Software Engineer

Software Developer – Developer Productivity (Greenfield)

📍 Location: Chicago, IL (In-Office – 110 N Wacker Drive)

💰 Compensation: Highly Competitive Base + Variety Performance Bonus

📅 Contract: Permanent, Full-Time

🛂 Visa Sponsorship: Available for the right candidate (H1B)

About the Opportunity

My client is a Chicago-based proprietary trading firm who are in the middle of one of the most exciting engineering transformations in the financial services industry.

They're rolling out AI-assisted engineering across their development workflow – integrating agents like Claude Code and Codex into daily engineering, building auto-remediation flows, and evaluating new AI-powered developer tools as they emerge across 170+ employees globally.

My client is expanding their engineering team and hiring a Software Developer to build their Developer Productivity function from the ground up. This is a brand-new, greenfield role with zero existing team members (aside from leadership).

What You'll Do

You'll be the one actually building the developer productivity function – owning the full tooling stack, CI/CD pipelines, and automation platforms from scratch. You'll work directly with engineering teams to understand where friction exists and build the platform-level solutions that remove it.

Key responsibilities include:

• Owning the full developer tooling stack – building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, build systems, and automation platforms from scratch
• Integrating AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex) into real engineering workflows – writing shared configurations and skills that scale across engineering
• Optimizing build systems for speed and reliability across a large, fast-growing C++/Python/Java codebase
• Designing deployment pipelines that move code from commit to production safely and quickly
• Automating local development environment setup so engineers are productive from day one
• Building internal CLI tools and starter templates that encode best practices by default
• Working directly with engineering teams to understand and prioritise friction points
• Tracking developer productivity metrics and iterating based on results

What We're Looking For

They want someone who's used to building and owning developer tooling from the ground up – not just maintaining existing systems. They need a hands-on engineer who can take ownership and deliver at an elite level.

You'll ideally have:

• Full working understanding of Python across the language and its ecosystem
• Tangible, project-level working experience with C++ and Java – college coursework does NOT count. C++ is strongly preferred.
• Hands-on experience using AI coding tools or agents (Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot) in a real engineering workflow – including writing skills/configurations. No model training or fine-tuning required.
• Experience building or maintaining developer tooling, CI/CD systems, or build infrastructure at scale
• Strong Linux fundamentals
• Strong communicator – can clearly and eloquently explain the "why, how, what, who it impacted" on a technical project
• Low ego – can work both collaboratively and autonomously
• Elite academic pedigree (MIT, Stanford, CMU, UT Austin, Waterloo, UIUC, etc.) – CS + Math double major, high GPA, Turing Scholar, or similar honours is a massive plus
• Competitive programming background – ICPC, Putnam, USACO, IOI – a huge signal
• Fast promotion trajectory – if coming from Big Tech, must have been promoted quickly (typically within 1 year)

Why Join?

This is a chance to join a business tackling the right problem at the right moment. Most prop shops are still figuring out how to integrate AI into their engineering workflow - my client is already leading the way, and they're looking to accelerate.

You'll work with a team that's genuinely passionate about engineering excellence – improving developer velocity, reducing friction, and using AI to do things that actually matter. They're not just talking about transformation; they're building it.

• Greenfield ownership – build and own the entire developer productivity function from scratch – no legacy systems to maintain
• Elite engineering culture – flat, low-ego team of ICPC/Putnam-calibre engineers where your voice genuinely shapes the roadmap
• Work at the intersection of AI and developer productivity – integrate AI agents into production workflows
• One of the highest P&Ls per head in the industry – the upside flows directly to the team
• Truly collaborative environment – fully open codebase, IP shared, access all areas – unheard of in this industry
• Highly competitive compensation – base well above typical senior ranges + significant performance-based bonus
• Comprehensive benefits – 401k/pension, health/dental/vision, daily meals, generous PTO

If you're an elite engineer passionate about developer productivity, AI-assisted engineering, and building from the ground up – and you're ready to work alongside the best in the industry – I'd love to hear from you.

Apply now or reach out for a confidential chat.