Software Engineer AI Jobs in Illinois
Software Engineer AI jobs in Illinois are concentrated in Chicago's technology corridor, with strong hiring activity in fintech, healthcare technology, and enterprise software, covering roles from junior AI engineers through principal architects. Chicago, Champaign-Urbana, and the North Shore suburbs anchor the bulk of hiring, with employers such as Morningstar, Discover Financial Services, and Allstate maintaining long-standing AI engineering teams in the state. The most in-demand specialties center on machine learning operations, large language model integration, and AI-driven data pipelines. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Showing 5 of 30+ Software Engineer AI jobs
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, TroubleshootingPosting 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 Software Engineer AI Jobs in Illinois
Find roles in Illinois that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Software Engineer AI JobsSoftware Engineer AI Jobs by City in Illinois
Where Illinois roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Software Engineer AI 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 software engineer AI jobs across Illinois.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, artificial intelligence, or a related field
- Proficiency in Python and experience with machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch
- Hands-on experience building, training, and deploying machine learning or large language models
- Familiarity with cloud platforms, particularly AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud AI services
- Experience with MLOps practices including model versioning, monitoring, and CI/CD pipelines
- Strong background in data structures, algorithms, and software engineering fundamentals
Software Engineer AI Jobs in Illinois: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a software engineer ai in Illinois?
The most direct path is a bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, or a closely related engineering field, followed by hands-on project work in machine learning or AI. Illinois has no state-issued license specific to software engineering, so employers focus on demonstrated technical skills. Completing a graduate program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern, or IIT, or building a strong GitHub portfolio with deployed AI projects, is the clearest way to enter the field competitively in Illinois.
How much do software engineer AIs make in Illinois?
Software engineer AIs 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 software engineer ais in Illinois?
Employers hiring software engineer ais in Illinois right now include Relativity, Fitch, and Northern Trust, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. Chicago's concentration of fintech firms, insurance carriers, and healthcare technology companies means demand runs consistently across both large enterprises and well-funded startups.
Which Illinois cities have the most software engineer ai jobs?
Chicago, Illinois, and Niles have the most software engineer ai openings in Illinois. Chicago drives the majority of listings due to its deep base of financial services, healthcare, and enterprise technology employers, while Champaign-Urbana benefits from proximity to the University of Illinois's research programs, and suburban hubs like Schaumburg and Downers Grove attract roles tied to large corporate campuses in the metro area.
Are there remote software engineer ai jobs in Illinois?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 100% of software engineer ai openings tied to Illinois are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, reflecting the desk-based, collaborative nature of AI engineering work. Model development, experimentation, and code review are the tasks most commonly performed fully remotely, though roles requiring close coordination with data infrastructure or product teams often prefer a hybrid arrangement.
How can I get hired as a software engineer ai in Illinois with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is an associate or new-graduate role on an applied machine learning or data engineering team, often reached through internships at companies like Morningstar, Allstate, or large health systems such as Northwestern Medicine. Contributing to open-source AI projects and completing a recognized certification in machine learning helps bridge the gap. Adjacent roles in data analytics, backend engineering, or QA automation at Illinois tech employers are common lateral moves that lead to AI-focused positions within one to two years.
Where can I find and apply to software engineer ai jobs in Illinois?
You can find and apply to software engineer ai jobs in Illinois on Migrate Mate, which lists current Illinois openings. Search the listings for roles that match your experience and specialization, then apply directly to the ones that fit.
See All 30 Software Engineer AI Jobs in Illinois
Find roles in Illinois that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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