Lead Developer - Data, AI, & Wealth Tech Platforms - Chicago, IL
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Help Build the Data Foundation Powering the Future of Wealth Management
Savant is growing quickly, and with that growth comes an opportunity to simplify how advisors access information, technology, and insights.
As our Lead Developer, Data, AI & Wealth Technology Platforms, you will lead the design and development of the enterprise data platform that connects Savant's wealth management ecosystem to Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Fabric. This role will play a critical part in helping the firm unify data across platforms, improve information accessibility, enable advanced analytics, and support future AI initiatives.
This is a senior, hands-on technical leadership role for an experienced data engineer who enjoys solving complex problems, influencing architecture decisions, mentoring developers, and building production-grade solutions that drive measurable business impact.
Your work will help bring together client, portfolio, planning, tax, compliance, and operational data into a trusted enterprise platform that allows advisors and business partners to make better decisions and serve clients more effectively.
You will join Savant's Data Science & AI team and play an important role in executing a platform strategy directly tied to the firm's long-term growth objectives.
What You'll Do
In this role, you will:
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Design, build, deploy, and support enterprise-grade data pipelines within Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Fabric.
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Integrate wealth management and enterprise platforms including Tamarac, eMoney, Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, tax planning applications, AI notetaking tools, vendor systems, and internal business applications.
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Develop API-based and file-based ingestion patterns utilizing REST APIs, SFTP, vendor extracts, and near-real-time data feeds.
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Design and maintain curated, analytics-ready datasets using dimensional modeling, Data Vault, and other appropriate methodologies.
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Establish data quality controls, reconciliations, monitoring, alerting, and service-level expectations.
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Ensure secure and compliant movement of enterprise data through implementation of governance, lineage, access management, and retention strategies.
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Prepare structured and unstructured data assets that support analytics, reporting, machine learning, and AI use cases.
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Evaluate architectural alternatives and make technical decisions that balance scalability, performance, reliability, and maintainability.
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Partner with Business Intelligence, Analytics, Compliance, Wealth, and Technology teams to translate business needs into technical solutions.
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Lead technical design reviews, troubleshoot complex issues, identify root causes, and guide solution implementation.
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Collaborate with offshore team members and external partners to support project delivery and platform operations.
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Continuously improve platform reliability, documentation, engineering standards, and operational support practices.
Leadership Expectations
This is a hands-on technical leadership position. While the role does not currently have direct reports, the Lead Developer is expected to provide technical leadership across both onshore and offshore development teams consisting of experienced engineers and developers.
Success in this role requires the ability to:
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Guide architecture and solution design decisions.
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Establish engineering standards, best practices, and development patterns.
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Review code, technical designs, and implementation approaches.
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Troubleshoot and resolve complex production and integration issues.
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Mentor developers and elevate the overall technical capabilities of the team.
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Drive technical execution while remaining hands-on in solution delivery.
This position is not solely focused on project coordination. The successful candidate will possess the technical depth and practical experience necessary to serve as a trusted technical leader and subject matter expert.
A couple things to note about our Lead Developer position:
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Position location: Candidates must currently reside within 50 miles of a Savant office in the Chicago, Illinois area. Preferred office locations include Lincolnshire, downtown Chicago, and Rockford.
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Work model: This is a hybrid position requiring approximately one day per week in the office for collaboration, connection, and relationship-building.
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Schedule: The overall schedule offers flexibility. Because this role supports offshore teams, occasional early-morning or evening collaboration may be required.
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Team structure: This position is part of the Data Science & AI team and reports to the Director.
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Leadership: The role does not currently have direct reports, but technical leadership, mentoring, ownership, and sound decision-making are expected.
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Impact: Success will be reflected in reliable and monitored pipelines, faster platform integrations, stronger access to trusted data, and improved support for advisor, analytics, and AI use cases.