Engineering Lead

Join to apply for the Engineering Lead role at ZS

1 day ago Be among the first 25 applicants

Join to apply for the Engineering Lead role at ZS

ZS is a place where passion changes lives. As a management consulting and technology firm focused on improving life and how we live it, we transform ideas into impact by bringing together data, science, technology and human ingenuity to deliver better outcomes for all. Here you’ll work side-by-side with a powerful collective of thinkers and experts shaping life-changing solutions for patients, caregivers and consumers, worldwide. ZSers drive impact by bringing a client-first mentality to each and every engagement. We partner collaboratively with our clients to develop custom solutions and technology products that create value and deliver company results across critical areas of their business. Bring your curiosity for learning, bold ideas, courage and passion to drive life-changing impact to ZS.
Engineering Lead
We are looking for a hands-on Engineering Lead with a proven track record of delivering large-scale, data-intensive products - most recently Generative AI-powered applications. You wil lguide a cross-functional squad of backend, frontend, data science, DevOps, and QA engineers, setting the technical vision, writing production code, and ensuring that our Agile processes translate business goals into reliable, secure, and scalable software.
What You’ll Do:
Technical & Product Leadership

• Own end‑to‑end architecture for GenAI products—retrieval‑augmented generation, agent orchestration, guardrails, and responsible‑AI instrumentation.
• Make build‑vs‑buy decisions and select frameworks, libraries, and SDKs (LangGraph, DSPy, etc.).
• Design event‑driven, microservices‑based systems (Python+FastAPI, Node/TypeScript services) deployed to AWS/Azure/GCP.
• Champion DevSecOps: IaC (Terraform), CI/CD (GitHubActions /AzureDevOps), container orchestration (Kubernetes, EKS/AKS/GKE), observability (Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry)
• Remain 50-60% hands‑on—writing clean, test‑driven code, reviewing MR/PRs, and tackling critical path items.
  

People & Process Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of 3-5 engineers; set clear goals, provide regular feedback, and foster a culture of psychological safety and continuous learning.
• Translate OKRs and product roadmaps into quarterly technical plans and sprint‑level deliverables.
• Facilitate Agile ceremonies (backlog refinement, sprint planning, demos, retros) and drive empirical, data‑driven decision making.
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Designers, and Data Scientists to shape user‑centric features and measurable success criteria.
• Evangelize engineering excellence—secure coding, performance optimization, automated testing, privacy & compliance (HIPAA, GDPR).
  

What you’ll bring:

• 6+years of professional software development, including 3+years leading engineering teams.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Expert‑level Python and solid TypeScript/JavaScript; knowledge of Rust/Go preferred; deep knowledge of REST & gRPC APIs, WebSockets, and JWT/OAuth2 identity flows (AzureAD preferred).
• Production experience with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWSBedrock, Vertex AI) and vector stores (pgvector, Qdrant) at scale.
• Proven success deploying cloud‑native systems on AWS/Azure/GCP—networking, IAM, autoscaling, managed databases (RDS/Redshift/), and serverless.
• Demonstrated mastery of modern DevOps toolchains: Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, ArgoCD, or similar.
• Strong front‑end instincts (React/Next.js, Tailwind CSS) and appreciation for well‑designed UX.
• Deep familiarity with Agile/Scrum, CI/CD, trunk‑based development, and trunk‑based release strategies (feature flags, blue‑green, canary).
• Excellent verbal and written communication; able to convey complex technical ideas to engineers, PMs, and executive stakeholders alike.
  

