Lead Software Engineer – Emerging Technology (Cloud / AI)

Lead Software Engineer – Emerging Technology (Cloud / AI)

Location: Chicago, IL (Preferred) | Peoria | Irving, TX | Broomfield, CO | Remote US Considered

Work Arrangement: Hybrid / Remote (See details below)

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced, hands-on Lead Software Engineer to design, develop, and deliver innovative enterprise software solutions using modern cloud technologies, APIs, automation, and emerging technologies, including Generative AI.

The ideal candidate combines strong software engineering and architecture expertise with technical leadership skills and the ability to transform innovative concepts into scalable, secure, production-ready applications.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role, not a purely managerial position. The successful candidate will actively contribute to software development and architecture while mentoring engineers and leading technical initiatives.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with a bachelor's degree in a technology-related field, or 10+ years of equivalent experience without a degree.
• Strong hands-on experience designing, developing, testing, and deploying complex enterprise software applications.
• Experience designing scalable applications, distributed systems, APIs, integrations, or cloud-native services.
• Strong proficiency in at least one modern programming language.
• Proven ability to lead technical design, architecture decisions, code reviews, and software development activities.
• Experience across the full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), including architecture, coding, testing, deployment, and support.
• Experience with modern software architecture patterns, REST APIs, automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps practices.
• Working knowledge of cloud computing, containerization, software integration, and production support.
• Experience mentoring engineers and providing technical guidance to development teams.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead architecture, design, development, testing, and deployment of modern enterprise software solutions.
• Develop hands-on prototypes, proof-of-concepts (POCs), pilot applications, and reusable software components.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, including Generative AI, AI agents, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), automation, and cloud-native services.
• Translate business requirements into scalable technical designs, architecture patterns, and implementation plans.
• Provide technical leadership, conduct design reviews, mentor developers, and promote engineering best practices.
• Collaborate with product managers, architects, data scientists, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and business stakeholders.
• Establish technical evaluation criteria, automated testing standards, performance metrics, and production readiness processes.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks related to security, integrations, scalability, and operational reliability.
• Drive innovation while ensuring solutions meet enterprise security, quality, and maintainability standards.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building or integrating Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), AI agents, RAG solutions, or vector databases.
• Experience taking emerging technology solutions from proof of concept through production deployment.
• Experience with AWS, Azure, or other enterprise cloud platforms.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, Docker, microservices, serverless architecture, and event-driven systems.
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code, observability, API management, and application performance monitoring.
• Knowledge of responsible AI, model evaluation, data privacy, cybersecurity, and enterprise governance.
• Experience leading distributed engineering teams and establishing reusable frameworks or engineering standards.
• Relevant cloud, software architecture, or AI/ML certifications.

Work Location & Flexibility

• Chicago, IL is the preferred location, with an expected hybrid schedule of 2–3 days per week onsite.
• Candidates near Peoria, Irving, TX, or Broomfield, CO may have onsite requirements based on business needs.
• Fully remote candidates within the United States will also be considered.
• Office attendance requirements may change, potentially including a full return to office.

Ideal Candidate

We are seeking a senior hands-on software engineer who can also serve as a technical lead.

Successful candidates should demonstrate experience architecting complex applications, writing production-quality code, mentoring developers, and delivering enterprise software solutions.

Experience with Generative AI and emerging technologies is a strong advantage, but proven software engineering expertise, architecture skills, and technical leadership are the primary requirements.

Pay: $55.00 - $60.00 per hour

Expected hours: 40.0 per week

Application Question(s):

• How many years of professional hands-on software engineering experience do you have developing enterprise applications?
• How many years of experience do you have serving as a Technical Lead or Lead Software Engineer, including architecture decisions, code reviews, and mentoring developers?
• How many years of hands-on experience do you have designing and developing cloud-based applications, APIs, or distributed systems?
• How many Generative AI, LLM, RAG, or agentic AI solutions have you personally prototyped, developed, or deployed?
• Briefly describe a complex software solution you personally architected and developed. Include the programming language, cloud platform, architecture, and your technical leadership responsibilities.

Work Location

Hybrid remote in Chicago, IL 60617