Senior AI Software Engineer Jobs in Illinois
Senior AI Software Engineer jobs in Illinois are among the most actively recruited technology roles in the Midwest, concentrated in enterprise software, financial technology, healthcare analytics, and cloud infrastructure. Chicago leads hiring volume, with significant activity in Schaumburg and Champaign-Urbana, where major employers including Motorola Solutions, Allstate, and Tempus have built lasting AI engineering teams. The most in-demand specialties are large language model integration, MLOps, and computer vision applied to regulated industries. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Posting Type
Hybrid/Remote
Job Overview
WHO WE ARERelativity is a leading legal data intelligence company building technology that helps users organize data, discover the truth, and act on it with confidence. Our AI-powered, cloud platform, RelativityOne, transforms massive volumes of complex information into actionable insights for litigation, investigations, regulatory inquiries, data breach responses, and other high-stakes legal work where accuracy and trust are crucial.
The world’s largest law firms, corporations, and government agencies rely on Relativity’s legal AI software to securely surface and manage the most relevant and impactful information in their matters. Beyond our commercial impact, we are committed to expanding access to technology and supporting pro bono legal work.
WHAT WE DO
Gavel is a Microsoft Word-native agentic surface where lawyers perform real-time, evidence-based document editing and drafting. Gavel operates as a small, founder-led team within Relativity, with product and engineering led directly by Dorna Moini and Pierre Martin.
Job Description and Requirements
ABOUT THE ROLE
This role offers an opportunity to grow as a full-stack AI engineer on a small team that ships agents to lawyers weekly. You will work alongside the engineers who built Gavel from the ground up and gain direct exposure to the founders. You will begin with well-defined features across the stack and grow toward end-to-end ownership of agentic features.
This Advanced Software Engineer role is designed for an early-career to mid-level engineer ready to grow quickly. The role reports to a Lead or Staff Engineer on Gavel at Relativity and may be based remotely in the United States or in Seattle or Chicago.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
Build features across the full stack of Gavel Exec, including agent tools, prompt and context changes, services and API endpoints, and front-end work in the Word add-in and web app.
Write and extend evaluations, run them, and learn to interpret the results. Ship changes behind feature flags and monitor production outcomes.
Learn and practice a modern software development lifecycle from day one through small, frequent commits, feature-flagged deployments, fast rollbacks, and best-in-class agentic engineering tools.
Fix bugs, improve reliability, and add tests while developing an understanding of how agentic systems fail.
Pair with Senior and Lead engineers on design and code reviews. Ask questions and document what you learn so others can benefit.
Take on increasingly ambiguous problems as you demonstrate readiness.
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR
Required
2+ years of professional software development experience or equivalent demonstrated ability, such as a strong open-source track record , a shipped product, or substantial internship experience.
Working proficiency in at least one of TypeScript or Python, plus hands-on experience building full-stack web applications with a front end such as React, services, and a relational database using SQL.
Hands-on experience building an agentic solution with LLMs, even at a small scale, such as an agent, a retrieval-augmented generation application, or a tool-using assistant. Ability to explain system prompts, tool calls, embeddings, and common failure points.
Basic familiarity with cloud services such as AWS, Azure, or GCP, containers, and CI/CD.
Strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and writing clean, tested code.
Curiosity about how lawyers work and the humility to learn from acceptance data when an initial idea does not perform as expected.
Clear written and spoken English and a preference for simple solutions over clever ones.
WHY WE COULD BE A GREAT FIT
Impactful Mission
Build systems that help customers organize data, discover the truth, and act on it in high-stakes legal matters.
Engineering at Scale
Work on distributed, cloud-native systems that process large volumes of data.
Cutting-Edge Technology
Build with AI, cloud platforms, and scalable architectures shaping legal tech.
Growth and Ownership
Gain experience owning systems end-to-end across cloud and distributed environments.
Collaborative Culture
Work in a team focused on knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
Inclusive Environment
Diverse perspectives create stronger teams and better outcomes.
