AI Data Engineer Jobs in Illinois
AI Data Engineer jobs in Illinois are in strong demand, concentrated in financial services, healthcare technology, logistics, and enterprise software, with openings ranging from entry-level data pipeline roles through senior machine learning infrastructure positions. Chicago anchors the market, while Downers Grove and Schaumburg contribute meaningful activity through corporate headquarters and technology centers. Well-known Illinois employers actively hiring ai data engineers include Allstate, United Airlines, and Discover Financial Services. The most sought-after specialties in Illinois listings are LLM pipeline development, MLOps, and cloud-native data architecture. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Essential Responsibilities
- Partner with AI Strategy leadership to convert prioritized AI opportunities into executable roadmaps, workstreams, milestones, resource plans, and delivery plans.
- Establish and manage the operating framework for AI SBU initiative intake, planning, sequencing, dependency management, execution governance, and delivery reporting.
- Lead day-to-day AI SBU operations, including planning, decision tracking, resource coordination, process improvement and leadership priorities.
- Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Data Engineering, Application Development, Infrastructure, and Information Security teams to translate AI priorities into technical requirements and support high-level solution architectures.
- Define end-to-end solution, including data flows, integrations, technology dependencies, control, implementation, and operational support models.
- Serve as the primary liaison between the AI SBU and technology delivery teams, ensure clear ownership, coordinated execution, and alignment with priorities.
- Lead cross-functional planning, design, and execution sessions involving business stakeholders, technology teams, vendors, and governance functions.
- Identify potential challenges and risks associated with change initiatives and develop mitigation strategies.
- Facilitate cross-functional evaluation of solution alternatives, bringing together the appropriate architecture and engineering leaders to assess feasibility, scalability, technology fit, integration complexity, operational readiness, implementation risk, and build-versus-buy considerations.
- Drive AI initiatives from planning through implementation, adoption, operationalization, and post-implementation measurement ensuring alignment with the business outcome.
- Manage portfolio-level risks, issues, dependencies, resource constraints, and delivery conflicts; escalate decisions requiring leadership action.
- Provide executive-level visibility into delivery progress, milestones, risks, resource needs, trade-offs, and decisions.
- Partner with AI Governance and internal teams to embed applicable requirements into solution delivery.
- Analyze current processes, identify opportunities for improvement, and implement efficient solutions to optimize the operation of the AI SBU.
- Develop reusable solution patterns, implementation playbooks, governance processes, and reporting to improve speed, consistency, control, and sustainability of AI execution.
Education & Years of Experience
- Minimum - Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Data Science, Business or related
- Preferred - Graduate Degree Business, Information Technology or related
- Minimum - Progressively experience spanning technology program leadership, enterprise delivery, engineering, systems implementation, portfolio management, strategy and operations or related
In Lieu of Education
- 15 Years of Technology program leadership, systems engineering, solution delivery, architecture or related
License/Certifications/Training
- Preferred - Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Preferred - SAFe, Agile, or comparable product-delivery certification
- Preferred - Cloud, engineering, or solution-architecture certification
- Preferred - AI, data, machine-learning, or change-management training
Compensation & Benefits:
Typical hiring range: $149,700.00 to $256,700.00 Annually. Actual compensation will be determined using factors such as experience, skills & knowledge.
Benefits: Alliant provides a benefits package including health care, vision, dental, and 401k with employer match including:
- Annual performance bonus
- Work from home up to 3 days a week
- Paid parental leave
- Employee discount programs
- Time off including paid personal and sick days
- 11 paid holidays
- Education reimbursement
- Note that eligibility and cost of benefits can vary depending on the number of regularly scheduled hours, and job status such as regular full-time, regular part-time, or temporary employment.
Adhere to and ensure compliance of all business transactions with policy and process of the Bank Secrecy Act. Ensures compliance with all applicable state and federal laws, company procedures and policies. Maintains integrity and ethics in all actions and conversations with or regarding credit union members and their accounts; complies with Privacy Act directives.
The responsibilities listed do not contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this position. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/poster) notice from the Department of Labor.
See All 52 AI Data Engineer Jobs in Illinois
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Find AI Data Engineer JobsAI Data Engineer Jobs by City in Illinois
Where Illinois roles are concentrated, by current openings.
AI Data Engineer Job Market in Illinois
A snapshot from current Illinois openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring


Top Industries Hiring
- Consulting & Professional Services
What Illinois Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in AI data engineer jobs across Illinois.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, data science, or a related field
- Proficiency in Python and SQL for building and maintaining AI data pipelines
- Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud
- Hands-on knowledge of machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Scikit-learn
- Familiarity with orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow or Databricks
- Strong communication skills to translate model outputs for non-technical business stakeholders
AI Data Engineer Jobs in Illinois: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a ai data engineer in Illinois?
Becoming an ai data engineer in Illinois starts with a bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, statistics, or a closely related field, though many employers also accept engineering or mathematics backgrounds. Illinois has no state-issued license or registration for this role. Most candidates build their foundation through degree programs at Illinois universities, then strengthen their profile with cloud certifications from AWS, Google, or Microsoft Azure, which Illinois employers frequently list as preferred credentials alongside a portfolio of pipeline or model deployment projects.
How much do AI data engineers make in Illinois?
AI data engineers in Illinois earn a median of about $106,560 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $68,810 for the lowest 10% to over $168,880 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire ai data engineers in Illinois?
Employers hiring ai data engineers in Illinois right now include AbbVie, Logic, and Information Technology Senior Management Forum, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Illinois's concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters in financial services, insurance, and logistics makes it a particularly active market for enterprise-scale AI data engineering roles.
Which Illinois cities have the most ai data engineer jobs?
Chicago, Riverwoods, and North Chicago have the most ai data engineer openings in Illinois. Chicago dominates due to its dense cluster of financial institutions, health systems, and technology firms, while suburban markets like Downers Grove and Schaumburg reflect the large corporate campuses of insurers and manufacturers that have built out significant data and AI teams in the greater metro area.
Are there remote ai data engineer jobs in Illinois?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 100% of ai data engineer openings tied to Illinois are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting the fundamentally desk-based and collaborative-tooling nature of the work. The parts of the role most likely to be fully remote are pipeline development, model monitoring, and data architecture design, while roles requiring close coordination with embedded business teams tend to be hybrid.
How can I get hired as a ai data engineer in Illinois with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is through a data engineering or analytics engineering role at a large Illinois employer, then moving laterally into AI-focused work as you gain pipeline and modeling exposure. Allstate, Discover Financial Services, and Northwestern Mutual all run early-career technology associate programs that place recent graduates into data teams. Building a public portfolio on GitHub that demonstrates ETL pipeline construction, model training workflows, or a deployed ML project gives Illinois hiring managers a concrete alternative to years of experience, and an AWS or Google Cloud certification signals job-ready cloud skills.
Where can I find and apply to ai data engineer jobs in Illinois?
You can find and apply to ai data engineer jobs in Illinois on Migrate Mate, which lists current Illinois openings across Chicago and the broader metro area. Find the roles that fit your background and apply directly through each listing.
See All 52 AI Data Engineer Jobs in Illinois
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