * Build Python services, relational data models, APIs and background processing; add lightweight frontend interfaces where useful. * Develop MCP integrations through the Firm’s gateway, handling authentication, permissions and token exchange with downstream applications. * Work with Technology on approved cloud deployments and connections to on-premises systems, resolving infrastructure and integration dependencies. * Follow the Firm’s central SDLC and security policies; implement testing, access controls, audit logging and secure secrets handling. * Take production applications through deployment, controlled release and early live use, then establish clear ownership, support procedures, service expectations and handover arrangements with the relevant Technology teams. * Define and run evaluations for AI-enabled behaviour, including representative test cases, quality thresholds, regression testing and human review where appropriate. Monitor failures, latency, usage and consumption costs in production, and use the results to improve applications and contribute reusable engineering patterns as the team grows. Required Skills: * Professional software engineering experience that includes taking incomplete, experimental or early-stage applications into production and maintaining them afterwards. * Experience working in an autonomous, fast-moving environment where you contributed across development, integration, deployment and live operation. * Strong Python skills and experience with FastAPI or comparable Python frameworks. * Strong SQL and relational database skills, plus experience designing and integrating APIs. * Practical understanding of authentication and authorisation, including OAuth 2.0 or OpenID Connect. * Experience with automated testing, Git, CI/CD, cloud deployment and production troubleshooting. * Clear communication, pragmatic product and engineering judgement, and the ability to bring structure to unfamiliar or incomplete systems. You should be comfortable making progress with limited documentation, surfacing risks early and working with security, infrastructure and product specialists to resolve them. Preferred Experience: Experience with FastMCP, Azure, Entra ID, API gateways, delegated access or token exchange would be valuable. Other useful experience includes cloud-to-on-premises integration, LLM applications and straightforward JavaScript/TypeScript interfaces. You do not need experience with every technology listed or a legal background. Location and Reporting: This role is based in London, United Kingdom. You will report to the Associate Director, Applied AI. The Applied AI team forms part of the wider Innovation & AI team. Firm Benefits We offer a flexible range of benefits, services and programmes designed to help support your lifestyle requirements. Some of the benefits currently available include: * Private medical insurance * Pension plan with matched employer contribution up to 7.5% * Yearly wellbeing fund * Income protection * Life insurance * Critical Illness insurance * Private GP services * Travel insurance * Dental coverage * Cycle to work * Holiday purchase (available during annual enrolment) This role reports to Director, Innovation and AI Equal Opportunities White & Case is committed to creating a fair workplace. It is our Firm’s policy to recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote without regard to race, religion, creed, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other category protected by applicable law. If you require assistance and/or adjustment to participate in our application and/or interview process, please [email us](mailto:talent.acquisition@whitecase.com). We will be happy to work with you. The Firm may modify and amend any job description at any time in its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment. The above is only a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties. Note to Recruitment Agencies Our internal Recruitment team manages all aspects of lateral hiring. All agencies must have signed terms of business—specific to the relevant office—before submitting any candidates. CVs or applications sent directly to White & Case partners or employees will also not be considered formal introductions. If you have questions, please contact the relevant Recruitment team. We work with our preferred suppliers when engaging agencies. Firm Summary White & Case is an elite global law firm serving leading companies, financial institutions and governments worldwide. With a long history as an international firm, we are well-positioned to help clients resolve their most complex legal challenges wherever they may arise. Operating across six continents and working in virtually every country, we have invested heavily in building a high-quality, full-service practice that competes at the top of the market. We are distinguished by our on-the-ground presence in key financial markets and our expertise in handling complex cross-border work. What sets us apart is not just our global network of offices but the interconnectedness of our Firm. Our people and clients value our collaboration across geographic and practice boundaries, which is why we attract and retain significant cross-border work. Representing multiple nationalities from across the world and speaking a vast array of languages, our lawyers and Business Services professionals are globally minded, enterprising, and committed to excellence.