Compensation and Benefits
Competitive salary, benefits, DTO, parental leave, and equity program .
Relativity is committed to competitive, fair, and equitable compensation practices.
This position is eligible for total compensation which includes a competitive base salary, an annual performance bonus, and long-term incentives.
The expected salary range for this role is between following values:
$103,000 and $155,000The final offered salary will be based on several factors, including but not limited to the candidate's depth of experience, skill set, qualifications, and internal pay equity. Hiring at the top end of the range would not be typical, to allow for future meaningful salary growth in this position.
Required Skills:
Engineering Principle, Hardware Integration, Innovation, Problem Solving, Process Improvements, Quality Assurance (QA), Research and Development, System Designs, Technical Documents, TroubleshootingSee All 30 Senior AI Software Engineer Jobs in Illinois
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Find JobsSenior AI Software Engineer Jobs by City in Illinois
Where Illinois roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Senior AI Software Engineer Job Market in Illinois
A snapshot from current Illinois openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring



Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
What Illinois Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in senior AI software engineer jobs across Illinois.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, AI, or a closely related field
- Five or more years of production experience building and deploying machine learning models
- Proficiency in Python and at least one major ML framework such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
- Demonstrated experience with MLOps pipelines, model monitoring, and cloud platforms
- Strong background in LLM fine-tuning, prompt engineering, or generative AI application development
- Ability to lead cross-functional teams and mentor junior engineers on AI best practices
Senior AI Software Engineer Jobs in Illinois: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a senior ai software engineer in Illinois?
Reaching the senior level as an AI software engineer in Illinois typically requires a bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, machine learning, or a related field, followed by several years building production AI systems. Illinois does not require a state-issued license for software engineers. Most Illinois employers promote to senior roles based on demonstrated ownership of end-to-end model development, leadership on technical projects, and depth in a domain like fintech, healthtech, or enterprise automation.
How much do senior AI software engineers make in Illinois?
Senior AI software engineers in Illinois earn a median of about $132,110 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $80,980 for the lowest 10% to over $194,740 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire senior ai software engineers in Illinois?
Employers hiring senior ai software engineers in Illinois right now include Relativity, Fitch, and Northern Trust, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. Illinois's concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters, regional financial institutions, and established healthtech companies means senior AI roles tend to appear across a broad range of industries rather than clustering solely in pure tech startups.
Which Illinois cities have the most senior ai software engineer jobs?
Chicago, Illinois, and Niles have the most senior ai software engineer openings in Illinois. Chicago dominates because of its density of financial services firms, enterprise tech companies, and healthcare systems with large AI investment, while suburban markets like Schaumburg and Deerfield carry demand from major corporate campuses, and Champaign-Urbana draws on its proximity to the University of Illinois's deep research talent pipeline.
Are there remote senior ai software engineer jobs in Illinois?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 100% of senior ai software engineer openings tied to Illinois are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, reflecting how naturally the role lends itself to distributed collaboration. Research-heavy work such as model development, experimentation, and architecture design tends to be the most remote-friendly, while roles requiring on-site data access or collaboration with regulated operations more often require a hybrid or in-office presence.
How can I get hired as a senior ai software engineer in Illinois with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is through a junior or associate machine learning engineer role, where you build production experience before moving toward senior positions. Large Illinois employers such as Allstate and Discover run rotational technology programs and new-graduate hiring tracks that accept candidates with strong academic projects or open-source contributions in lieu of full work experience. Lateral moves from data analyst or software developer roles are also common, and a portfolio demonstrating end-to-end model deployment gives candidates a meaningful edge during screening.
Where can I find and apply to senior ai software engineer jobs in Illinois?
You can find and apply to senior ai software engineer jobs in Illinois on Migrate Mate, which lists current Illinois openings updated regularly. Search the listings, find roles that match your experience and preferred location or work arrangement, and apply directly to each employer.
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