Senior Software Engineer
Discernis
About the role
About Discernis
Discernis builds AI for legal discovery at a scale where general legal AI tools fall apart. When a litigation team needs to know what a group of people knew, and when, across millions of emails, chats, and documents, our platform finds it with the recall attorneys can stake a case on. We deploy in private cloud and fully air-gapped on-prem for AmLaw firms and corporate legal teams.
We're seed-stage and venture-funded, have paying Big Law customers, and have a pipeline of AmLaw firms and Fortune 500 companies lined up for paid pilots and future deals. Industry incumbents are coming to us to integrate. Discovery is our wedge: the bigger goal is helping enterprises understand and act on their largest, messiest datasets. We're a small team based in NYC, and you'd be joining before our next stage of growth.
How we work
We value ownership, curiosity, and shipping. We hire people who teach themselves new things, make good calls without much direction, and care about getting it right for the attorneys who depend on us. We work hard at a sustainable pace, without crunch culture or arbitrary deadlines.
The role
You'll be working closely with our Head of Engineering, responsible for shipping, planning, and code review together. This is a high-leverage engineering role. We want someone we can hand a major system to and trust completely.
What you'll do
Own the architecture and roadmap for your area, then ship it
Review code and set engineering standards with our Head of Engineering
Plan sprints, scope projects, and make build-vs-buy calls
Work directly with customers to understand what's breaking and why
Help interview and mentor as the team grows
Our stack
Backend: Python
Data and search: PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, at multi-million-document scale
Deployment: Kubernetes (K3s), private cloud, and air-gapped on-prem
Frontend: Vue
What we're looking for
4+ years shipping production systems, ideally at big tech, at multiple startups, or both
You've owned a system end to end, from design through on-call.
You operate with very little direction and still make good calls.
You hold strong, well-reasoned opinions on architecture and can be talked out of them.
When you apply, please include one link to something you've built or owned.
Nice to have
Document processing or distributed data pipelines
On-prem or air-gapped deployment
LLM-powered applications in production
Our process
A call with our founder
A technical deep dive with our Head of Engineering
An architecture session on a real problem
Why Discernis
Real ownership in a clean codebase with solid CI and fast shipping velocity
Direct work with the founder and with customers
Meaningful equity with a 4-year vest and 1-year cliff
Health insurance
Unlimited PTO plus standard US holidays
If you need an accommodation during the hiring process, email us at admin@discernis.ai.
Responsibilities
- Own the architecture, roadmap, and delivery of a major product area
- Review code and establish engineering standards with the Head of Engineering
- Plan sprints, scope projects, and make build-versus-buy decisions
- Work directly with customers to identify and resolve problems
- Help interview and mentor team members
Qualifications
- At least 4 years of experience shipping production systems
- Experience owning a system end to end, from design through on-call
- Ability to work independently and make sound engineering decisions
- Strong, well-reasoned opinions on software architecture
- Include a link to something you have built or owned when applying
- Nice to have: experience with document processing, distributed data pipelines, on-premises or air-gapped deployments, or production LLM applications
Benefits
- Meaningful equity with a 4-year vesting schedule and 1-year cliff
- Health insurance
- Unlimited PTO and standard US holidays