Forward Deployed Engineering Jobs in Illinois

INTRODUCTION

At Gallagher Bassett, we're there when it matters most because helping people through challenging moments is more than just our job, it’s our purpose. Every day, we help clients navigate complexity, support recovery, and deliver outcomes that make a real difference in people’s lives. It takes empathy, precision, and a strong sense of partnership—and that’s exactly what you’ll find here. We’re a team of fast-paced fixers, empathetic experts, and outcomes drivers — people who care deeply about doing the right thing and doing it well. Whether you're managing claims, supporting clients, or improving processes, you’ll play a vital role in helping businesses and individuals move forward with confidence. Here, you’ll be supported by a culture that values teamwork, encourages curiosity, and celebrates the impact of your work. Because when you’re here, you’re part of something bigger. You’re part of a team that shows up, stands together, and leads with purpose.

Overview

We are seeking a Forward Deployed Architect/Engineer a hands-on, high-impact technologist who sits at the intersection of breaking down complex business problems and building real, working solutions using the latest advances in AI-assisted software delivery. This is not a traditional architecture role. You will be embedded directly with business stakeholders, product teams, and claims operations leaders across geographies to rapidly translate unstructured challenges into prototyped, validated, and production-ready solutions that align globally.

How you'll make an impact

The Forward Deployed Architect operates as equal parts solution architect, AI-native builder, business translator, and delivery catalyst. You will own the end-to-end lifecycle from the first whiteboard session with a Resolution Manager to a deployed prototype running in Azure, compressing what used to take months into weeks. You will leverage AI-assisted development tools, agentic workflows, and modern SDLC acceleration patterns to prototype at velocity while maintaining enterprise-grade quality. This role reports to the SVP, Chief Architect and is part of the global Business IT Architecture team.

Responsibilities

• Decompose Complex Business Problems: Embed directly with business leaders, claims operations, product owners, and subject-matter experts to deeply understand unstructured problems, then break them into solvable, architecturally sound components with clear technical paths forward.

• Prototype at Velocity Using AI-Assisted SDLC: Leverage AI-native development tools, agentic coding workflows, and rapid iteration cycles to build working prototypes, not slide decks, that validate hypotheses and demonstrate value within days, not quarters.

• Architect Solutions That Scale Globally: Design prototyped solutions with an enterprise lens, ensuring that what works in a US claims workflow can be adapted and extended across UK, Australian, and other international operations without rearchitecting from scratch. Apply modular, cloud-native, and API-first design patterns that respect regional compliance and data residency requirements.

• Bridge AI Innovation and Business Adoption: Serve as the technical translator between cutting-edge AI capabilities (LLMs, RAG, vector search, multi-agent systems, computer vision) and practical claims, risk management, and operational workflows. Ensure AI isn't just technically interesting, but operationally valuable and adopted by the people doing the work.

• Own End-to-End Delivery of Proof-of-Value Initiatives: Drive solutions from ideation through discovery, data wrangling, integration, deployment, and feedback, operating with startup-like autonomy backed by enterprise resources. Be accountable for measurable outcomes, not just deliverables.

• Accelerate the Architecture Team's AI Fluency: Model and evangelize AI-assisted development practices across the broader architecture and engineering organization. Contribute reusable patterns, reference architectures, and working examples that elevate the team's collective capability.

• Engage Executive Stakeholders with Clarity: Communicate technical decisions, trade-offs, and progress to both technical teams and executive leadership (CIO, CDO, line-of-business leaders), adapting your message to the audience without losing precision.

• Contribute to Architectural Governance: Participate in the Architecture Review Board (ARB), contribute solution architecture artifacts, and ensure prototyped solutions align with enterprise standards, security posture, and the strategic technology roadmap.

ABOUT YOU

REQUIRED

• 8+ years of progressive experience in software architecture, solution architecture, or platform engineering, with a demonstrated ability to both design and build.

• Hands-on fluency with at least two of the following: C#/.NET, Python, TypeScript/JavaScript. This means more than familiarity; it means the ability to produce production-quality code under ambiguity.

• Deep cloud architecture expertise on Microsoft Azure (App Services, Container Apps, Azure AI Services, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Service Bus, APIM) or equivalent hyperscaler.

• Demonstrated experience with AI-assisted software development, including active use of tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf, or similar AI-native IDEs to accelerate delivery.

