Tech Lead – Data Backend & AI-Driven APIs

Zoro.com; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 116,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

Maternity leave and parental support

Therapy sessions

Paid time off

401K plan

Tuition reimbursement

Charitable gift program

Employee discounts

Onsite gym and snacks

Job summary

Zoro.com is seeking aSenior Tech Lead on a data/engineering team in Chicago. You will set technical direction for APIs, back-end services, data stores, and AI-enabled data processing, partnering with PMs and ML engineers. This is an IC role focused on architecture and scalable systems.

You will work at the intersection of software engineering and data science, with responsibility for design choices, interfaces, and operational health, while mentoring peers and aligning teams across priorities.

Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years building production software.
• At least 2 years as Tech Lead on a team or major system.
• Experience designing back-end services, APIs, and data platforms.
• Familiar with ML concepts to review models and systems.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical direction and architecture of team systems.
• Stay in the code weekly and use AI in design, planning, and review.
• Partner with product manager on feasibility and sequencing.
• Collaborate with Data Scientists and ML Engineers from framing to serving.
• Design interfaces, service boundaries, schemas, and data contracts.
• Lead design reviews and RFC discussions.
• Grow engineers through reviews and stretch opportunities.
• Own the team's operational health and on-call quality.

Skills

Tech Lead experience

API design

Event-driven systems

ML concepts familiarity

Team scaling

Leading without authority

Cloud infrastructure

CI/CD & IaC

Education

Bachelor's/Master's in CS/Engineering/Applied Math

Job description

Zoro.com is seeking aSenior Tech Lead on a data/engineering team in Chicago. You will set technical direction for APIs, back-end services, data stores, and AI-enabled data processing, partnering with PMs and ML engineers. This is an IC role focused on architecture and scalable systems.

You will work at the intersection of software engineering and data science, with responsibility for design choices, interfaces, and operational health, while mentoring peers and aligning teams across priorities.