AI Data Scientist

Ashurst Advance Team, Glasgow / London

About Ashurst

Ashurst is a leading progressive global law firm with a rich history spanning more than 200 years. Taking pride in our history, we are now future-focused, having expanded into new technologies and ways of working through our NewLaw division, Ashurst Advance, and our consulting arm. Our in-depth understanding of our clients and commitment to providing excellent standards of service have seen us become a trusted adviser to local and global corporates, financial institutions and governments in all areas of commercial law. To find out more please visit .

Team overview

Ashurst Advance partners with Ashurst's legal and consulting experts to deliver innovative, holistic and commercial solutions to our clients, enhanced by our capabilities across advanced delivery, legal managed services, digital solutions, legal operations and flexible resourcing. Our market leading offering has been globally recognised including:

Band 1 ranking for Law Firm LPO, Alternative Legal Service Providers (Chambers Global, 2021, 2022 and 2023)
Most Innovative Law Firm - APAC & Europe (Financial Times Innovative Law Awards, 2022)
Innovation in Multidisciplinary Teams (Financial Times Innovative Lawyer Awards 2022)
Best Client Service Innovation (The Lawyer Awards 2021)

To find out more please visit https:///en/what-we-do/services/ashurst-advance/.

Job overview

Ashurst Advance Digital is the firm's technology and experience powerhouse. We work with our New Law business to develop differentiated services for our clients, whilst embedding digital as a competency for the whole firm through developing and enabling future-fit tools, capabilities and mindsets. Ashurst Labs is the community within AAD responsible for the firm's experimentation environment, designing, developing and managing digital platforms, products and solutions, together with the curation, ownership and governance of platforms used by AA. It does this through the three disciplines of software development, product management, and data science. Recent work has included creating a digital front door, subscription management and authentication portal for our clients, developing an award-winning cross-border advice tool, and consultancy for the firm and clients on GenAI strategy and governance.

We believe the role offers the right candidate a chance to join a team at an exciting stage of expansion, to see initiatives through from idea to implementation and to shape and drive transformation in a firm committed to outpacing change.

Main Tasks

What will you be doing?

Generative AI tools have the ability to open up the unstructured knowledge and insights within a law firm. We are seeking a talented AI Data Scientist to join our small development team and build advanced AI solutions within Microsoft Azure for our clients and for our people. Your responsibilities will include, but are not limited, to:

AI solution development

Design, develop, and deploy AI capabilities using Microsoft Azure services or M365 applications, including MS AI Foundry, PowerPlatform, and Copilot Studio.

Data analytics

Analyse unstructured legal textual content, such as knowledge, regulations, and agreements, to extract meaningful insights and drive decision making for our clients and internal users in the firm.
Acquisition, creation and management of sample data to build and test AI solutions.

Model and LLM improvement

Specify and develop Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) based solutions to address various legal challenges.
Fine-tune AI models to improve accuracy and performance based on specific legal data requirements.

Collaboration

Working closely with internal stakeholders, services designers and owners, and product managers to understand business requirements and translate them into AI driven outcomes.

Research

Stay updated with the latest AI technologies and methodologies, integrating them into projects where applicable and helping to inform AAD's technology roadmap and strategy.

Essential skills and experience

About you

Technical expertise

Deep understanding of AI And machine learning algorithms, proficient in Azure AI Services, together with the ability to create transformation pipelines for unstructured data.

Analytical skills

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work with unstructured legal textual data. The ability to address technical challenges and provide effective solutions to complex problems.

Communication

Excellent verbal and written communication skills, capable of conveying complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders as well as technical peers.

Adaptability and agility

Proven ability to adapt to changing project requirements and priorities within an iterative agile framework.

Capabilities/ skills we look for:

Must have:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field. A Master's or Ph.D. is preferred.
Minimum of 3 years of experience in AI and data science, with a strong focus on working with unstructured data.
Proficiency in Azure services, including Azure Machine Learning, Azure Cognitive Services, and Azure Databricks.
Expertise in programming languages such as Python, R, SQL, or similar.
Certifications: Azure certifications (e.g., Azure AI Engineer Associate) are highly desirable.
Experience with development tools and methodologies such as Agile, Scrum, and DevOps practices.

Should have:

Knowledge and interest in the evolution and transformation of the legal industry.
Knowledge and interest in data science and analytics.
Ability to absorb large amounts of information and create sense and simplicity.
Confidence and fluency in the language and tools of agile, lean and design
Experience in real-life deployment of GenAI solutions to users and clients.

Could have:

Experience in a technology innovation role at an international law firm.

Won't have:

An aversion to getting hands dirty and training up others in your discipline!

Background checks

In order to comply with regulatory and client requirements, Ashurst will undertake appropriate vetting of staff. When applicants accept a job offer, Ashurst, alongside a specialist provider, will undertake professional verification and background checks. These checks are only undertaken with consent, and in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations

Diversity, Inclusion and Social Impact at our heart

Each of us brings something unique to our world. At Ashurst, we know the power of combining unique perspectives and talent to drive extraordinary solutions and services for our clients. Fostering an environment that is welcoming, inclusive, and respectful of all backgrounds and perspectives is the cornerstone of our values and the foundation of our success. At Ashurst, Inclusion, Diversity, and Belonging (IDB) are at the heart of everything we do. We take diversity seriously, with an established IDB Strategy, representation targets, and six diversity areas with dedicated networks that are focused on actively taking steps to ensure all our people, across all spectrums of diversity, are supported and empowered. To find out more please visit our IDB page. We are also committed to delivering positive impacts to our communities through our Social Impact programme. To find out more please visit our responsible business page.

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