---
title: 'Tech & AI jobs in Illinois'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/location/illinois'
type: 'location'
---

# Tech & AI jobs in Illinois

> Chicago is the center of gravity, and its tech scene mirrors the city's old strengths: trading, logistics, and enterprise software. DRW, Jump Trading, and IMC hire heavily on the quant side, while Stripe, Braze, and Harvey have planted flags downtown. The result is a market with real breadth, from high-frequency trading to supply-chain startups like project44.

- **Open roles:** 1897
- **Hiring companies:** 373
- **Region type:** state
- **Timezone:** America/Chicago
- **Population:** 12,550,000
- **Cost of living:** 6% below the US average — Chicago housing is moderate for a major city.
- **Climate:** Humid continental — hot, humid summers and cold winters with lake-effect snow near Chicago. Four distinct seasons.
- **Page:** https://feeny.ai/location/illinois

## Cities in Illinois

- [Chicago](https://feeny.ai/location/illinois/chicago) — 1680 jobs
- [Manteno](https://feeny.ai/location/illinois/manteno) — 112 jobs

## Top companies hiring in Illinois

- [Gotion, Inc.](https://feeny.ai/companies/gotion-inc) — 112 open roles
- [NinjaTrader](https://feeny.ai/companies/ninjatrader) — 20 open roles
- [Enova International](https://feeny.ai/companies/enova-international) — 26 open roles
- [Strata Decision Technology](https://feeny.ai/companies/strata-decision-technology) — 12 open roles
- [Wight & Company](https://feeny.ai/companies/wight-company) — 12 open roles
- [tastylive](https://feeny.ai/companies/tastylive) — 11 open roles
- [tastytrade](https://feeny.ai/companies/tastytrade) — 11 open roles
- [Coinflow](https://feeny.ai/companies/coinflow) — 10 open roles
- [Geneva Trading](https://feeny.ai/companies/geneva-trading) — 11 open roles
- [project44](https://feeny.ai/companies/project44) — 16 open roles
- [Inspire11](https://feeny.ai/companies/inspire11) — 12 open roles
- [IMC](https://feeny.ai/companies/imc) — 51 open roles

## Top Universities

**Where Illinois's tech talent studies**

Illinois punches above its weight on engineering: UIUC alone produced Marc Andreessen, Max Levchin, and YouTube's Steve Chen, and its computer science program feeds the whole industry. Northwestern and the University of Chicago add business and research firepower, with Satya Nadella and Cloudflare's Matthew Prince among the alumni.

- **University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign** (Champaign, IL · 36,000 undergrads) — notable alumni: Marc Andreessen, Max Levchin, Steve Chen, Arvind Krishna, Tom Siebel
- **Northwestern University** (Evanston, IL · 9,200 undergrads) — notable alumni: Andrew Mason, William Shu, Paul Sagan, Ginni Rometty, Divya Narendra
- **University of Chicago** (Chicago, IL · 7,600 undergrads) — notable alumni: Satya Nadella, Matthew Prince, Matt Maloney, Patrick O. Brown, Susan Wagner
- **University of Illinois Chicago** (Chicago, IL · 22,000 undergrads) — notable alumni: Mary Dillon, Robert Mariano, Anuradha Acharya, Tony Podesta, Marc J. Lane
- **Illinois Institute of Technology** (Chicago, IL · 2,800 undergrads) — notable alumni: Martin Cooper, Edward L. Kaplan, John Calamos, Robert Pritzker, Sam Pitroda
- **DePaul University** (Chicago, IL · 14,000 undergrads) — notable alumni: Richard Driehaus, Jack Greenberg, James M. Jenness, Daniel Ustian, George Ball
- **Loyola University Chicago** (Chicago, IL · 12,000 undergrads) — notable alumni: Brenda C. Barnes, Joseph Grendys, Andrew T. Berlin, John E. Rooney, Lori Greiner
- **Bradley University** (Peoria, IL · 3,600 undergrads) — notable alumni: George T. Shaheen, Howard Lance, John R. Horne, Louis Skidmore, David Broadbent

## Top Unicorns

**Unicorn startups in Illinois**

The unicorn scene reflects Chicago's practical bent: supply-chain visibility at project44 and FourKites, fintech at Avant and M1 Finance, and enterprise tools like Relativity and ActiveCampaign. Less consumer flash than the coasts, more software that runs the plumbing of other businesses.

