Director of Engineering - Epiq AI Labs

At Epiq , your work contributes to complex, global legal outcomes. You’ll join a values‑driven community where integrity guides decisions, relentless service sets the bar, and we thrive on big challenges together. We invest in your growth with enterprise‑wide learning and mobility. We celebrate who you are, and we respect life beyond work with flexibility that’s recognized externally. Enabled by modern platforms and AI, you’ll do the most meaningful work of your career and see your impact at scale. Job Description: Director of Engineering - Epiq AI Labs Location: NYC (Hybrid -- 4 days/week in-office) Team: Epiq AI Labs / Advanced AI Platform About Us Epiq AI Labs is the innovation and engineering hub behind Epiq’s next-generation AI platform for corporate legal departments and global law firms. We operate as a startup within a global organization focused on agentic AI systems, knowledge-driven reasoning, and enterprise-scale corporate simulations. We are: Fast, experimental, and product-obsessed Highly collaborative, low-bureaucracy, deeply technical Backed by the resources, data access, and distribution scale of a global ALSP We are building foundational AI systems -- intelligent agents, reasoning engines, knowledge kernels, and structured workflows -- that transform how litigation, investigations, compliance, and corporate knowledge work gets done. Our culture is 100% startup : high autonomy, high trust, rapid iteration, and a team that genuinely enjoys working together. About You You lead from the front. You write code, architect systems, unblock teammates, and set a standard of excellence others naturally follow. You are ambitious, hard-working, and thrive in high-ownership environments. You want to help build something big and transformative. You want startup speed with real resources. You value the rare combination of agility + scale that Epiq AI Labs offers. You care deeply about people and engineering culture. You enjoy mentoring, coaching, and helping engineers grow into the best versions of themselves. You are a builder at heart. Even as a leader, you appreciate staying close to the code and solving hard technical problems. If you want to help shape both the architecture and the team that builds the future of legal AI, this role is for you. About The Role This is a high-impact role where you will work directly with the founding team to build the platform and define the engineering culture. The role is highly hands-on , especially in the first year: Initially You will ship production code frequently while also beginning to mentor, review, coordinate, and support the team. As the team scales Your leadership responsibilities—hiring, planning, coaching, stakeholder alignment—will expand as the engineering team grows. Long term: move toward broader organizational leadership as expansion continues. You will work in person 4 days/week in our Midtown Manhattan office, collaborating shoulder-to-shoulder with engineers, scientists, and product leaders. What You’ll Do Hands-On Engineering Ship high-quality production code weekly Lead the design and implementation of core backend, full-stack, and AI-adjacent systems Dive deep into performance, architecture, reliability, and system-level issues Establish best practices around testing, observability, workflows, and code quality Serve as technical backbone and unblocker for the engineering team Engineering Leadership & People Management Ramp up new engineers, helping them become productive quickly Mentor engineers across levels and help them grow in technical depth and autonomy Conduct code reviews, design reviews, and architecture sessions Support and amplify the team’s accomplishments with leadership and cross-functional partners Scale the team: define roles, run interviews, build hiring pipelines, and onboard candidates Cross-Functional Ownership Work closely with researchers, product managers, designers, and leadership Translate product vision into technical execution plans Partner with legal experts and clients to understand workflows and turn them into system capabilities Own delivery for engineering milestones across multiple product surface areas Qualifications Required 6+ years of professiona