Ld Software Engineer, AI & Data Applications

CME Group•Chicago, IL

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

Lead Software Engineer, Business Intelligence & Data Product Note: This position follows a hybrid work model, requiring 2 days per week on-site at our corporate office 20 S Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606 The first preference for this role is given to local candidates in the Chicago area. Job Summary This role is essential to bridging the gap between data and executive decision-making. By serving as the primary liaison for the Business Intelligence and Data Analytics stakeholders, you will drive the adoption of our self-service AI platforms, ensuring that business units are empowered by data rather than slowed down by it. Beyond daily operations, this position is critical for maintaining system integrity and providing the analytical agility required to respond to market shifts and competitive pressures. We are evolving beyond traditional Business Intelligence. While BigQuery, Tableau, and Looker remain core to our stack, our goal is to move from static visualization to Actionable Intelligence. The Lead Software Engineer will architect secure, scalable, and reliable data and AI technology solutions that leverage our curated data warehouse to advance CMEG in the global marketplace and serve the analytical and risk management needs of customers around the world. What You’ll Get A supportive environment fostering career progression, continuous learning, and an inclusive culture. Broad exposure to CME's diverse products, asset classes, and cross-functional teams. A competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package. Explore our full range of benefits. Why this role is different We aren't looking for a librarian to organize our books; we are looking for an engineer to build a robot that reads the books and tells us how to win the game. If you are tired of building the same bar charts and want to build the future of Generative BI, this is your role. #LI-DS2 CME Group is committed to offering a competitive total rewards package for our employees that recognizes their contributions to the business and reflects our long-term investment in their future. The pay range for this role is $125,800-$209,600. Actual salary offered will be dependent on a wide array of factors including but not limited to: relevant experience, skills, education and comparison to internal employees (where relevant). Our compensation program also includes an annual target bonus opportunity for all employees, as well as the opportunity to become an owner in the company through our broad-based equity program. Through our benefits program, we strive to offer flexibility, value and choice. From comprehensive health coverage, to a retirement package that includes both a 401(k) and an active pension plan, to highly competitive education reimbursement provisions, paid time off and a mental health benefit, CME Group offers a holistic benefits package for our team and their dependents. CME Group: Where Futures are Made CME Group is the world’s leading derivatives marketplace. But who we are goes deeper than that. Here, you can impact markets worldwide. Transform industries. And build a career by shaping tomorrow. We invest in your success and you own it – all while working alongside a team of leading experts who inspire you in ways big and small. Problem solvers, difference makers, trailblazers. Those are our people. And we’re looking for more. At CME Group, we embrace our employees' unique experiences and skills to ensure that everyone’s perspectives are acknowledged and valued. As an equal-opportunity employer, we consider all potential employees without regard to any protected characteristic. Important Notice: Recruitment fraud is on the rise, with scammers using misleading promises of job offers and interviews to solicit money and personal information from job seekers. CME Group adheres to established procedures designed to maintain trust, confidence and security throughout our recruitment process. Learn more here. As the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group is where the world comes to manage risk. We enable clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes foreign exchange energy agricultural products and metals. We meet uncertainty and volatility with confidence and clarity, across the trading lifecycle and around the world. Hear more about our employee experience Get a look inside CME Group and see what makes us tick A rewarding career is only the beginning Best Place to Work Recruitment fraud is on the rise, with scammers using misleading promises of job offers and interviews to solicit money and personal information from job seekers. CME Group adheres to established procedures designed to maintain trust, confidence and security throughout our recruitment process. Additionally, CME Group does not communicate with job applicants over Telegram. Learn more here. For U.S. employment, CME Group is legally required to validate a new hire’s employment eligibility by having them complete an Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) companied with legally acceptable proof of identity and work authorization (as listed on the Form I-9). CME Group uses E-Verify, which is an online system operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration to verify employment eligibility and validate social security numbers. Through participation in the E-Verify program, information entered on Form I-9 will be provided and compared to information available at both of these agencies. See posters below for more details. E-Verify Notice E-Verify Notice Español U.S. Right to Work Notice U.S. Right to Work Notice Español

Requirements

Years of experience: 10+ years of data engineering experience.
Traditional BI Mastery: Advanced knowledge of Looker (LookML) and/or Tableau, and /or Business Objects specifically leveraging their APIs for headless BI.
The Data Core: Expert-level SQL knowledge and deep experience with Google BigQuery (optimization, partitioning, complex modeling, and database tuning).
The AI Stack: Hands-on experience with Gemini API and Vertex AI. Strong understanding of RAG and how to ground LLMs in structured data.
Engineering Rigor: Proven experience with CI/CD, version control (Git), and reviewing environment build deployments and release notes.
The Glue: Knowledge of Python for building robust APIs and integrating AI agents.

Nice To Haves

Experience building "Chat with your Data" interfaces.
Familiarity with vector databases and embeddings for unstructured data analysis.
A "Product Mindset"—the ability to translate Sales or Ops pain points into automated AI solutions.

Responsibilities

Architect Agentic Workflows: Design and deploy AI Agents (using Gemini and Vertex AI) that can reason over BigQuery datasets to answer complex business questions autonomously.
Bridge the Gap: Act as the primary technical lead between our curated data warehouse and the end-user, building API-driven assets that allow stakeholders to interact with data using natural language and automated workflows.
Engineer Beyond the Dashboard: Develop custom data applications that push insights directly into stakeholder workflows (CRM, internal tools) rather than waiting for users to log into a BI tool.
Govern the Semantic Layer: Evolve our Looker/LookML and BigQuery environment to serve as a high-fidelity "Source of Truth" for LLMs to consume.
Orchestrate LLMs: Implement frameworks to manage prompts, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and tool-calling for data-centric AI tasks.
Drive Engineering Excellence: Demonstrate expertise in design patterns, identify best practices, and promote "Data as Code" standards across development teams.
Strategize & Mentor: Lead the transition of the BI team from traditional report-builders to high-impact Data Product Engineers.

Benefits

A supportive environment fostering career progression, continuous learning, and an inclusive culture.
Broad exposure to CME's diverse products, asset classes, and cross-functional teams.
A competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.
Explore our full range of benefits.
From comprehensive health coverage, to a retirement package that includes both a 401(k) and an active pension plan, to highly competitive education reimbursement provisions, paid time off and a mental health benefit, CME Group offers a holistic benefits package for our team and their dependents.

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