Hybrid working model:
ZS is committed to a Flexible and Connected way of working. ZSers are on-site at clients or ZS offices three days a week. Combined flexibility to work remotely two days a week is also available. The magic of ZS culture and innovation thrives in both planned and spontaneous face-to-face connections.
Perks & Benefits:
ZS offers a comprehensive total rewards package including health and well-being, financial planning, annual leave, personal growth and professional development. Our robust skills development programs, multiple career progression options and internal mobility paths and collaborative culture empowers you to thrive as an individual and global team member.
We are committed to giving our employees a flexible and connected way of working. A flexible and connected ZS allows us to combine work from home and on-site presence at clients/ZS offices for the majority of our week. The magic of ZS culture and innovation thrives in both planned and spontaneous face-to-face connections.
Travel:
Travel is a requirement at ZS for client facing ZSers; business needs of your project and client are the priority. While some projects may be local, all client-facing ZSers should be prepared to travel as needed. Travel provides opportunities to strengthen client relationships, gain diverse experiences, and enhance professional growth by working in different environments and cultures.
Considering applying?
At ZS, we honor the visible and invisible elements of our identities, personal experiences, and belief systems—the ones that comprise us as individuals, shape who we are, and make us unique. We believe your personal interests, identities, and desire to learn are integral to your success here. We are committed to building a team that reflects a broad variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Learn more about our inclusion and belonging efforts and the networks ZS supports to assist our ZSers in cultivating community spaces and obtaining the resources they need to thrive.
If you’re eager to grow, contribute, and bring your unique self to our work, we encourage you to apply.
ZS is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal employment and advancement opportunities without regard to any class protected by applicable law.
To complete your application:
Candidates must possess or be able to obtain work authorization for their intended country of employment.An on-line application, including a full set of transcripts (official or unofficial), is required to be considered.
NO AGENCY CALLS, PLEASE.
Find Out More At:

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Engineering and Information Technology

• Industries

  Business Consulting and Services

Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at ZS by 2x

Get notified about new Lead Engineer jobs in Chicago, IL .

Operations Engineer, Automation Operations Engineering

Chicago, IL $68,900.00-$126,400.00 2 weeks ago

Chicago, IL $129,800.00-$165,490.00 5 days ago

Arlington Heights, IL $70,000.00-$140,000.00 3 weeks ago

Manager, Engineering Tech Lead - Full Stack

Chicago, IL $129,800.00-$165,490.00 3 weeks ago

Chicago, IL $129,800.00-$165,490.00 3 weeks ago

Chicago, IL $98,700.00-$169,800.00 1 week ago

Chicago, IL $129,800.00-$165,490.00 3 days ago

Principal Architect & Lead Engineer – Healthcare RCM Platform

Senior R&D Engineer - System Architecture (Italy based)

Senior Mechanical Engineer (Power Focus)

Chicago, IL $116,620.00-$179,890.00 2 weeks ago

Chicago, IL $160,100.00-$200,100.00 6 months ago

Downers Grove, IL $37.50-$56.25 3 weeks ago

Lead Software Engineer - Data Collection

Chicago, IL $160,000.00-$176,000.00 15 hours ago

Chicago, IL $130,000.00-$175,000.00 1 week ago

Lead Electrical Engineer - Water/Wastewater

Chicago, IL $130,000.00-$250,000.00 18 hours ago

Senior Quality Engineer (Pharmacy Technology)

Deerfield, IL $88,700.00-$141,800.00 1 month ago

Sr. Principal Engineer, Product Design Owner,

Engineering Technical Manager (Salary Range $127,800-166,200) Job

Chicago, IL $109,805.00-$187,350.00 6 days ago

Lead Thermoforming Systems Engineer (Capital Projects)

Chicago, IL $115,000.00-$140,000.00 3 weeks ago

Senior Lead Engineer, Microsoft Intune and End User Computing

Chicago, IL $95,600.00-$162,400.00 1 week ago

Chicago, IL $180,000.00-$243,000.00 4 days ago

Senior Process Engineer - Specialty Chemical & Consumer Products (Wallingford & Chicago)

Chicago, IL $155,000.00-$240,000.00 2 weeks ago

Senior Engineer - Mechanical | Electrical (Justice + Civic)

Chicago, IL $102,000.00-$160,000.00 3 days ago

Chicago, IL $116,300.00-$152,670.00 4 weeks ago

Senior Solution Engineer, Presales (Mid-Market)

Chicago, IL $160,000.00-$190,000.00 2 weeks ago

Lead Mechanical Engineer 1 (Power Uprates) - Nuclear

Chicago, IL $116,620.00-$179,890.00 1 day ago

Chicago, IL $125,000.00-$165,000.00 13 hours ago

Senior Civil Engineer - Land Development - Data Centers

Chicago, IL $140,000.00-$210,000.00 2 weeks ago

Chicago, IL $125,000.00-$140,000.00 2 weeks ago

Senior Solution Engineer - Strategic Accounts

Chicago, IL $210,000.00-$248,000.00 2 weeks ago

Production Risk Engineer - Professional Liability (Central)

Chicago, IL $120,000.00-$170,000.00 3 weeks ago

We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.

#J-18808-Ljbffr