hackajob is collaborating with 8th Light to connect them with exceptional tech professionals for this role.

Who We Are

At 8th Light, we bring life to the best ideas.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Chicago, we are a technology solutions provider that partners with organizations to solve meaningful challenges and drive sustainable growth. From early-stage startups to global enterprises, we work across industries to optimize our clients digital products through product strategy innovation, experiential design, AI solutions, and deep engineering expertise.

Our commitment to quality means we deliver solutions we re truly proud of, while our curiosity sparks innovation and breakthrough thinking. 8th Lights thrive in an environment that champions continuous education, fueling our growth through mentorship and hands-on work. We foster an open, collaborative culture grounded in honesty that builds trust, and believe true success is measured by the outcomes we create for our clients.

If this kind of work and our kind of people energizes you, you ve found the right place.

Who You Are

You ve shown long-term repeated success on a variety of projects, typically over the course of 7+ years. You can be the go-to leader for any software development engagement. You have a broad and deep range of expertise that allows you to make an immediate impact on projects. In your previous experience, you have:

Successfully led high-stakes consulting engagements from discovery to production
Built high-quality, maintainable software collaboratively, incrementally, and through an approach tailored towards the unique needs of the clients you ve served
Written production-quality code in the following languages: Python, Java, Javascript, and React
Leveraged AI-assistive development tools for tasks like scaffolding, refactoring, debugging, test generation, and documentation
Experience building or integrating AI/ML-powered features into products or systems (e.g., recommendation engines, NLP models, computer vision, predictive analytics)
Used context-appropriate automated testing to inform software design choices and catch bugs
Debugged and refactored pre-existing code to incrementally improve it
Collaborated with teams using Git, MacOS/Linux, and CI/CD
Remedied architecture-level concerns such as scalability, security, reliability, and performance
Brought together people from different functions and perspectives in forums that encourage idea sharing, collaboration, and problem solving
Made thoughtful recommendations and set direction in the face of ambiguity
Mentored and shared knowledge with colleagues
Actively sought out and effectively given feedback
Communicated empathically with stakeholders and colleagues
Collaboratively led stakeholders to balance technical considerations with product and user needs

What You ll Do At 8th Light

Skills

As a lead technologist on projects, you ll work with a variety of clients, typically one to two in a year, through a variety of technologies and frameworks over the course of your career with us. You ll lead more complicated projects, leading teams to do so. You ll work with colleagues who share your passion for technology solutions. You ll invest time developing your skills and sharing what you know. You ll be responsible for:

Making immediate contributions to projects, rapidly building trust with clients
Working pragmatically to balance technology choices while delivering high-quality work within deadlines
Leading architecture and software design discussions
Collaborating on systems that involve the full ML lifecycle from data ingestion and preprocessing, to model deployment, integration, and performance monitoring
Generating new potential solutions to challenges (technical and non-technical) in partnership with team members and clients
Leading or initiating formal feedback conversations with teams and clients via retrospectives
Clearly articulating and documenting outcomes and driving forward action items
Contributing to the health of your team and 8th Light s culture by modeling our Values
Ensuring your team has a healthy, prioritized, estimated backlog
Managing high-level project roadmaps as the team lead for large engagements
Maintaining relationships with client technical leaders
Regular syncs with the client to provide status updates, and for identifying and evaluating risks and presenting potential solutions
Identifying, mitigating, and resolving blockers to team progress
Contributing to 8th Light by serving as a mentor, leading or designing workshops internally or for clients, representing 8th Light in the tech community, or supporting our hiring processes

Strongly Preferred Skills

We Work Across Many Areas, And Encourage Anyone With The Experience Listed Above To Apply. We Would Particularly Like To Encourage Applicants With Experience In The Following Areas

DevSecOps & DevOps
MLOps
Infrastructure as Code
Data Engineering

Building a truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace is an ongoing journey, and we re excited to keep learning and growing together. We have a proud tradition of hiring talented colleagues with real-world career experiences.

How You Ll Be Supported

At 8th Light, we believe our people are our greatest asset. Their growth, well-being, and success shape our future.

Our wellness package is designed with the Whole YOU in mind and includes:

A robust L&D program featuring unlimited access to thousands of books, courses, and expert-led training on the O'Reilly learning platform.
Annual financial stipend and time allotment for learning & development
Coworking support for our global team
Flexible PTO
Wellness days
12 weeks of new parent leave available for eligible employees
Transparent semi-annual promotion panel

See our full list of Benefits .

A Note On Compensation

At 8th Light, we are committed to a compensation philosophy that is transparent, fair, and helps us attract and retain top talent in alignment with our company s strategic growth goals and clients needs.

We Benchmark Our Salaries Using Geographic Structures To Establish Competitive Pay Ranges Within The Regions Where 8th Lights Live. Our Pay Ranges For Our Lead Engineer Position Within Our Four US Structures Are As Follows

Structure 1 (Tampa Metro, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin) RANGE: $126,279-$157,849 USD
Structure 2 (Chicago Metro, Miami Metro, Philadelphia Metro, Raleigh Metro ) RANGE: $132,700-$165,875 USD
Structure 3 (Austin Metro, Boston Metro , DC Metro) RANGE: $141,261-$176,576 USD
Structure 4 (Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City) RANGE: $147,254-$184,068 USD

Reach out to for more relevant information pertaining to your local market.

8th Light is Remote-First

We are a distributed team across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In most cases, our consulting engagements do not require travel.

Whether you choose to work remotely or join us in person at one of our offices in Chicago or London, we re committed to supporting a strong team culture. For team members outside of those cities, we offer access to coworking spaces to foster continued collaboration and connection across our global team.

We hope to see you apply!

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Lead Software Engineer- US