Software Engineer Lead (Hybrid)

• 8+ years of software engineering experience with progressive technical leadership.
• Deep database design - relational schema architecture, migrations, indexing, SQL fluency. PostgreSQL preferred.
• Full-stack development - strong backend (Python/FastAPI or equivalent), frontend (React, NextJS preferred, or equivalent). You'll build the operational workbench frontend from scratch. Clean, testable, production-grade code.
• AI/ML integration experience - you build the production systems around models: serving endpoints, workflow orchestration, structured LLM output, confidence scoring. You don't train models - you make them useful.
• Document processing or OCR pipelines - layout analysis, structured text extraction, document understanding. The extraction pipeline starts with a layout parser.
• Workflow system design - claim/lock patterns, status transitions, multi-stage review. Core to the operational workbench.
• Cross-functional and distributed team leadership - you've driven delivery across time zones, functions, and skill sets. You plan and manage delivery with PMs, BAs, and stakeholders.
• Cloud platform experience - GCP preferred (Cloud SQL, Cloud Run, BigQuery). AWS or Azure transfers. Comfortable coordinating with enterprise infrastructure, network, and security teams.
• Bachelor's degree in CS or related field, or equivalent experience.

• Agentic AI experience - designing or building multi-step AI workflows where models plan, execute, and evaluate autonomously.
• UI component libraries and state management - MaterialUI (or similar design system), Redux, Zustand, or equivalent.
• Containerization - Docker, Kubernetes, or similar.
• Observability - OpenTelemetry, structured logging, drift detection.
• LLM orchestration or RAG architecture - LangChain, vector databases, or similar.

You don't need to check every box. If this role excites you and you bring most of what's listed above, we want to hear from you.

• Builder's mindset - energized by new problems where no playbook exists.
• Deeply AI-fluent - you use AI tools daily to accelerate your work and push those around you to do the same.
• Operationally fluent - you sit in workflow reviews, absorb the domain, ask the right questions, and translate what you learn into system design. You make complex technical work legible to non-technical teammates.
• Ownership - you see the gap, scope the solution, and ship it.
• Curious and always learning - you stay current not because you're told to, but because you can't help it.
• Strategic and scalable thinker - you evaluate trade-offs and choose approaches that scale and last.
• Mentor by default - you make the people around you better through code review, architecture discussions, and explaining your reasoning out loud.

• Lead technical delivery of the full-stack platform - frontend, backend, data infrastructure, AI-integrated workflows. You set architecture patterns, connect the pieces, and ensure the team ships reliably.
• Bring operational fluency to system design - partner with program leadership and operational teams to understand workflows, identify gaps, and translate that into software that transforms how work gets done.
• Design and build the data layer - production schemas that track every field from raw document extraction through derivation and normalization, with full audit trail. Configuration-driven, so changes propagate without code rewrites.
• Integrate AI/ML workflows - structured LLM output, model serving, provenance tracking, evaluation infrastructure, and feedback loops that drive continuous improvement.

• You'll stay hands-on. This is a building role, not a meetings role. Majority of your time: writing code and designing systems.
• You'll build from zero. Not maintain, not optimize - build an AI-native platform that has never existed in this industry.
• You'll have real ownership. One of the first engineers on a small, growing team. Direct access to leadership. Architecture, tooling, direction - you shape it.
• You'll work on a problem that's genuinely hard. Complex documents, thousands of sources, tribal knowledge that's never been codified. Real engineering, real AI integration, real judgment.
• You'll work at massive scale - backed by a Fortune 500. First American is one of the largest title insurance companies in the U.S. Enterprise stability, real data, real investment - with the autonomy to move.
• You'll use AI the way it should be used. This team doesn't just build AI - we use AI to build. If you're measurably more productive with AI tooling, you'll fit right in.
• You'll grow with what you build. This team is early. The engineers who define the technical foundation will lead as the organization scales.

• Hybrid: 3 days/week on-site, Santa Ana, CA.
• Benefits: Health, Dental, Vision, 401K Match.

First American will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with arrest or conviction records, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws (e.g., the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act).

First American intends to conduct a review of an applicant's criminal history in connection with a conditional offer. First American reasonably believes that a criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following material job duties for this position potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment: handling of confidential, proprietary or trade secret information belonging to First American or its customers, administrating or facilitating financial transactions, and the ability to meet customer-imposed criminal history requirements.