Founding Lead Engineer, People Technology (HR Apps)

DRW; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401k matching

Dental & Vision

Job summary

DRW is seeking a Lead / Senior Engineer to be the founding member of the People Technology team in Chicago. You will own the entire HR-application suite, collaborating closely with HR stakeholders, and hands-on coding while defining the team’s roadmap and processes.

You will validate staffing assumptions, build relationships with HR, and shape the engineering culture from the ground up. The role blends technical leadership with practical development across a modern stack.

Qualifications

• Strong full-stack engineering background with hands-on experience across Python, TypeScript/React, and PostgreSQL.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical direction and roadmap for a suite of eight HR-adjacent applications.
• Serve as the primary engineering point of contact for HR stakeholders and translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Assess tech debt, modernization opportunities, and alignment with engineering standards across all applications.
• Validate initial staffing model and help define the second engineering role.
• Write and ship production code across a diverse stack (Python, TypeScript/React, Ruby, FastAPI, Flask, Next.js, PostgreSQL).
• Formalize support processes and orchestration as the team grows.

Skills

Full-stack

Python

TypeScript/React

PostgreSQL

Ownership of multiple apps

Stakeholder collaboration

Autonomy

Communication

Tools

Ruby

FastAPI

Flask

Next.js

Job description

DRW is seeking a Lead / Senior Engineer to be the founding member of the People Technology team in Chicago. You will own the entire HR-application suite, collaborating closely with HR stakeholders, and hands-on coding while defining the team’s roadmap and processes.

You will validate staffing assumptions, build relationships with HR, and shape the engineering culture from the ground up. The role blends technical leadership with practical development across a modern stack.