Applied Research Engineer

Lawhive

Applied Research Engineer developing cutting-edge AI-driven legal solutions in a hybrid environment at Lawhive, a UK-based AI-native law firm.

Posted 5/30/2026full-timeLondon • 🇬🇧 United KingdomMid-LevelSenior💰 £90,000 - £140,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSCloudGoogle Cloud PlatformPython

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Conduct applied research on LLM-based reasoning, multi-agent systems and develop frontier bespoke models for automating legal workflows.
Develop prototypes and experimental models to explore novel AI-driven legal solutions.
Design and implement retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, leveraging embeddings, vector databases, and structured retrieval techniques.
Optimise LLM inference and fine-tuning using techniques such as LoRA, PEFT, prompt engineering, and caching.
Integrate multi-modal and external knowledge sources to enhance AI-driven insights.
Research and implement autonomous agentic AI systems for complex, multi-step legal workflows.
Stay up to date with the latest advancements in model architectures, alignment and interpretability, and orchestrating complex multi-agent systems.
Collaborate with engineers to transition experimental models into production-ready systems.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Strong background in AI research, applied machine learning, and NLP.
Experience with LLM model adaptation, fine-tuning, and inference optimization.
Proficiency in Python, Pydantic, FastAPI, and working with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, etc.).
Understanding of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector databases, embeddings, and structured AI retrieval.
Hands-on experience with LLM-based planning, reasoning, and autonomous task execution.
Familiarity with self-supervised learning, reinforcement learning, or adaptive AI techniques.
Ability to translate academic AI research into practical experiments and working prototypes.
Experience deploying AI models in cloud environments such as AWS/GCP.
MSc or PhD in AI, ML, Computer Science, or a related field.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Meaningful early-stage equity at one of Europe’s fastest growing startups
33 days’ annual leave (25 + bank holidays) plus your birthday off
Work from anywhere for a month
Pension contribution via Nest
Top-spec equipment - MacBook/Windows
Regular team building activities and socials!

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

LLM-based reasoningmulti-agent systemsretrieval-augmented generationembeddingsvector databasesfine-tuningprompt engineeringcachingself-supervised learningreinforcement learning

Soft Skills

collaborationresearchproblem-solvingcommunicationadaptability

Certifications

MSc in AIPhD in AIMSc in MLPhD in MLMSc in Computer SciencePhD in Computer Science