Staff Software Engineer II

This posting is for proactive recruitment purposes and may be used to fill current openings or future vacancies within our organization.

Staff Software Engineer (Full Stack), Forward Engineering

As a Staff Software Engineer (Full Stack) on the Forward Engineering team, you will design and build next-generation web applications that power Thomson Reuters’ transformation toward AI-driven, agent-centric internal workflows. This role prioritizes strong full-stack engineering skills, experience rapidly developing with AI coding tools, open-mindedness to explore new ways of working, product intuition, and the ability to work closely with AI Engineers and internal users to bring modern agent-oriented frontends and backends to life.

About the Role

As a Staff Software Engineer (Full Stack), you will partner with cross-functional teammates to translate business problems into intuitive, efficient applications that seamlessly integrate with evolving AI systems. You’ll play a key role in shaping how TR builds software in an era where applications must intuitively and effectively connect human and machine users - interacting together through goal-driven, adaptive interfaces.

What You’ll Do

1. Build and Architect Agent‑First Applications

Design and develop full‑stack applications grounded in agent‑experience principles, enabling seamless human–AI collaboration through adaptive UIs, flexible task flows, and data‑rich backend services.

2. Architect Scalable Backend & API Systems

Create modular, cloud‑native APIs and backend systems that integrate cleanly with AI‑driven orchestration patterns, supporting efficient agent context management, state handling, and structured tool invocation.

3. Collaborate on Human–AI Interaction Surfaces

Partner closely with AI Engineers to design intuitive application surfaces—across UI, API, and service layers—that reliably expose agent capabilities to end users and developers.

4. Apply Strong Engineering Fundamentals Across the Stack

Leverage expertise in modern frontend and backend ecosystems (e.g., React/Next.js, Vue/Nuxt, Angular, Node.js, Python/FastAPI, Java/Spring, .NET) while ensuring high standards in API design, state management, testing, CI/CD, observability, and performance.

5. Rapidly Prototype and Iterate With Stakeholders

Build fast, exploratory prototypes that test new human–AI interaction models, accelerating learning and informing product direction in close collaboration with business partners.

6. Provide Senior Full‑Stack Technical Leadership

Lead architectural decision‑making, translate business requirements into actionable technical designs, mentor engineers, and elevate engineering best practices across performance, experimentation, and modularity.

7. Drive Cross‑Functional Collaboration and Delivery

Work with business units, product managers, AI Engineers, and domain experts to co‑create solutions, shape project priorities and execution plans, and document architectures for knowledge sharing across the organization.

About You

Required Skills & Experience

• 8+ years of experience as a full-stack software engineer, including ownership of production web applications and APIs.
• Deep experience with at least one modern frontend and backend stack (frameworks, languages, and cloud infrastructure are flexible).
• Strong ability to rapidly learn new technologies and adapt engineering practices to support evolving AI-driven application patterns.
• Familiarity with concepts related to AI-powered systems (e.g., APIs, data flows, model integration), with a willingness to partner closely with AI Engineers.
• Experience designing systems in cloud-native environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and with container/orchestration tools such as Docker or Kubernetes.
• Demonstrated leadership in driving technical initiatives, influencing architecture, and guiding multi-disciplinary teams.
• Excellent communication and problem-solving skills; ability to operate in fast-paced, exploratory environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building prototypes that explore new interaction paradigms between users and AI.
• Knowledge of vector databases, embeddings, semantic search, or agent-tooling patterns (not required but beneficial).
• Exposure to AI governance or understanding of how applications interact with risk-managed AI workflows.

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What’s in it For You?

• Hybrid Work Model: We’ve adopted a flexible hybrid working environment (2-3 days a week in the office depending on the role) for our office-based roles while delivering a seamless experience that is digitally and physically connected.

• Flexibility & Work-Life Balance: Flex My Way is a set of supportive workplace policies designed to help manage personal and professional responsibilities, whether caring for family, giving back to the community, or finding time to refresh and reset. This builds upon our flexible work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year, empowering employees to achieve a better work-life balance.

