Technical Lead, Software Development, Software Architect

Chicago IL
233 S. Wacker Drive
Suite 3600
Chicago, IL 60606, USA

The National Restaurant Association and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation are proud to be part of a highly respected industry, providing hospitality, opportunity, and quality of life. And much like the industry we represent, we have a dynamic, diverse, and inclusive culture, grounded in trust, hospitality, collaboration, and innovation. These are the core values that inspire our work, and what we are looking for in a Technical Lead, to serve as the primary owner of team-level technical outcomes, including code quality, application design, technical sequencing, and delivery health.

As the Technical Lead you will be responsible for providing technical leadership at the application and team level. With one foot in hands‑on software development and one foot in system design, you will ensure that solutions are well‑engineered, maintainable, and aligned with established architectural standards.

In addition, you will be accountable for technical decision‑making within the delivery team, mentoring engineers, and translating architectural direction into high‑quality, working software. While this role does not own enterprise or platform architecture, it will partner closely with Architecture to ensure alignment and effective execution.

This role operates from our Chicago office, following our hybrid work structure with a required three days onsite, Monday – Wednesday and remote days Thursday and Friday.

We are proud to offer our team members comprehensive benefits, designed to support their financial, professional, and personal well‑being. In addition to outstanding healthcare coverage (medical, dental and vision), competitive salaries, generous vacation and leave time, we offer a matching 401(k) plan, a unique collection of corporate discounts and memberships, as well as programs to support career and skills development, including learning and tuition assistance, and so much more.

• Own application‑level and team‑level technical design decisions ensuring solutions are reliable, scalable, secure, and maintainable.
• Design and evolve system components within established enterprise and cloud architecture standards.
• Evaluate technical tradeoffs including performance, quality, scalability, and time‑to‑market.
• Escalate cross‑domain, platform, or enterprise‑impacting design decisions to Architecture.
• Remain actively involved in development through coding, reviews, and technical problem solving.
• Establish and enforce coding standards, patterns, and best practices.
• Lead by example in writing testable, maintainable, and well‑documented code.
• Champion automation, CI/CD, testing, and operational readiness.
• Ensure non‑functional requirements such as security, performance, and observability are addressed during development.
• Proactively identify and manage technical debt.
• Partner with Product and Scrum roles to translate requirements into executable technical plans.
• Own technical sequencing and provide input into scope, prioritization, and risk tradeoffs.
• Act as the technical escalation point for the team during delivery.

• Mentor engineers and support their technical and professional growth.
• Build a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Develop future technical leaders by progressively delegating responsibility.
• The Tech Lead owns application‑level design decisions, engineering practices, code quality, and delivery health. Enterprise and platform architecture decisions are owned by Architecture. The Tech Lead operates within established standards and escalates decisions that exceed application or team scope.

• Bachelor’s degree is required in information technology, computer science or related fields or equivalent knowledge and/or work experience.
• Proven hands‑on software development and design experience.
• Ability to lead technical decisions and mentor engineers.