Mid Level Backend Developer Jobs in Illinois (NOW HIRING)

Description

If you’ve been building your skills in SQL, data engineering fundamentals, and mission‑driven development, and you’re ready for work that actually moves the needle, this is the kind of opportunity cleared engineers pursue when they want to grow while making real impact. If you take pride in your craft, enjoy solving meaningful data problems, and want your work to support a mission with visibility at senior levels, you’ll thrive here.

We’re hiring a SQL Engineer to support a high‑visibility, data‑driven application that powers analytics and reporting across the organization. In this role, you’ll write complex queries, shape data for dashboards, ensure data accuracy, and deliver reliable datasets that stakeholders depend on every day. You’ll work closely with dashboard developers and application teams to provide clean, consistent, and easy‑to‑consume data for mission users. Our primary development team operates out of Gaithersburg, MD, but innovation doesn’t stop there. We’re able to support onsite engineers in Alexandria, VA; Aurora, CO; St. Louis, MO; and Tucson, AZ, giving top talent multiple paths to join the mission.

And while the requisition requirements may seem standard fare, the position is not; as it will join a high performing team that is changing the way digital engineering and mission operations intelligence is enabled for our customer. 

Why This Role Stands Out

• High Impact: Your work directly supports a widely used application that drives real-time decision-making
• High Visibility: Partner with engineering teams and key stakeholders across programs
• Career Growth: Expand your expertise in large-scale data systems, performance optimization, and advanced SQL engineering
• Challenging Work: Tackle complex data problems, not routine queries

Essential Responsibilities

• SQL Development: Write complex SQL queries involving joins, aggregations, filtering, subqueries, and window functions to support dashboards
• Data Shaping for Visualization: Structure query outputs in a way that is optimized for dashboard consumption (clear naming, grouping, formatting)
• Dashboard Support: Partner with dashboard developers to define and deliver the data required for visualizations and reporting
• Data Validation: Ensure accuracy, consistency, and completeness of datasets used in dashboards
• Query Performance: Identify inefficient queries and make basic improvements to support responsive dashboards
• Requirements Translation: Translate dashboard and reporting requirements into effective SQL queries

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, or related field with 4–8 years of experience; or Master’s with 2–6 years
• US Citizenship
• Active TS/SCI with ability to successfully pass a Polygraph
• Strong SQL skills, including the ability to write advanced queries (joins, aggregations, subqueries, window functions)
• Experience working with enterprise relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, etc.)
• Background supporting analytics, dashboards, or reporting pipelines
• Comfortable working in Linux‑based environments
• Proven ability to work independently on data‑centric tasks and ensure data quality

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Grafana, Tableau, or similar visualization tools
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines
• Experience working in Agile environments

#MARU

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

About Leidos

Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with 47,000 global employees, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $16.7 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2025. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Pay and Benefits

Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available at www.leidos.com/careers/pay-benefits.

Securing Your Data

Beware of fake employment opportunities using Leidos’ name. Leidos will never ask you to provide payment-related information during any part of the employment application process (i.e., ask you for money), nor will Leidos ever advance money as part of the hiring process (i.e., send you a check or money order before doing any work). Further, Leidos will only communicate with you through emails that are generated by the Leidos.com automated system – never from free commercial services (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) or via WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. If you received an email purporting to be from Leidos that asks for payment-related information or any other personal information (e.g., about you or your previous employer), and you are concerned about its legitimacy, please make us aware immediately by emailing us at LeidosCareersFraud@leidos.com.

If you believe you are the victim of a scam, contact your local law enforcement and report the incident to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.

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