Senior Software Engineer

Morningstar; Illinois; Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 176,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k match up to 6%

Health benefits

Office & Sabbatical programs

Job summary

Morningstar seeks a skilled Software Engineer to architect and develop Python-based applications and APIs, emphasizing cloud-native services and scalable architectures. You will work with PostgreSQL/SQLAlchemy and vector databases (Weaviate, Pinecone) and focus on NLP embeddings and AI governance.

You’ll collaborate with cross-functional teams in a hybrid environment, pursuing robust design patterns, documentation and maintainable code while advancing data-driven platforms and security practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field or foreign equivalent and 5 years of relevant experience; or Master's degree and 3 years of relevant experience.
• Experience with RDBMS design, normalization, optimization, migrations and ACID transactions.
• Proficiency in Python production applications and REST APIs; data preprocessing and object-oriented design patterns.
• Experience with NLP, embeddings, and vector databases (Weaviate, Pinecone).

Responsibilities

• Architect and develop Python-based applications and APIs (FastAPI/Flask) with cloud-native services.
• Design and optimize relational and vector databases and perform data processing with Python dataframes.
• Drive AI security, governance and responsible AI practices across platforms.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align AI strategies with business needs and ensure scalable, maintainable codebases.

Skills

Python

FastAPI

PostgreSQL

Weaviate

Pinecone

NLP

Git

CI/CD

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS

Master's degree in CS

Tools

SQLAlchemy

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Job Duties:

Architecting, optimizing and developing Python-based applications and APIs (FastAPI, Flask, RESTful services), including asynchronous programming and event-based architectures using cloud-native services (20%). Architecting, optimizing relational and vector databases (PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy, query optimization, indexes, replicas, migrations, Weaviate, Pinecone) and working with dataframes for data processing and analysis (SQL-based agents) (20%). Driving AI security, compliance, and governance strategies (hallucination mitigation, ethical AI practices, AI guardrails) (10%). Architecting, researching and reviewing AI-driven enterprise platforms (retrieval-augmented generation, LLM fine-tuning, AI governance, model optimization) (20%). Defining and reviewing technical documentation, setting architectural guidelines, enforcing best coding practices, conducting design reviews, and ensuring maintainability and scalability of codebases (10%). Collaborating with cross-functional teams to align AI strategies with business needs and technical requirements (20%). Remote work requests will be considered consistent with company's remote work policy.

Job Requirements:

This position requires a bachelor's degree in computer science, or a related field, or foreign equivalent and 5 years of relevant experience as a Software Engineer, Application Development Associate, or in a related position. In alternative, we accept a Master's degree in Computer Science, or a related field, or foreign equivalent and 3 years of relevant experience as a Software Engineer, Application Development Associate, or in a related position.

This position also requires database engineering management through RDBMS (SQL Server, PostgreSQL) including design, normalization, optimization, sharding, ACID transactions, and migrations. Python Development: Production applications, APIs (calling and invoking, Rest API's) for data preprocessing. Object-oriented programming in Python/Java, including OOP design patterns and UML architecture. Data processing and visualization by using QlikView and Python (Pandas, Plotly, Matplotlib). Agile development practices with emphasis on customer-centric delivery. Cloud and infrastructure management by using various cloud services such as AWS S3, Aurora, RDS, API Gateway, and AWS Lambda. Machine learning and statistical methods, including natural language processing (NLP) and embeddings. Version control and CI/CD (Git, application deployment and monitoring tools). Authoring technical documentation for developers, technical, and non-technical users. Vector Databases & Retrieval: Weaviate, Pinecone, GraphQL-based querying, AI-powered retrieval. Scalability & Performance: Queuebased request handling (SQS, Celery), event-driven architectures, caching using in-memory data structures such as Redis. AI Adoption: Driving AI tool adoption within enterprises. Multiprovider integration (OpenAI, Anthropic, MistralAI, etc.), Retrieval augmented generation, function calling, structured outputs, conversational memory. Prompt Engineering: Chain-ofthought prompting, prompt caching, zero-shot prompting. Agentic Frameworks: LangGraph or AutoGen for building agentic orchestrations. Feature Flagging tools such as Split or CloudBees. Financial AI Applications: Investment-related AI, financial data analysis. Contributions to Python open-source projects or packages. LLM Understanding & Safety: Transformers, attention mechanisms, fine-tuning, hallucination mitigation, AI safety guardrails. Will accept any suitable combination of education, training, and experience.

Must possess unrestricted right to work in the U.S. in this position

Base Salary Compensation: $153,317.00

Morningstar is an equal opportunity employer.

Compensation and Benefits

At Morningstar we believe people are at their best when they are at their healthiest. That's why we champion your wellness through a wide range of programs that support all stages of your personal and professional life. Here are some examples of the offerings we provide:

• Financial Health
  • 100% 401k match up to 6% of salary
• Stock Ownership Potential
• Company provided life insurance - 1x salary + commission
• Physical Health
  • Comprehensive health benefits(medical/dental/vision)including potential premium discounts and company-provided HSA contributions (up to $500-$2,000 annually) for specific plansand coverages
  • Additional medical Wellness Incentives - up to $300-$600 annual
  • Company-provided long- and short-termdisabilityinsurance
• Emotional Health
  • Trust-Based Time Off
  • 6-week Paid Sabbatical Program
  • 6-Week Paid Family Caregiving Leave
  • Competitive 8-24 Week Paid Parental Leave
  • Adoption Assistance
  • Leadership Coaching & FormalMentorshipOpportunities
  • Annual Flex Stipend - $1000 annually to cover personal education & well-being expenses
  • Tuition Reimbursement
• Social Health
  • Charitable Matching Gifts program
  • Dollars for Doers volunteer program
  • Paid volunteering days
  • 15+ Employee Resource & Affinity Groups

Morningstar's hybrid work environment gives you the opportunity to collaborate in-person each week as we've found that we're at our best when we're purposely together on a regular basis. In most of our locations, our hybrid work model is four days in-office each week. A range of other benefits are also available to enhance flexibility as needs change. No matter where you are, you'll have tools and resources to engage meaningfully with your global colleagues.

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