AI Devops Architect

Build your big career with the firm that does Big Law, Better. McDermott Will & Schulte is a leading global law firm that brings together more than 1,750 lawyers and 1,400 business professionals. We celebrate excellence, collaboration, and community and have been recognized as a top workplace by USA Today, Fortune, The American Lawyer, Vault and others. We are also certified by Great Place to Work.

At McDermott, we don't just invest in your future, we accelerate your career - wherever it may lead. That includes supporting you both in and outside of the office.

With us, you'll find:

• A firm where everyone belongs: Our award-winning culture prioritizes warmth and authenticity - we encourage you to be yourself!

• Enthusiasm for all perspectives: We're smarter and stronger when everyone has a voice and a seat at the table. We welcome unique viewpoints and ideas, and we make opportunities for you and your career to thrive.

• Support to feel your best and do your best: Wellness is integral to building a successful career and a rich life. That's why our benefits program supports your physical, emotional, mental, and financial health, with an emphasis on work-life balance.

• Real rewards for real work: We offer generous compensation packages that recognize hard work and excellence.

Job Description:

McDermott, Will & Schulte LLP is building one of the most ambitious AI programs in the legal industry - and the infrastructure beneath it needs to be architected to match. The AI Dev/Ops Architect is the senior technical authority for how AI solutions are deployed and operated at MWS - owning the CI/CD pipeline architecture, setting the deployment standards every solution must meet, and ensuring new solutions reach production reliably. This is an architecture leadership role: define how things get built, set the bar, and hold the team to it.

WHY MWS

• Define the architecture for an AI program that is genuinely among the most ambitious in the legal industry

• Senior technical leadership role - define the pipeline architecture for an entirely new category of legal AI tools

• Work with frontier AI platforms at enterprise scale, with executive sponsorship and real investment

• Remote-first, high-caliber technical team that takes production quality seriously

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Design and own the CI/CD pipeline architecture for the AI Solutions Delivery team - defining baseline standards, deployment patterns, quality gates, and rollback procedures that all AI solutions must follow

• Onboard new AI solutions into the production pipeline - working with analysts and the QA team to ensure each solution meets architectural standards before go-live, and that its pipeline integration is repeatable and maintainable

• Own and evolve the Azure DevOps infrastructure underpinning the firm's AI program, including pipeline configuration, environment management, release strategies, and monitoring and alerting standards

• Define and enforce deployment governance standards - branching strategies, environment promotion rules, configuration management, and infrastructure-as-code practices across the delivery team

• Partner with the firm's security team to ensure all pipeline and deployment architecture aligns with security requirements - translating security guidance into concrete pipeline design decisions

• Conduct pipeline and infrastructure reviews of solutions built by the delivery team, providing authoritative guidance and ensuring adherence to firm standards before production deployment

WHAT YOU BRING

• 8+ years of experience in solutions architecture, cloud infrastructure, or DevOps engineering, with demonstrated leadership in defining and governing technical standards

• Deep expertise in Microsoft Azure- Azure Container Apps, Azure DevOps, Azure API Management, and Azure Monitor; Azure certifications strongly preferred

• Proven experience designing enterprise CI/CD pipelines- YAML authoring, multi-stage releases, branching strategies, deployment gates, environment management, and rollback procedures

• Working knowledge of AI/ML infrastructure patterns- LLM API integration, token management, prompt caching, and the operational characteristics of AI-powered applications

• Exceptional ability to communicate complex architecture decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences - you can present an architecture review to a managing partner as clearly as to an engineer

• Demonstrated track record of establishing and enforcing technical standards across a delivery team without direct management authority

• BS in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent demonstrated experience

Preferred

• Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools (Bicep, Terraform, or ARM templates) for Azure environment management

• Familiarity with AI-specific deployment considerations - model versioning, prompt configuration management, and LLM API integration patterns in production

• Exposure to container orchestration and Azure Container Apps for deploying AI-powered microservices

• Experience working alongside a dedicated security team to translate security requirements into pipeline and deployment design

#LI-JL1 #LI-Hybrid

Successful candidates will be provided with outstanding career opportunities and will receive a competitive total rewards package with the opportunity to earn performance-based bonuses.

Target Hiring Range $158,000 - $246,000

Please note that quoted salary ranges are not guarantees of what final salary offers may be. Base pay is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and geographic location. Base pay is only one part of the Total Rewards that MWE provides to compensate and recognize our staff professionals for their work. Full time positions are eligible for a discretionary bonus and a comprehensive benefits package.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical Demands:

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit, use hands, reach with hands and arms, stoop, talk and hear

• Employee must occasionally lift up to twenty (20) pounds

Work Environment:

Typical indoor office environment

Disclaimer:

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by people within this classification. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employees assigned to this job.