This is a part-time role (25 hours/week) for a 1-month contract
You will join a project-based engagement to deliver a proof of concept for a private legal research and document-editing platform, built to run over a law firm's own files and client records
Confidentiality drives every decision: secure document handling, local infrastructure, and tightly controlled use of cloud-based LLM APIs
The POC will cover 1-2 high-value workflows, to be finalized at kickoff, likely among search and retrieval across a private document collection, AI-assisted legal research, AI-assisted document analysis and editing, supplying relevant document context to an LLM, and a simple, practical web application wrapping these capabilities
The intended architecture is primarily local: a web application running inside the client's environment, documents stored on a NAS, local indexing and search, secure retrieval, and OpenAI and/or Anthropic APIs invoked only with the minimum context required for each response
You will help validate and refine that architecture instead of implementing a predetermined design, and you will operate with a high degree of independence, taking a high-level business objective from a non-technical client and turning it into a working product
The POC succeeds when the client has a functional, secure application demonstrating the core workflow, can test it against representative documents, and has enough confidence to define what gets built next
There is potential for continued development, maintenance, and future upgrades
So, your responsibilities will be:
Own the technical execution of the POC, from requirements through delivery
Design and build the web application supporting the legal research workflow
Implement document ingestion, indexing, search, and retrieval
Integrate LLM APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic) into the application flow
Validate and refine the proposed local/private architecture
Implement security and privacy controls for confidential material
Define what data can and cannot be sent to external APIs
Deploy and document the initial application
Address findings raised in a security-focused code review before delivery
Work directly with the client to capture business requirements
Translate business requirements into practical technical solutions
Help define and prioritize the initial POC scope
Manage development priorities and timeline independently
Report progress and technical decisions directly to the client
5+ years of software development experience
Experience building full-stack web applications
Experience building LLM-powered applications with APIs (e.g. OpenAI, Anthropic)