Lead Software Engineer, AI
Thomson Reuters
Canada, Toronto, Ontario
Full-Time
$140,000
RemoteManager
Lead Software Engineer, AI
Are you passionate about building AI-driven software that transforms how professionals work? Join a dynamic and highly skilled team at Thomson Reuters, where we invest deeply in AI technologies and explore emerging fields with the backing of a global leader. As a Staff Software Engineer – AI, you will play a lead role in developing intelligent systems that power the next generation of expert solutions across legal, tax, risk, and compliance domains.
About The Role
As a Lead Software Engineer, AI, you will:
Spearhead the development of cutting-edge AI-powered solutions and driving technical strategy. You will collaborate with senior stakeholders, product leadership, and cross-functional teams to architect, build, and scale enterprise-grade AI systems that transform how our organization delivers value to customers.
Build & Architect AI-Driven Systems
Design and lead the implementation of complex, enterprise-scale AI systems, including sophisticated multi-component pipelines, advanced retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures, and autonomous AI agents with multi-step reasoning capabilities • Architect scalable AI model integration strategies for production software through robust APIs, distributed data pipelines, and microservices architectures • Lead the adaptation and customization of AI models for specialized domains, driving innovation in expert systems for legal, tax, fraud and compliance• Define technical standards and best practices for AI system architecture across the organization
Drive Innovation & Technical Strategy
Lead evaluation and strategic adoption of cutting-edge AI techniques to solve complex business challenges • Oversee proof-of-concept projects and guide technical feasibility assessments for new AI-driven features • Stay at the forefront of AI research and emerging technologies, translating insights into actionable technical roadmaps • Drive innovation initiatives and establish the organization's position in emerging AI technology areas
Provide Senior Technical Leadership
Lead technical architecture decisions and translate high-level business requirements into comprehensive, scalable technical specifications • Mentor a team of senior and junior Software engineers, fostering technical growth and career development • Champion MLOps and LLMOps practices across the organization, leading both design and implementation initiatives • Serve as a senior thought leader, driving technical discussions in executive forums and representing the organization at industry conferences and events
Ensure Quality, Security & Operational Excellence
Design and implement comprehensive testing frameworks, monitoring systems, and observability solutions for AI model performance at scale • Lead compliance initiatives ensuring adherence to ethical AI principles, security standards, and regulatory requirements • Conduct advanced systems analysis and drive operational improvements across AI infrastructure • Establish governance frameworks for AI model lifecycle management
Lead Cross-Functional Collaboration
Partner with AI researchers, senior engineering leadership, design, and product teams to translate AI capabilities into market-leading applications • Drive optimization of AI system performance across multiple dimensions including latency, resource usage, cost efficiency, and user experience • Lead strategic initiatives for application feature enhancements through advanced AI capabilities • Influence product strategy through deep technical expertise and market understanding
About You
You are a fit for the position of Lead Software Engineer, AI if your background includes:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience; Master's degree preferred • 8+ years of experience in software engineering with at least 4 years in senior or lead roles focused on AI/ML
Experienced with Generative AI/RAG/LLM
Experience in areas such as: leading solution discovery for various planning and teams, Architecture, Agentic tools, Evaluations, Deployment, Lifecycle of Solution, Metrics
Expert-level proficiency in Python and extensive experience with AI/ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX)
Deep understanding of machine learning principles, advanced evaluation methodologies, and distributed system design
Proven experience with MLOps/LLMOps and managing the complete lifecycle of enterprise AI-powered applications
Demonstrated expertise integrating AI models into large-scale production systems using APIs, data pipelines, and cloud-native architectures
Advanced experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform)
Strong leadership experience driving technical initiatives
Excellent strategic thinking, problem-solving skills, and ability to operate effectively in complex, fast-paced environments
Outstanding communication and presentation skills with experience influencing senior stakeholders
Experience leading teams in building AI-driven systems, agent-based architectures, or enterprise integrations with AI APIs from providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and others
Advanced knowledge of vector databases, embeddings, semantic search, and information retrieval systems
Domain expertise in legal, tax, accounting, or other regulated industries
Track record of successful AI product launches and scaling AI systems to enterprise customers
Portfolio demonstrating leadership in innovative LLM-based solutions and AI product development
Experience with AI governance, model risk management, and regulatory compliance
Publications, patents, or speaking experience in AI/ML domains
#LI-GK1
This posting is for proactive recruitment purposes and may be used to fill current openings or future vacancies within our organization.What’s in it For You?
Hybrid Work Model: We’ve adopted a flexible hybrid working environment (2-3 days a week in the office depending on the role) for our office-based roles while delivering a seamless experience that is digitally and physically connected.
Flexibility & Work-Life Balance: Flex My Way is a set of supportive workplace policies designed to help manage personal and professional responsibilities, whether caring for family, giving back to the community, or finding time to refresh and reset. This builds upon our flexible work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year, empowering employees to achieve a better work-life balance.
Career Development and Growth: By fostering a culture of continuous learning and skill development, we prepare our talent to tackle tomorrow’s challenges and deliver real-world solutions. Our Grow My Way programming and skills-first approach ensures you have the tools and knowledge to grow, lead, and thrive in an AI-enabled future.
Industry Competitive Benefits: We offer comprehensive benefit plans to include flexible vacation, two company-wide Mental Health Days off, access to the Headspace app, retirement savings, tuition reimbursement, employee incentive programs, and resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.
Culture: Globally recognized, award-winning reputation for inclusion and belonging, flexibility, work-life balance, and more. We live by our values: Obsess over our Customers, Compete to Win, Challenge (Y)our Thinking, Act Fast / Learn Fast, and Stronger Together.
Social Impact: Make an impact in your community with our Social Impact Institute. We offer employees two paid volunteer days off annually and opportunities to get involved with pro-bono consulting projects and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.
Making a Real-World Impact: We are one of the few companies globally that helps its customers pursue justice, truth, and transparency. Together, with the professionals and institutions we serve, we help uphold the rule of law, turn the wheels of commerce, catch bad actors, report the facts, and provide trusted, unbiased information to people all over the world.
Our use of AI within the recruitment process Thomson Reuters utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our global recruitment process. Unless you opt-out, our AI system will assess the information provided by you and compare it to the requirements listed for the role, and present the result to our recruitment personnel for further review. The AI system acts as a supporting tool, but there is always a human making the decision if you will be considered for the role
Thomson Reuters complies with local laws that require upfront disclosure of the expected pay range for a position. The base compensation range varies across locations. For Ontario, Canada, the base compensation range for this role is $140,000 CAD - $175,000 CAD. Base pay is positioned within the range based on several factors including an individual’s knowledge, skills and experience with consideration given to internal equity. Base pay is one part of a comprehensive Total Reward program which also includes flexible and supportive benefits and other wellbeing programs. This role may also be eligible for an Annual Bonus based on a combination of enterprise and individual performance.About Us
Thomson Reuters informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. We serve professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Our products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news.
We are powered by the talents of 26,000 employees across more than 70 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.
As a global business, we rely on the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all employees to deliver on our business goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer providing a drug-free workplace.
We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law. More information on requesting an accommodation here.
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More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on thomsonreuters.com