Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Engineer

Because the responsibilities of this position will involve access to ITAR/EAR-controlled information, Akin will screen prospective job candidates to be staffed in this role and will only consider U.S. persons for ITAR/EAR compliance purposes. Under the definition of ITAR (§ 120.62) and EAR (Part 772), a U.S. person is (1) a U.S. citizen, (2) a U.S. national; (3) a lawful permanent U.S. resident, (4) an individual admitted to the United States as a refugee, or (5) an individual granted asylum in the United States. Additionally, Akin will only staff such U.S. persons for this role if they are physically located in the United States.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. We are currently seeking an Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Engineer "AI/ML Engineer" in the Information Technology department, reporting to the Senior Manager of Application Development.

The role will reside in the Washington, DC office with hybrid work capabilities and will be responsible for designing, developing, and deploying AI/ML-based (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) models and Generative AI solutions, to support and enhance our legal and business services operations. The ideal candidate will possess a robust background in AI/ML development, deployment, support and maintenance of AI solutions. The AI/ML Engineer is expected to perform all responsibilities with a commitment to providing superior service to the firm’s attorneys, advisors and staff, and maintaining an atmosphere of teamwork and continuous improvement.

Key responsibilities of this position include:

• Develop and implement AI/ML models to study, process and analyze complex legal data streams.
• Enhance the firm's legal analytics, research, and predictive modeling capabilities by working closely with Firm’s data scientists and software developers.
• Work closely with legal experts to translate legal requirements into technical specifications for AI/ML tools.
• Keep up to date with the latest advancements in AI/ML technology and apply them to legal applications.
• Ensure the security and compliance of AI systems, particularly with respect to sensitive legal data. Build, maintain, and optimize machine learning solutions to ensure they perform as expected on a continual basis in production environments.
• Work with other team members to optimize performance and integrate machine learning into business operations efficiently.
• Streamline organizational processes by automating the creation, training, deployment, and updating of machine learning models.
• Work closely with software developers to design and develop RESTful API endpoints for AI/ML-based data models.
• Establish continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines for machine learning projects to facilitate rapid and reliable model updates.
• Keep track of model performance, detecting anomalies, and maintaining models to ensure continued accuracy and relevance.
• Ensure that the ML infrastructure can handle scale and is reliable for the tasks it performs.
• Deploy models securely and ensure compliance with relevant data protection and privacy regulations.

Qualifications (Experience, Knowledge, Skills & Abilities):

• Proficiency in AI/ML frameworks and libraries (TenserFlow, PyTorch, HuggingFace, etc.)
• Proficiency in Microsoft’s AI Studio and Copilot Studio to develop and deploy chatbots
• Strong understanding of data structures, data modeling, and software architecture
• Experience with cloud services such as Azure, AWS, or GCP for securing and deploying ML models
• Knowledge of programming languages such as Python, R, or C#, with a focus on writing scalable code for AI/ML applications
• Familiarity with containerization and orchestration technologies like Docker and Kubernetes
• Ability to perform network packet monitoring/debugging
• Experience with mobile development (iOS & Android) and web technologies (HTML5, AJAX)
• Capability to implement grounding techniques, engage in prompt engineering and work with generative AI tools
• Demonstrated experience in AI/ML development and deployment
• Familiarity with Azure compute resources, including Azure Storage, Azure App Service, Azure OpenAI, etc.
• Solid understanding of machine learning principles and the ability to apply them in practical scenarios
• Skills in SQL for database management and data manipulation
• Knowledge of MLOps tools and platforms to automate and streamline ML workflows
• Ability to work closely with other engineers and legal professionals to deploy ML solutions that meet the firm's needs
• Strong analytical skills to troubleshoot and resolve issues that arise during the ML lifecycle
• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related technical field preferred, but applied experience may be substitute for this requirement
• Experience in the legal sector is advantageous but not required
• Excellent communication skills, with the capacity to work collaboratively across interdisciplinary teams

The base salary range for this position in Washington, DC is $130,000 to $160,000. Additional information about benefits and rewards can be found here.