IT Software Engineer 4

Cullerton Group has a new opportunity for an IT Software Engineer 4 – Lead Software Engineer, Emerging Technology. The ideal location is Chicago, IL, with additional opportunities in Peoria, IL; Irving, TX; and Broomfield, CO. The position offers a hybrid work arrangement, with 2–3 days per week onsite in Chicago and office attendance as needed at other locations. Fully remote candidates may also be considered, although future onsite requirements could change. This is a 12-month position that can lead to permanent employment with our client. Compensation is $95 W-2 hourly pay plus full benefits (vision, dental, health insurance, 401k, and holiday pay).

Job Summary

The Lead Software Engineer will serve as a hands-on technical leader within an Emerging Technology team, responsible for designing, developing, piloting, and scaling innovative software solutions that address complex business challenges. This position focuses on transforming emerging technology concepts, including Generative AI, agentic workflows, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and cloud-native services, into secure, scalable, and production-ready applications. The engineer will lead software architecture and development efforts, establish engineering best practices, and mentor other developers while collaborating with product, cybersecurity, data science, and infrastructure teams. The ideal candidate combines strong software engineering expertise, technical leadership, and practical problem-solving skills with an interest in emerging technologies.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture, design, development, integration, and testing of modern software applications, prototypes, pilots, and reusable platform capabilities.
• Evaluate and implement emerging technologies, including Generative AI, agentic workflows, RAG, cloud-native services, APIs, automation, and data-driven application patterns.
• Translate business requirements and product objectives into scalable software architectures, technical roadmaps, implementation plans, and maintainable production solutions.
• Mentor software engineers, conduct technical design reviews, establish engineering standards, and promote best practices in software development, testing, CI/CD, security, and DevOps.
• Collaborate with product managers, architects, data scientists, cybersecurity, UX, infrastructure, and business stakeholders to deliver reliable solutions while defining success criteria, automated testing, monitoring, and production readiness requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline with 8+ years of relevant software engineering experience, or 10+ years of relevant experience without a degree.
• Extensive hands-on experience designing, developing, testing, and deploying complex enterprise applications, distributed systems, APIs, platforms, or cloud-native services.
• Strong proficiency in at least one modern programming language, such as Python, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, C#, or Go.
• Demonstrated experience leading technical work across the complete Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), including requirements gathering, architecture, design, coding, testing, integration, deployment, and maintenance.
• Strong knowledge of software architecture, system design, software integration, and API development.
• Experience designing scalable, secure, observable, and maintainable software using modern architectural patterns and engineering best practices.
• Hands-on experience with automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and production support.
• Working knowledge of cloud platforms, containerization, infrastructure automation, and software integration patterns.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, provide technical direction, review designs, and guide complex engineering initiatives.
• Strong analytical, critical-thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills, including the ability to explain complex technical concepts to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
• Ability to work effectively in fast-paced environments with evolving requirements and emerging technologies.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing or integrating Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), agentic AI systems, RAG pipelines, vector databases, or prompt-based applications.
• Experience taking emerging technology initiatives from proof of concept (POC) through pilot development, production deployment, and operational support.
• Familiarity with responsible AI practices, model evaluation, guardrails, data privacy, cybersecurity, compliance, and enterprise risk management.
• Experience with Kubernetes, microservices, serverless architectures, event-driven systems, API management, observability platforms, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
• Experience establishing reusable software engineering frameworks, design patterns, standards, or development accelerators.
• Proven ability to mentor engineers, influence technical decisions, and collaborate across geographically distributed engineering teams.
• Experience working with product, design, data science, security, architecture, and business stakeholders to deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Advanced degrees or relevant certifications in cloud computing, AI/ML, software architecture, or related technologies.
• Contributions to open-source projects, technical communities, publications, patents, or enterprise innovation initiatives.
• Previous experience supporting enterprise technology initiatives within manufacturing, industrial technology, or large-scale global organizations.

Why This Role?

This position offers an opportunity to lead innovative software engineering initiatives and explore emerging technologies that support a global leader in heavy machinery and manufacturing. You will work on advanced software solutions involving AI, automation, cloud-native architecture, and enterprise platforms while collaborating with experienced technical professionals across multiple disciplines. Cullerton Group provides a professional environment with growth potential, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities to strengthen your technical leadership and emerging technology expertise.