1

Founding Backend Engineer Jobs in Illinois (NOW HIRING)

Forward Deployed Engineer

Chicago, IL · On-site

$100K - $200K/yr

... Engineer on our founding team. This is where the rubber meets the road. You'll be the bridge ... Full-stack builder mindset - comfortable moving between backend APIs and frontend interfaces

Founding Sr. Software Engineer

Chicago, IL · On-site

$126K - $166K/yr

... founding engineer capacity, owning product initiatives end-to-end and helping shape both the ... Full-stack experience with backend systems such as Python, Django, Go, or similar. * Proven ability ...

Founding Sr. Software Engineer

Elk Grove Village, IL · Hybrid

$120K - $159K/yr

... founding engineer capacity, owning product initiatives end-to-end and helping shape both the ... Full-stack experience with backend systems such as Python, Django, Go, or similar. * Proven ability ...

Founding Sr. Software Engineer

Elk Grove Village, IL · Hybrid

$120K - $159K/yr

... founding engineer capacity, owning product initiatives end-to-end and helping shape both the ... Full-stack experience with backend systems such as Python, Django, Go, or similar. * Proven ability ...

Frontend Engineer

Chicago, IL · On-site

$150K - $180K/yr

You'll work directly with the CTO and founding engineers, moving from rough product idea to shipped ... Collaborate closely with backend engineers to make sure the front end accurately represents ...

AI-Native Product Engineer

Chicago, IL · On-site +1

$120K - $149K/yr

This person should operate less like a ticket-based contractor and more like a founding engineer ... Make thoughtful architecture decisions across data models, APIs, frontend architecture, backend ...

Software Engineer

Chicago, IL · On-site

$150K - $225K/yr

The Founding Team Isaac Chambers * 3x founder * Started his career at Deloitte Consulting, focusing ... and back-end * Experience with modern, open-source tech (Typescript, React, Next.js, GraphQL ...

As our second Founding FDE, you'll own implementations end to end: technical onboarding, data ... You'll contribute features and improvements across our Python backend and TypeScript/React frontend ...

Engineer, Software

Chicago, IL · On-site

$185K - $225K/yr

Strong backend proficiency in Python or Node.js; fluent in designing and maintaining scalable APIs ... Background at an AI-native company or in a product-focused founding environment * Experience in ...

This is a high-ownership, founding-level role on our growing NYC team. You'll shape how AI shows up ... Own the full stack: frontend, backend, data, model integration, and the glue in between. * Stand up ...

Founding Backend Engineer information

What are popular job titles related to Founding Backend Engineer jobs in Illinois? For Founding Backend Engineer jobs in Illinois, the most frequently searched job titles are:
What cities in Illinois are hiring for Founding Backend Engineer jobs? Cities in Illinois with the most Founding Backend Engineer job openings:
Infographic showing various Founding Backend Engineer job openings in Illinois as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 92% Full Time, 2% Part Time, and 6% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution.

Backend Engineer-Python

Tidal Financial Group

Oak Brook, IL • On-site

Full-time

This job post has expired today. Applications are no longer accepted.


Job description

The Tidal Financial Group is a leading ETF investment technology platform dedicated to creating, operating, and growing ETFs. We combine expertise and innovative partnership approaches to offer comprehensive, value-generating ETF solutions.
Our platform offers best-in-class strategic guidance, product planning, trust and fund services, legal support, operations support, marketing and research, and sales and distribution services.
About the role:
This is a backend-focused role building production services in Python, with JavaScript/Node across the wider stack for front-ends and micro-services. As Tidal invests in Python as a primary backend language, you'll be a founding voice in the practice- setting the patterns, standing up the services, and helping the team grow.
Your work is the backend for the platforms and products our engineering group is buildingacross the firm. This is real, regulated financial software, where correctness, auditability, and clarity matter as much as speed.
What you'll do:
  • Design, build, and operate production Python services - clean APIs, sound data models, and sensible async - that other teams and systems depend on.
  • Own the backend for major platform projects and stand up new services as the business grows.
  • Model and query data in PostgreSQL, and design APIs that are secure and easy to build on.
  • Pair with Node/JavaScript front-ends and micro-services across the stack.
  • Work AI-native - use AI fluently across design, prototyping, implementation, and review, and help raise the bar for how the whole team works.
  • Set the standard for a young Python codebase: testing, CI, code review, and the conventions others will follow.
  • Partner with product and compliance to turn regulated, real-money requirements into software people trust.

Qualifications:
  • 5+ years building and running production backend services (not just scripts), with the judgment to make architecture calls and keep a codebase healthy.
  • Deep Python expertise across web services, data access, and asynchronous work.
  • Strong PostgreSQL and relational data modeling.
  • Solid API design and security - authn/authz, input validation, and safe handling of sensitive data.
  • Strong JavaScript / Node - comfortable across front-end integration, micro-services,and the glue between systems.
  • Fluent using AI in design and development. You already design, build, and review with AI tools and have judgment about where they help and where they don't - central to how we work.
  • Sound engineering fundamentals: testing, CI/CD, observability, and code review as habits.

Preferred skills:
  • ETF or asset-management domain knowledge.
  • Market-data platforms (e.g., Bloomberg).
  • AWS, containers, and infrastructure-as-code.
  • Snowflake or other data-warehouse and pipeline experience (Parquet/DuckDB a plus).
  • TypeScript/React on the front end.