Full Stack Engineer

Senior Full Stack Engineer

The TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health (TMW Center) develops, tests, and implements evidence-based interventions designed to promote very young children's cognitive and social-emotional development, with emerging technologies that enhance—rather than replace—the pivotal role that caregivers play in building healthy young brains. We're looking for a Senior Full Stack Engineer with a strong focus on backend development to join our growing engineering team. Our ideal candidate will work primarily within our Django system, with additional contributions to a.NET platform that shares a React.js front end.

In this role, our ideal candidate will collaborate closely with other engineers, and the CTO to build, enhance, and maintain scalable software systems. While front-end engineers handle most UI development, our ideal candidate will bring a full-stack perspective — understanding how backend decisions affect the user experience and the overall system architecture.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and maintenance of backend services and APIs in Django (primary) and.NET (secondary).
• Collaborate with front-end engineers to design and implement effective interfaces between the backend and the React.js client.
• Architect scalable data models, services, and integrations with third-party APIs.
• Contribute to system architecture decisions and help guide best practices in backend and full-stack development.
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-tested code across multiple systems.
• Participate in code reviews, technical design sessions, and cross-functional collaboration with product and design teams.
• Support CI/CD pipelines and ensure smooth deployments and system reliability.
• Mentor other engineers and contribute to improving development processes.
• Utilizes technical knowledge of existing and emerging technologies, including public cloud offerings from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
• Investigates, analyzes and resolves day-to-day technical problems using standard procedures.
• Works with stakeholders to gather and analyze requirements for developmental programs. Receives a moderate level of guidance to design applications to meet University and business requirements.
• Performs code testing on components and works to ensure that appropriate implementation standards are met. Evaluates design alternatives for development cost and solutions using various methods.
• Supports and maintains existing applications. Works with web developers and responds to requests from users.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Advanced Degree in data science, data analytics, computer science, software engineering or related fields strongly preferred.

Experience:

• Knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline, with a strong emphasis on backend systems.
• Proven experience building web applications with Python/Django.
• Working knowledge of C# /.NET frameworks and services.
• Comfortable working with React.js and modern front-end tooling.
• Experience designing and consuming RESTful APIs; understanding of web performance and security principles.
• Strong database skills with PostgreSQL and/or SQL Server.
• Familiarity with cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or similar).

Preferred Competencies

• Experience with containerization and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Exposure to TypeScript, GraphQL, or other modern web technologies.
• Familiarity with CI/CD systems (GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, etc).
• Prior experience in a startup or rapidly scaling environment.

Working Conditions

• Office Environment.

Application Documents

• Resume (required)
• Cover Letter (required)

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Information Technology

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Pay Rate Type

Salary

FLSA Status

Exempt

Pay Range

$80,000.00 - $120,000.00

The included pay rate or range represents the University's good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible

Yes

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call View phone number on click.appcast.io or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

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