• Strong working knowledge of AI/ML application patterns: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases (Azure AI Search, Pinecone), LLM integration (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic), prompt engineering, and multi-agent orchestration frameworks (Semantic Kernel, LangChain, AutoGen).

• Proven ability to decompose ambiguous business problems into structured technical approaches without waiting for a 40-page BRD.

• Exceptional communication skills, with comfort leading a whiteboard session with a claims supervisor in the morning and presenting a solution architecture to the CIO in the afternoon.

• Experience working across geographies, including comfort with distributed teams, time zone management, and cultural sensitivity in solution design.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).

PREFERRED

WHAT SETS YOU APART

• Experience in insurance, claims administration, TPA, or risk management, with an understanding of the claims lifecycle, regulatory landscape, and operational workflows considered a significant advantage.

• Prior experience in a Forward Deployed Engineer, field engineer, or customer-embedded technical role, even if it was not formally titled "Forward Deployed."

• Familiarity with AI-enabled SDLC acceleration patterns: intent-driven delivery, MCP-based architectures, context engineering for structured AI reasoning, and autonomous coding agent workflows.

• Track record of shipping prototypes that became products, with examples of work that started as a POC and became a production solution serving real users.

• Experience with DevSecOps pipelines, infrastructure-as-code (Bicep/Terraform), and containerized workloads (Docker, Kubernetes, Azure Container Apps).

• Architectural governance experience, including comfort with TOGAF, C4 model, or equivalent frameworks for documenting and communicating architecture decisions.

• Graduate degree, TOGAF certification, or Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification is a plus.

WORK TRAITS

• Builder mentality, with a default preference for "let me show you" over "let me tell you." You prototype to think.

• High-ambiguity tolerance, with the ability to thrive when requirements are vague, the data is messy, and the timeline is aggressive. You find clarity by building, not by waiting.

• First-principles thinker, with the curiosity to question assumptions, challenge inherited complexity, and ask "why is it done this way?" before accepting the status quo.

• Empathetic operator, with genuine care for the people who will use what you build. You sit with Resolution Managers, understand their pain, and design solutions that respect their expertise.

• Global mindset, with natural consideration for how a solution designed in Rolling Meadows will work in London, Sydney, or Mumbai.

• Intellectual curiosity, with a habit of independently researching the latest in AI tooling, SDLC patterns, and platform engineering because the work is genuinely interesting.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

We offer a competitive and comprehensive compensation package. The base salary range represents the anticipated low end and high end of the range for this position. The actual compensation will be influenced by a wide range of factors including, but not limited to previous experience, education, pay market/geography, complexity or scope, specialized skill set, lines of business/practice area, supply/demand, and scheduled hours. On top of a competitive salary, great teams and exciting career opportunities, we also offer a wide range of benefits.

Below are the minimum core benefits you’ll get, depending on your job level these benefits may improve:

• Medical/dental/vision plans, which start from day one!
• Life and accident insurance
• 401(K) and Roth options
• Tax-advantaged accounts (HSA, FSA)
• Educational expense reimbursement
• Paid parental leave

Other benefits include:

• Digital mental health services (Talkspace)
• Flexible work hours (availability varies by office and job function)
• Training programs
• Gallagher Thrive program – elevating your health through challenges, workshops and digital fitness programs for your overall wellbeing
• Charitable matching gift program
• And more...

The benefits summary above applies to fulltime positions. If you are not applying for a fulltime position, details about benefits will be provided during the selection process.

We value inclusion and diversity

Inclusion and diversity (I&D) is a core part of our business, and it’s embedded into the fabric of our organization. For more than 95 years, Gallagher has led with a commitment to sustainability and to support the communities where we live and work.

Gallagher embraces our employees’ diverse identities, experiences and talents, allowing us to better serve our clients and communities. We see inclusion as a conscious commitment and diversity as a vital strength. By embracing diversity in all its forms, we live out The Gallagher Way to its fullest.

Gallagher believes that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunity and prohibits any form of discrimination by its managers, employees, vendors or customers based on race, color, religion, creed, gender (including pregnancy status), sexual orientation, gender identity (which includes transgender and other gender non-conforming individuals), gender expression, hair expression, marital status, parental status, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition, genetic information, veteran or military status, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected (herein referred to as “protected characteristics”) by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

Equal employment opportunity will be extended in all aspects of the employer-employee relationship, including, but not limited to, recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, transfer, demotion, compensation, benefits, layoff, and termination. In addition, Gallagher will make reasonable accommodations to known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified person with a disability, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business.