Legal Engineer

Let’s face it, a company whose mission is human transformation better have some fresh thinking about the employer/employee relationship. 

We do. We can’t cram it all in here, but you’ll start noticing it from the first interview. 

Even our candidate experience is different. And when you get an offer from us (and accept it), you get way more than a paycheck. You get a personal BetterUp Coach, a development plan, a trained and coached manager, the most amazing team you’ve ever met (yes, each with their own personal BetterUp Coach), and most importantly, work that matters. 

This makes for a remarkably focused and fulfilling work experience. Frankly, it’s not for everyone. But for people with fire in their belly, it’s a game-changing, career-defining, soul-lifting move.

Join us and we promise you the most intense and fulfilling years of your career, doing life-changing work in a fun, inventive, soulful culture. 

If that sounds exciting—and the job description below feels like a fit—we really should start talking.

We are a hybrid company with a focus on in-person collaboration when necessary. Employees are expected to be available to work from one of our office hubs at least two days per week, or eight days per month. Our US hub locations include: Austin, TX; New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; and the Arlington, VA metro area. Please ensure you can realistically commit to this structure before applying.

About our Legal Team

BetterUp’s Legal Team acts as talented lawyers, strategic partners, ethical advisors, and innovators. We help BetterUp navigate complex, cutting-edge legal challenges—including novel issues in AI and emerging technologies—with clarity, creativity, and a deep sense of responsibility aligned with our core values: Courage, Craftspersonship, Playfulness, Grit, Empathy, and Zest.

We proactively collaborate with all BetterUp teams to thoughtfully assess new products and technologies from ideation to launch. We analyze potential legal and safety risks, develop robust regulatory compliance strategies, and lead governance initiatives to maintain our commitment to ethical innovation.

By consistently demonstrating courage and grit, we tackle complex issues head-on, helping BetterUp teams make informed, values-driven decisions. We apply meticulous craftspersonship to scale our legal operations, designing innovative processes and structures that empower our teams to move quickly, responsibly, and confidently.

We deeply value diverse perspectives, knowing they fuel our ability to navigate challenges creatively, deliver exceptional guidance, and support BetterUp’s mission to help individuals worldwide live with greater clarity, purpose, and passion.

The Opportunity

We're seeking a Legal Engineer to architect and build the AI-native legal function of the future. This role goes beyond contract automation—you'll methodically examine every aspect of legal operations, identify AI transformation opportunities, and rapidly ship solutions that redefine what's possible for a legal team.

You'll report directly to our General Counsel with a dotted line to Engineering, giving you both the strategic mandate and technical infrastructure to push the boundaries of legal technology.

The Legal Mission

Transform how legal work gets done. Start with the obvious wins—contract automation, AI-powered intake, self-service tools. Then push into uncharted territory: AI agents handling complex legal reasoning, predictive risk assessment, multi-agent workflows. Your MVPs will ship in days, evolve into production systems, and eventually become the industry benchmark for what AI can do in legal.

This isn't incremental improvement. It's rebuilding legal operations from first principles with AI at the center.

What You'll Actually Do

• Map legal workflows. Identify AI opportunities. Build prototypes. Ship to production. Measure impact. Repeat.

• Your first 90 days: Automate contract routing based on risk parameters. Build AI intake that understands urgency. Deploy GPT-powered self-service tools.

• Your first year: Create AI agents that draft legal responses. Implement predictive analytics for risk. Build natural language interfaces for policy questions. Establish systems that learn from every decision.

• The end state: Legal operates at 10x capacity without adding headcount. 80% of routine work runs autonomously. BetterUp becomes the case study for AI transformation in legal.

Requirements

• 6-10 years shipping production software with recent AI/ML implementation experience

• Deep expertise in API development, system integration, and workflow automation

• Fluency in Python and JavaScript/TypeScript

• Track record of building reliable systems where accuracy is non-negotiable

• Ability to ship MVPs in days that evolve into production-grade systems

• Direct stakeholder engagement without product management layers

• Vision for how LLMs and AI agents can transform manual workflows

• Pride in code that's both innovative and bulletproof

• Bonus: Experience with Ironclad, DocuSign CLM, or enterprise CLM platforms

• Bonus: Background in regulated environments where bugs have real consequences

Why This Role, Why Now

Our General Counsel has a clear vision for an AI-native legal function and the budget to build it. You'll have access to the same AI infrastructure our product engineering teams use, plus their technical mentorship. You'll define what "AI-native legal" means in practice and build systems that become industry benchmarks.

The environment: Small, high-trust team. Ship to production quickly. Freedom to experiment with the expectation of transformational results. Direct line to a GC who will rigorously test your work but also champion your boldest ideas.

Success looks like legal team capacity increased 10x, millions in contract value processed autonomously, and recognition as a leader in legal AI transformation.

AI at BetterUp

Our team thrives at the intersection of human expertise and AI capability. As an AI-forward company, adaptation and continuous learning are part of our daily work. We're looking for teammates who are excited to evolve alongside technology – people who experiment boldly, share their discoveries openly, and help define best practices for AI-augmented work. These professionals thoughtfully integrate AI into their work to deliver exceptional results while maintaining the human judgment and creativity that drives real innovation. During our interview process, you’ll have opportunities to showcase how you harness AI to learn, iterate, and amplify your impact.

Benefits: 

At BetterUp, we are committed to living out our mission every day and that starts with providing benefits that allow our employees to care for themselves, support their families, and give back to their community. 

• Access to BetterUp coaching; one for you and one for a friend or family member 

• A competitive compensation plan with opportunity for advancement

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance

• Flexible paid time off

• Per year: 

  • All federal/statutory holidays observed

  • 4 BetterUp Inner Workdays (https://www.betterup.co/inner-work)

  • 5 Volunteer Days to give back

  • Learning and Development stipend

  • Company wide Summer & Winter breaks

• Year-round charitable contribution of your choice on behalf of BetterUp

• 401(k) self contribution

We are dedicated to building diverse teams that fuel an authentic workplace and sense of belonging for each and every employee. We know applying for a job can be intimidating, please don’t hesitate to reach out — we encourage everyone interested in joining us to apply.

BetterUp Inc. provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetics, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status. In addition to federal law requirements, BetterUp Inc. complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

At BetterUp, we compensate our employees fairly for their work. Base salary is determined by job-related experience, education/training, residence location, as well as market indicators. The range below is representative of base salary only and does not include equity, sales bonus plans (when applicable) and benefits. This range may be modified in the future.

The base salary ranges for this role are:

Zone A (SF/NY): $195,000 - $268,400

Zone B (Austin, Chicago, D.C.): $170,000 - $233,200

Protecting your privacy and treating your personal information with care is very important to us, and central to the entire BetterUp family. By submitting your application, you acknowledge that your personal information will be processed in accordance with our Applicant Privacy Notice. If you have any questions about the privacy of your personal information or your rights with regards to your personal information, please reach out to [email protected]

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