Senior Software Engineer [Chicago Only]

Senior Software Engineer - [Chicago Only]

Who We Are

At 8th Light, we bring life to the best ideas.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Chicago, we are a technology solutions provider that partners with organizations to solve meaningful challenges and drive sustainable growth. From early-stage startups to global enterprises, we work across industries to optimize our clients’ digital products through product strategy innovation, experiential design, AI solutions, and deep engineering expertise.

Our commitment to quality means we deliver solutions we’re truly proud of, while our curiosity sparks innovation and breakthrough thinking. 8th Lights thrive in an environment that champions continuous education, fueling our growth through mentorship and hands-on work. We foster an open and collaborative culture grounded in honesty that builds trust, and believe true success is measured by the outcomes we create for our clients.

If this kind of work and our kind of people energizes you, you’ve found the right place.

Who You Are

You’ve shown repeated success on a variety of projects, typically over the course of 4+ years. You have a broad range of expertise that allows you to make an immediate impact on projects. In your previous experience, you have:

• Successfully contributed to high-stakes consulting engagements from discovery to production


• Written production-quality code using a variety of languages and frameworks, that include: Python, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Ruby, Scala, R, SQL, and Go


• Built high-quality, maintainable software collaboratively, incrementally, and through an approach tailored towards the unique needs of the clients you’ve served


• Leveraged AI-assistive development tools for tasks like scaffolding, refactoring, debugging, test generation, and documentation, where appropriate


• Experience building or integrating AI/ML-powered features into products or systems (e.g., recommendation engines, NLP models, computer vision, predictive analytics)


• Used context-appropriate automated testing to inform software design choices and catch bugs


• Debugged and refactored pre-existing code to incrementally improve it


• Collaborated with teams using Git, MacOS/Linux, and CI/CD


• Remedied architecture-level concerns such as scalability, security, reliability, and performance


• Contributed to forums that encourage idea sharing, collaboration, and problem solving


• Made thoughtful recommendations and set direction in the face of ambiguity


• Mentored and shared knowledge with colleagues


• Actively sought out and effectively given feedback


• Communicated empathically with stakeholders and colleagues


• Influenced stakeholders to balance technical considerations with product and user needs

What You’ll Do At 8th Light

As a senior technologist on projects, you’ll work with a variety of clients, typically one to two in a year, through a variety of technologies and frameworks over the course of your career with us. You’ll work with colleagues who share your passion for technology solutions. You’ll invest time developing your skills and sharing what you know. You’ll be responsible for:

• Making immediate contributions to projects, rapidly building trust with your clients and team


• Working pragmatically to balance technology choices while delivering high-quality work within deadlines


• Contributing to architecture and software design discussions


• Collaborating on systems that involve the full ML lifecycle from data ingestion and preprocessing, to model deployment, integration, and performance monitoring


• Generating new potential solutions to challenges (technical and non-technical) in partnership with team members and clients


• Contributing to formal feedback conversations with teams and clients via retrospectives


• Clearly articulating and documenting outcomes and driving forward action items


• Regular syncs with your delivery team to provide status updates, and for identifying and evaluating risks and presenting potential solutions


• Identifying, mitigating, and resolving blockers to team progress


• Pursuing opportunities to further your skills to grow your career and keep pace with the rapid changes within the technology industry


• Contributing to your team culture by building connections with your fellow 8th Lights, showing up on camera, and leveraging collaboration opportunities, such as coworking spaces and local team gatherings, where appropriate


• Confidently predicting the next World Series Win for the Chicago White Sox.

Strongly Preferred Skills

We work across many areas, and encourage anyone with the experience listed above to apply. We would particularly like to encourage applicants with experience in the following areas:

• MLOps: including tools like LangChain for application development and managing the ML lifecycle


• Data Engineering: including platforms like Databricks for data processing and analytics


• DevSecOps & DevOps


• Infrastructure as Code

Building a truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace is an ongoing journey, and we’re excited to keep learning and growing together. We have a proud tradition of hiring talented colleagues with real-world career experiences.

How You’ll be Supported

At 8th Light, we believe our people are our greatest asset. Their growth, well-being, and success shape our future.

Our wellness package is designed with the Whole YOU in mind and includes:

• A robust L&D program featuring unlimited access to thousands of books, courses, and expert-led training on the O'Reilly learning platform


• Coworking support for our global team


• Flexible PTO


• 12 weeks of new parent leave available for eligible employees


• Transparent semi-annual promotion panel

See our full list of Benefits .

A Note on Compensation

At 8th Light, we are committed to a compensation philosophy that is transparent, fair, and helps us attract and retain top talent in alignment with our company’s strategic growth goals and clients’ needs.

We benchmark our salaries using Geographic Structures to establish competitive pay ranges within the regions where 8th Lights live. Our pay ranges for our Senior Engineer position within Chicago, Illinois is:

• $104,160-$130,200 USD

Reach out to [email protected] for more relevant information pertaining to your local market.

8th Light Hubs and Geographies

As a remote-first company, 8th Light's culture is rooted in strong connections that extend across our teams, regions, and beyond client work. We are a distributed team across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, with hubs in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle.

If you are hired into a hub, you will be a part of a team with regular rituals around co-working and community building. For team members outside of those cities, we offer access to coworking spaces to foster continued collaboration and connection across our global team.

In most cases, our consulting engagements do not require travel.

We hope to see you apply!

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