Kirkland & Ellis · 7 hours ago
Innovation Data Scientist
New York, NY
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level
$158K/yr - $187K/yr
7+ years expKirkland & Ellis is a leading law firm known for its commitment to legal excellence and innovative solutions. They are seeking an Innovation Data Scientist to design and implement AI and machine learning solutions that enhance legal service delivery and improve business performance.
GovernmentFinanceLegalFinancial ServicesLaw Enforcement
Responsibilities
Translate Legal Workflows into AI Solutions – Lead discovery sessions with attorneys and practice stakeholders to convert end-to-end legal processes into clear data and LLM requirements, measurable success criteria, and evaluation plans aligned to business value
Design and Prototype Intelligent Applications – Build and evaluate AI/ML techniques, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, vector database integrations, and orchestration frameworks to assess feasibility, performance, and scalability
Deliver High-Impact Legal Use Cases – Develop solutions for contract analysis, due diligence review, document summarization, large-scale agreement comparisons, and other practice-driven needs
Establish Evaluation & Governance Frameworks – Define and operationalize production-ready evaluation standards, measuring accuracy, robustness, bias and fairness, hallucinations, and business-aligned performance thresholds with ongoing monitoring
Develop Reusable Assets & Libraries – Create internal libraries, documentation, and repeatable development patterns that enable efficient and scalable AI solution delivery
Collaborate Across Technical & Legal Teams – Partner with embedded data science teams and business stakeholders to align priorities, co-develop solutions, and ensure successful adoption across practice groups
Communicate Insights with Clarity – Present evaluation results, trade-offs, risks, and expected impact in clear, accessible language to non-technical stakeholders, including attorneys and business leaders
Advance Innovation Strategy – Evaluate emerging tools, open-source libraries, and vendor platforms to inform technology strategy, contribute to internal thought leadership, and support firmwide AI enablement initiatives
Mentor & Enable Growth – Support and guide data scientists and engineers, fostering knowledge sharing and strengthening the firm’s AI capabilities
Qualification
Required
bachelor's degree in computer science, statistics, mathematics, engineering, or a related quantitative field
7+ years of experience delivering AI/ML solutions in professional services, financial services, legal, or technical environments
Strong Python skills for data analysis, statistical modeling, and AI/ML prototyping (e.g., pandas, PyTorch, TensorFlow)
advanced SQL proficiency
experience building data pipelines and preparing structured and unstructured datasets
Hands-on experience with AI platforms and tools (e.g., OpenAI, Microsoft Azure OpenAI, Hugging Face, LangFlow, LangChain)
experience with vector databases, retrieval methods for unstructured data, and knowledge-graph-backed applications
Demonstrated experience defining and implementing evaluation frameworks for enterprise AI solutions
familiarity with data visualization tools (e.g., Plotly, Tableau, Microsoft Power BI)
ability to translate complex findings into clear, actionable insights
familiarity with legal use cases such as due diligence, contract review, or legal research
proven ability to mentor peers, collaborate across multidisciplinary teams, and drive adoption of AI solutions at scale
Preferred
advanced degree
experience in a law firm or Microsoft Azure environment
Benefits
Comprehensive healthcare
Paid time off
Retirement
Personal support
Tailored learning and development opportunities
Company
Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis is a law firm that offers a wide range of legal assistance in labor, government, and intellectual property litigation.
5001-10000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Kirkland & Ellis has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (44)
2024 (55)
2023 (27)
2022 (54)
2021 (45)
2020 (26)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageLeadership Team
Erica Berthou
Member of Executive Committee, Partner
H.T. Flanagan
Partner
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