Software Engineer Lead (Hybrid)

Who We AreJoin a team that puts its People First! As a member of First American’s family of companies, Data & Analytics is a national provider of property-centric information, analytics, risk management and valuation solutions. First American maintains and curates the industry’s largest property and ownership dataset with over 7 billion document images. Our major platforms and products include: DataTree®, FraudGuard®, RegsData™, TaxSource™ and ACI®. The First American Data & Analytics division boasts more than 20 patents and remains at the forefront of innovation - leveraging technology and data to deliver best-in-class decisioning solutions. Fueled by our industry-leading data and using our technology and proprietary process, our solutions provide lenders, real estate and title companies with actionable insights - enabling them to make better, increasingly automated, decisions. With offices in all major metropolitan areas, including California and New York, DNA teams work collaboratively from across the country. Since 1889, First American (NYSE: FAF) has held an unwavering belief in its people. They are passionate about what they do, and we are equally passionate about fostering an environment where all feel welcome, supported, and empowered to be innovative and reach their full potential. Our inclusive, people-first culture has earned our company numerous accolades, including being named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® list for eleven consecutive years. We have also earned awards as a best place to work for women, diversity and LGBTQ+ employees, and have been included on more than 50 regional best places to work lists. First American will always strive to be a great place to work, for all. For more information, please visit www.careers.firstam.com.

What We DoBuild the platform that transforms how an entire industry creates its data.
Millions of complex, unstructured documents flow through the American real estate industry every year — and the systems that turn them into usable data haven’t fundamentally changed in decades. First American Data & Analytics is building the AI-powered platform that replaces them — from the ground up. No legacy codebase. You’ll build from scratch.
You’ll lead engineering delivery of the full platform — databases, APIs, operational tooling, AI-integrated workflows — collaborating with AI engineers on how models and infrastructure fit together, and partnering with operational teams to translate real workflows into system design. You own the engineering decisions — architecture, tooling, technical direction. Hands-on role: expect to spend the majority of your time building. Individual contributor with direct access to leadership.

What you bring:

• 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.

Preferred qualifications:

• 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.

Core traits:

• 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.

You will:

• 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.

Why join us:

• 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.

Compensation & Benefits:

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

$172,900 - $198,750 Annually plus annual performance bonus.
This hiring range is a reasonable estimate of the base pay range for this position at the time of posting. Pay is based on a number of factors which may include job-related knowledge, skills, experience, business requirements and geographic location.

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.

What We OfferBy choice, we don’t simply accept individuality – we embrace it, we support it, and we thrive on it! Our People First Culture celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion not simply because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s the key to our success. We are proud to foster an authentic and inclusive workplace For All. You are free and encouraged to bring your entire, unique self to work. First American is an equal opportunity employer in every sense of the term.

Based on eligibility, First American offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401k, PTO/paid sick leave and other great benefits like an employee stock purchase plan.