• Career Development and Growth: By fostering a culture of continuous learning and skill development, we prepare our talent to tackle tomorrow’s challenges and deliver real-world solutions. Our Grow My Way programming and skills-first approach ensures you have the tools and knowledge to grow, lead, and thrive in an AI-enabled future.

• Industry Competitive Benefits: We offer comprehensive benefit plans to include flexible vacation, two company-wide Mental Health Days off, access to the Headspace app, retirement savings, tuition reimbursement, employee incentive programs, and resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.

• Culture: Globally recognized, award-winning reputation for inclusion and belonging, flexibility, work-life balance, and more. We live by our values: Obsess over our Customers, Compete to Win, Challenge (Y)our Thinking, Act Fast / Learn Fast, and Stronger Together.

• Social Impact: Make an impact in your community with our Social Impact Institute. We offer employees two paid volunteer days off annually and opportunities to get involved with pro-bono consulting projects and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.

• Making a Real-World Impact: We are one of the few companies globally that helps its customers pursue justice, truth, and transparency. Together, with the professionals and institutions we serve, we help uphold the rule of law, turn the wheels of commerce, catch bad actors, report the facts, and provide trusted, unbiased information to people all over the world.

Our use of AI within the recruitment process Thomson Reuters utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our global recruitment process. Unless you opt-out, our AI system will assess the information provided by you and compare it to the requirements listed for the role, and present the result to our recruitment personnel for further review. The AI system acts as a supporting tool, but there is always a human making the decision if you will be considered for the role.

In the United States, Thomson Reuters offers a comprehensive benefits package to our employees. Our benefit package includes market competitive health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance programs, as well as a competitive 401k plan with company match. In addition, Thomson Reuters offers market leading work life benefits with competitive vacation, sick and safe paid time off, paid holidays (including two company mental health days off), parental leave, sabbatical leave. These benefits meet or exceeds the requirements of paid time off in accordance with any applicable state or municipal laws. Finally, Thomson Reuters offers the following additional benefits: optional hospital, accident and sickness insurance paid 100% by the employee; optional life and AD&D insurance paid 100% by the employee; Flexible Spending and Health Savings Accounts; fitness reimbursement; access to Employee Assistance Program; Group Legal Identity Theft Protection benefit paid 100% by employee; access to 529 Plan; commuter benefits; Adoption & Surrogacy Assistance; Tuition Reimbursement; and access to Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

Thomson Reuters complies with local laws that require upfront disclosure of the expected pay range for a position. The base compensation range varies across locations. Eligible office location(s) for this role include one or more of the following: New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and/or Irvine, CA; McLean, VA; Washington, DC. The base compensation range for the role in any of those locations is $146,800 USD - $272,600 USD. For any eligible US locations, unless otherwise noted, the base compensation range for this role is $127,400 USD - $236,600 USD. For Ontario, Canada, the base compensation range for this role is $148,800 CAD - $198,800 CAD. Base pay is positioned within the range based on several factors including an individual’s knowledge, skills and experience with consideration given to internal equity. Base pay is one part of a comprehensive Total Reward program which also includes flexible and supportive benefits and other wellbeing programs. This role may also be eligible for an Annual Bonus based on a combination of enterprise and individual performance.

About Us

Thomson Reuters informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. We serve professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Our products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news.

We are powered by the talents of 26,000 employees across more than 70 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.

As a global business, we rely on the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all employees to deliver on our business goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

Thomson Reuters makes reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities, including veterans with disabilities, and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law. If you reside in the United States and require an accommodation in the recruiting process, you may contact our Human Resources Department at [email protected]. Disability accommodations in the recruiting process may include things like a sign language interpreter, making interview rooms accessible, providing assistive technology, or other relevant accommodations. Please note this email is not intended for general recruitment questions and we will promptly respond to inquiries regarding accommodations. More information on requesting an accommodation here.

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More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on thomsonreuters.com