The CTO or Founding Engineer for Theo Ai will guide the technical strategy while working closely with the founders and product lead to align strategic goals. We are looking for an individual that has had experience working at an early stage company or is excited to be part of the earliest stages of company building.
About Theo Ai
At Theo Ai, we’re creating the world’s first legal prediction engine to forecast the outcome of your legal dispute.
Today, when you want to understand a lawsuit, whether it be one you’re filing or has been filed against you, there is no way to access a product that gives you your odds of success and range of potential award or damages.
We are building two key products: (1) a first of its kind data set on legal settlements and disputes which include using LLMs for data reconstruction and federated learning and (2) building a state-of-the-art prediction algorithm to forecast outcomes and provide factors in increasing success.
The company was co-founded by Alex Alben (Professor at UCLA Law and Stanford JD) and Patrick Ip (ex-Google and UCLA Law MLS). You would join the company in our earliest stages and would get access to our world class investors, advisors, and existing technical team. For more on our existing team, please visit our website: www.theoai.ai
How We’ll Help Your Succeed
As our first technical hire, you won’t be starting completely from scratch. Here’s what we have today to help you succeed at your role:
- You’ll get to work and partner with our existing technical and AI/ML team that includes three PhDs, Product Manager, two designers (brand and product), a full stack engineer, a data scientist, and AI/ML engineer.
- You’ll be advised and work in partnership with leading technical advisors including Merhawi Tamrat, Director of Knowledge at Google, and Jon Koehmstedt, Engineering Lead at Meta.
- Partner closely with both co-founders on understanding the legal use-case, research, and “secret sauce.”
- Design with leading law firms and legal companies looking to leverage new technologies.
What You’d Be Working On
As an early stage employee, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about all aspects of the business. However, the core focus will be to:
- Create an LLM tailored for data reconstruction by analyzing hundreds of legal databases, both structured and unstructured, to develop the Theo Ai data model
- Build an AI-native prediction engine for forecasting legal dispute outcomes
- Build an in-house technical team from the ground up
- Be present in investor and board meetings to provide strategic guidance to key partners
- Present at key client and partner meetings on technology and roadmap
- Set the tone and pace of our engineering and technical culture
What Experience and Attributes Would Be Helpful
For job experience:
- 10+ years overall experience with ideally one or more of the following: worked in the legal space, worked at an early stage company, worked at large or growth company and can demonstrate the ability to size up and down problems
- Product development: Our main framework is Next.js. We expect knowledge in full-stack web development, and managing costs and scalability of an AWS infrastructure
- Data Science: Proficient in evaluating data collection, data quality, and data processing practices, alongside the capability to assess the expertise of founders and technical teams
- Machine Learning and AI: Engineer an AI-native prediction engine at the forefront of technology, leveraging advanced LLM capabilities to forecast legal dispute outcomes with unparalleled accuracy
For attributes:
- Location: We are building the company in the Bay Area, and have strong preference for someone local. We will still consider Remote (US) candidates.
- Travel: There may be travel time-to-time to meet with the teams in-person, client presentations, and investor or key meetings.
Why Work Here
- Company Building: If you’ve ever done a start-up, it is one of the most difficult and rewarding career choices you can make. While we can’t guarantee 100% success, you’d be working with Founders that have either launched or been early at 7 start-ups that have either been acquired, raised substantial money, or gone on to IPO.
- Problem: We’re tackling a difficult problem: (1) structuring and reconstructing fragmented legal data and (2) building a first-of-its kind prediction engine. We believe both of these are immensely valuable and rewarding challenges to solve by using frontier technology and partnering with the brightest people to solve them.
- Culture: Alex and Patrick met at UCLA Law and the roots of the company are based on research, an appetite for constant learning, and making start-up life as rewarding as it can be.
- Life outside work: Patrick is training for an Ironman 70.3 outside of work, Alex still teaches 1x a semester at UCLA Law and actively is on the forefront of AI research, and both spend quality time with family. We believe you’ll do your best work when you can get everything you need to be happy and health.
What We Offer
- Health/Dental/Vision
- 401K
- Paid Time Off: We offer 20 paid days off
- Equity: This role includes a founding level equity stake
- Office: We will subsidize a WeWork membership as needed based on your area
Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $200,000 -- $250,00 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.
How to Apply
If you’re excited about this opportunity, we’d love to hear from you. Please email Patrick at Patrick@theoai.ai with your resume and a brief introduction. We look forward to getting to know you.