Manager / Senior Manager, AI R&D

At Factor, we take a discovery-led approach to the adoption and implementation of generative AI. We've investing in our R&D capabilities to build "0-to-1" native generative AI accelerators that aim to augment our delivery teams, transform our core contracting services portfolio, and unlock value for our clients. 

The Factor R&D team takes a deep, exploration-oriented approach to ensuring that solutions deployed for production use are reliable, accurate, and useful. We're a small group, and entire pursuits/projects are typically worked on by individual contributors, with open dialogue and collaboration encouraged to facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas/approaches and distribute workloads. We provide access to leading AI code generation capabilities and tools to help speed up research, experimentation, and development, with the ability to provide additional resources if warranted. 

We've leveraged everything from React and TypeScript/JavaScript for front-end and Python for the back-end for work in the past, but also utilize Office add-ins and more basic Streamlit interfaces where it makes sense. We have even built some prototypes entirely using custom GPTs! Most of the team haven't mastered all these technologies, and we recognize that. But we also believe that it is entirely possible to learn through action and execution, as it has been our lived experience. The R&D team consists of a mix of talent, some with technical software development experience, and others without, but we are all capable of getting technical when we need to. We use the stack that makes sense for each endeavour, driven primarily by usefulness to our teams and clients. 

Full disclosure: we are not set up like a traditional development organization and tend to steer away from introducing more structure than absolutely necessary. This is obviously a trade-off, but we find that this allows us to iterate quickly and fail fast, which ultimately leads to better execution. We see this as core to our culture, which favours individuals who are comfortable with uncertainty to a degree (we tend to pivot quickly when things don’t work) and able to adapt easily.

If you believe that you do your best work within a traditional multi-layered product organization with clear separation of responsibilities across product, UX, development, and engineering, this opportunity may not be the right fit for you. However, if you think you’d thrive in an environment that incentivizes exploration and favours the ability to learn and iterate quickly, then we’d love to chat.

Responsibilities:

• Leadership & Strategy
• Mentor a team of AI engineers, fostering their technical growth and career development
•  Aid in the definition and execution of the technical strategy for AI R&D initiatives
• Drive innovation while ensuring alignment with business objectives and client needs
• Manage resource allocation and capacity planning across multiple projects
• Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, including senior leadership and clients




• Technical Direction 
• Oversee and manage the development of full-stack AI accelerators and AI-powered capabilities
• Guide the evaluation and adoption of emerging AI technologies and methodologies
• Establish technical standards and best practices for AI development
• Drive decisions on technical stack evolution and technology adoption
• Lead the integration of cutting-edge AI capabilities across the technology stack
• Drive experimentation and prototyping of new AI solutions
• Foster collaboration between R&D and delivery teams
• Guide the evolution of our AI architecture and infrastructure




• Program Management
• Oversee multiple concurrent AI R&D initiatives and ensure successful delivery
• Establish project governance frameworks while maintaining agility
• Manage program budgets and resource allocation
• Track and report on key metrics and OKRs
• Balance innovation with practical delivery needs

Essential Criteria:

• 8+ years of software development experience, with at least 1 year focusing on AI/ML, with an emphasis on production use cases for generative AI based solutions.
• 3+ years of people management experience, leading technical teams
• Advanced understanding of generative AI, LLMs, and adjacent tools/frameworks
• Proficiency in React, TypeScript/JavaScript, Python, and modern development practices
• Proven track record of delivering complex technology solutions at scale
• Deep expertise in AI prompting techniques, fine-tuning, and deployment strategies
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms (Azure) and infrastructure at scale
• Advanced knowledge of DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with technical program management and project management methodologies
• Outstanding communication and leadership skills
• Track record of building and mentoring high-performing technical teams

Desired Criteria:

• Experience scaling AI solutions in enterprise environments
• Advanced knowledge of security practices including OAuth 2.0 and authentication at scale
• Expertise in containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Experience with AI solutions in the legal tech or contract management space
• Significant contributions to open-source projects or research publications
• Experience presenting to executive stakeholders and clients

Additional Information

As a member of an ISO Compliant center, the candidate will be required to follow the policies and procedures on Information Security Management System in place at the Center of Excellence and globally at Factor. As a member of the Factor team, the applicant will have access to various company and client assets and will be required to maintain the level of security as identified for each asset.

Factor is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

For more, visit: factor.law