- **Relativity** — $3.6B · E-discovery & legal software for litigation data
- **ActiveCampaign** — $3B · Marketing automation & customer-experience platform
- **[project44](https://feeny.ai/companies/project44)** — $2.7B · Real-time supply-chain visibility platform
- **Uptake** — $2.3B · Industrial AI for predictive maintenance
- **Avant** — $2B · Online consumer lending & credit cards
- **Pathos** — $1.6B · AI-driven precision oncology drug discovery
- **M1 Finance** — $1.4B · Automated investing, borrowing & banking
- **Loadsmart** — $1.3B · AI-powered freight & logistics automation
- **[G2](https://feeny.ai/companies/g2)** — $1.1B · Peer-review marketplace for business software
- **[Kin Insurance](https://feeny.ai/companies/kin-insurance)** — $1B · Direct-to-consumer digital home insurance
- **[FourKites](https://feeny.ai/companies/fourkites)** — $1B · AI supply-chain visibility for freight
- **[ShipBob](https://feeny.ai/companies/shipbob-inc)** — $1B · E-commerce fulfillment & shipping

## Events

**What's happening in Illinois**

- [Chicago | Claude Impact Lab](https://luma.com/claude-bkcr) — 2026-08-07 · Chicago
- [Volunteer with Share our Spare (Volunteering Untapped Chicago)](https://luma.com/mvx5gy0z) — 2026-08-08 · Chicago
- [Ministers of Enjoyment: Department of Sound](https://luma.com/khscfjn8) — 2026-08-08 · Chicago
- [EdTechWalk | Chicago, 8/9 w/ EdTech Institute](https://luma.com/qtfzynp3) — 2026-08-09 · Chicago
- [Mahj 101 - The Cork 8/9](https://luma.com/k86zaise) — 2026-08-09 · Chicago
- [Codex Lab for Executives](https://luma.com/qt9o0vmz) — 2026-08-12 · Chicago
- [The Operators' Table: AI in the Real World](https://luma.com/or27fd2k) — 2026-08-13 · Chicago
- [From AI User to AI Builder - Base44 x AI Collective (Chicago)](https://luma.com/hqwe2s7q) — 2026-08-13 · Chicago
- [YWS X Tiraki X Folio: New Zealand Wine Party on the River](https://luma.com/lsii3c1j) — 2026-08-13 · Chicago

## FAQ

**Tech jobs in Illinois: common questions**

### How many tech jobs are open in Illinois right now?

Feeny is tracking about 1,897 open tech roles in Illinois, from roughly 373 companies hiring across the state. Each comes from a company's own careers page, so a listing is a role being actively filled rather than a recycled aggregator entry. Chicago accounts for nearly all of it. Use the filters to narrow by role or seniority.

### Which Illinois cities have the most tech jobs?

Chicago is where essentially all the openings are. The city's tech market mirrors its old commercial strengths: trading, logistics, and enterprise software. Manteno adds a small footprint outside the metro. Across the 2 Illinois cities we index, Chicago carries the weight almost entirely.

### What companies are hiring for tech roles in Illinois?

Chicago's quant trading firms hire heavily on the engineering side, with DRW, Jump Trading, and IMC pulling in low-latency and systems talent. On the software front, Stripe, Braze, and Harvey have planted downtown flags. Supply-chain startups like project44 lean into the city's logistics roots. Feeny lists roles from about 373 companies statewide, so the current set is worth scanning.

### What kinds of tech roles are common in Illinois?

The range is wider than most people expect, running from high-frequency trading to logistics. The quant shops need C++ and low-latency engineers doing some of the most demanding work in the industry, while project44 and its peers hire for supply-chain software. Enterprise and product engineering fills the middle, with Stripe and Braze downtown. That HFT-to-logistics spread gives Chicago real breadth.

### What is it like to work in tech in Illinois?

Chicago gives you a genuine big-city tech market without a coastal price tag. Cost of living runs about 6 percent below the national average, and housing stays moderate for a city this size, which is unusual. The scene is anchored by serious money in trading and a deep enterprise base, so the work skews technical and well-paid rather than trend-chasing. The honest trade is the winters, which are long and not for everyone.

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_Source: https://feeny.ai/location/illinois_