Senior AI Developer

About Ropes & Gray

Ropes & Gray is a preeminent global law firm. The firm has been ranked in the top three on The American Lawyer's prestigious A-List for eight consecutive years and #1 on Law.com's UK A-List twice in the past three years - rankings that honor the "best of the best" law firms. The firm has approximately 2,500 lawyers and professionals serving clients in major centers of business, finance, technology, and government in Boston, Chicago, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.The firm has consistently been recognized for its leading practices in many areas, including asset management, private equity, M&A, finance, real estate, tax, antitrust, life sciences, health care, intellectual property, litigation & enforcement, privacy & cybersecurity, and business restructuring. Ropes & Gray is an equal opportunity employer.

Overview

The Senior Applications Developer is responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining intelligent, AI-enhanced web and database solutions within the Microsoft ecosystem, primarily using C#, JavaScript, and modern AI frameworks and services. This developer should be passionate about coding and emerging AI technologies, thrive on solving complex business challenges through innovative approaches—including AI-driven automation and agentic workflows—and be able to manage multiple concurrent priorities spanning new AI-powered software development as well as applications maintenance and support.

Individual must have a strong technical foundation in both traditional software engineering and modern AI development practices, including prompt engineering, AI agent orchestration, and the integration of large language models into enterprise applications. A full understanding of common coding standards, design patterns, configuration management, and full life cycle systems development is essential.

Individual plays a critical role on a high-performing Application Development team that is actively embracing AI to transform how the firm builds and delivers software. The team works effectively across Information Services and with the business stakeholders we serve. Should have the ability to present complex technical information—including AI concepts and capabilities—to a wide range of audiences, be a fast learner of rapidly evolving AI technologies, be a creative thinker, share skills and information freely, and be able to mentor and train other developers on AI-assisted development practices. Effective communication skills a must.

Responsibilities

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Develop and support maintainable, scalable, efficient, and effective solutions—including AI-powered features and intelligent automation—that contribute to and adhere to architecture and application framework standards and good coding practices across multiple solution patterns.
• Design, build, and maintain AI agents and copilot experiences using Microsoft Copilot Studio and related AI orchestration platforms, integrating them into existing business workflows and applications.
• Leverage agentic coding tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, and similar AI-assisted development environments to accelerate development velocity, improve code quality, and establish best practices for AI-augmented software engineering across the team.
• Evaluate, prototype, and integrate AI services—including Azure OpenAI Services, large language models, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) patterns, and semantic search—into enterprise applications to deliver measurable business value.
• Prepare technical specifications, design documentation, code walk-throughs, test plans, and documentation of completed code, including documentation of AI model configurations, prompt templates, and agent behavior specifications.
• Make quality a priority by thoroughly unit testing and integration testing code—including AI component validation and prompt regression testing—before releasing it to QA and Production.
• Collaborate effectively and willingly with all IS departments, business and QA analysts, project managers, business stakeholders, and vendors. Help define requirements and explain the capabilities and limitations of various systems, including the responsible and effective use of AI technologies.
• Review requirements documentation thoroughly and confirm requirements with solutions architect and business analyst before work begins. Raise concerns and identify gaps in requirements, particularly as they relate to AI feasibility, data readiness, and ethical considerations.
• Stay current with the rapidly evolving AI landscape, proactively identifying opportunities to apply new AI tools, models, and techniques to improve firm operations and client service delivery.
• Perform other job-related duties as necessary.

Qualifications

ESSENTIAL CAPABILITIES:

• Must demonstrate the ability to maintain strict confidentiality of the firm's internal, client, and personnel affairs
• Excellent listening skills and written and oral communication skills, including effective presentation skills
• Must be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment and be able to handle multiple projects at the same time
• Must be able to re-prioritize work to keep up with the needs of the business
• Self-starter and good collaborator with ability to work individually and within a team environment
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal
• Ability to work effectively in a culturally and educationally diverse environment
• Willingness to work additional hours when needed
• Strong intellectual curiosity about AI and a passion for exploring how emerging technologies can solve real business problems

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS REQUIRED:

• Must have a solid knowledge of Web Application Architecture and Design Patterns
• 5+ years application development experience using Microsoft .NET (.NET Core; .NET Framework also acceptable) with C#, ASP.NET Core, and SQL Server
• 2+ years’ experience building and consuming REST APIs
• 2+ years’ experience in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS
• 2+ years hands-on experience with AI technologies, including prompt engineering, AI agent development, and integration of large language models (LLMs) into production applications
• Proficiency with agentic coding tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor) and a track record of using AI-assisted development to improve productivity and code quality
• Experience designing and implementing retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures, including working with vector databases (e.g., SQL Server 2025, Azure AI Search, Pinecone, Qdrant) and semantic search techniques
• Familiarity with AI orchestration frameworks (e.g., Microsoft Agent Framework, Semantic Kernel, LangGraph, AutoGen) for building multi-step, agentic workflows
• Demonstrated expertise with Microsoft Copilot Studio, including building, configuring, and deploying custom copilots and AI agents within the Microsoft 365 and Power Platform ecosystem
• Experience with Microsoft Azure AI services, including Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Search, and cloud-hosted AI application patterns
• Experience with application data encryption; .NET Data Protection a plus
• Experience leveraging mobile-native capabilities using web technologies a plus
• Experience with cache servers, web sockets, service workers, and backplanes a plus
• Understanding of responsible AI principles, including bias mitigation, transparency, and data governance as they apply to enterprise AI deployments
• Exposure to secure coding practices and enterprise compliance requirements, particularly as they relate to AI data handling and privacy, a plus
• Prior exposure to and support of the legal industry a plus
• Proven experience with troubleshooting principles, methodologies, and issue resolution techniques

Compensation and Total Rewards Package

Ropes & Gray is proud to offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package to our business support team members. The firm also offers comprehensive health and well-being benefits, personal and professional development, career growth opportunities and a collegial and supportive culture. The anticipated pay range for this role is listed below and represents our good faith and reasonable estimate of the starting salary range at the time of posting. In addition, this role is eligible for a discretionary bonus based on performance. The actual offered rate for this position will be determined based on job-related, non-discriminatory factors, including qualifications and experience, geographic location, education, external market data and consideration of internal equity.

New York: $127,900 - $195,000

Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC: $117,200 - $178,700

Silicon Valley & San Francisco: $133,200 - $203,100

Working Conditions

This position is fully remote. The first week of employment will be in person for training, and attendance at quarterly in-person meetings will be required.