700+ Software & IT Jobs in Chicago, IL

Observed local pay is solid, but the cleanest direct anchor here is software developers rather than the full software/IT/cyber category: the Chicago metro median is $134,380/year. Local posting data point to current advertised ranges centered on about $115k to $165k, with a broader band of about $92k to $200k, while hourly roles center on about $46 to $60 / hour. As a statewide cross-check, Revelio Public Labor Statistics puts the mean offered salary on new Illinois openings for software, it & cybersecurity at about $120,780 in August 2026 (n=2,958), versus about $79,688 across all Illinois occupations.

Full August 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 588 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $76,642 at the 25th percentile, $121,500 at the median and $161,895 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of September 25, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 250+ openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Competitive market | next 3-6 months

Chicago is a workable but selective market for Software, IT & Cybersecurity over the next 3-6 months. Local software-developer pay is strong at $134,380/year, and the metro still shows more than 1,100 recent postings across more than 550 companies, but July unemployment was 4.9% and the local role mix skews toward senior, hybrid, and on-site work. Illinois occupation-level signals also show software, it & cybersecurity postings up 21.1% year over year while employment in the field is essentially flat statewide, which usually means more replacement hiring and tighter competition rather than a broad hiring boom.

Best positioned: Best odds go to mid-to-senior engineers, cloud/platform, DevOps, and cybersecurity candidates who can work hybrid in regulated industries, where financial services accounts for about 30% of local postings and the most-requested skills include Python, Java, AWS, CI/CD, Kubernetes, and SQL.

Main caution: The biggest mistake is assuming Chicago is a remote-first generalist software market; only about 10% of sampled roles are remote, entry roles are about 15% of the mix, and the Capital One restructuring may add experienced candidates to the market.

From the August 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 709 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Tradermath: 17 open roles
2. Deloitte: 12 open roles
3. Northrop Grumman Corp.: 11 open roles
4. J.P. Morgan SE: 9 open roles
5. Northern Trust Corp: 9 open roles
6. Capital One Group: 8 open roles
7. Fintal Partners: 8 open roles
8. Ontrac Solutions LLC.: 8 open roles
9. Trilogy, Inc.: 8 open roles
10. AbbVie Inc.: 7 open roles

Where the openings are

• Chicago: 462
• Oak Brook: 23
• Schaumburg: 16
• Rolling Meadows: 15
• Northbrook: 8
• Evanston: 7
• Rosemont: 7
• Waukegan: 7

Work arrangement

on-site 381 (55%), hybrid 251 (36%), remote 64 (9%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity in Chicago is spread across a long tail of employers, not one or two dominant tech giants. Over the last 90 days, the market showed more than 1,100 postings across more than 550 companies, and the employer mix was fragmented. The most-active industries were financial services at about 30%, then technology at about 15%, software development at about 15%, IT services and consulting at about 10%, and finance at about 10%. That matters because hiring is concentrated in enterprise modernization, infrastructure, security, and internal product work inside regulated organizations rather than pure consumer-app startups. The most consistently active named employers included Northern Trust Corp, Capital One, J.P. Morgan SE, Northrop Grumman Corp., AbbVie Inc., Deloitte, and Tradermath. The local mix also leans toward experienced candidates and location-bound work, with about 35% mid-level, about 40% senior, about 15% lead+, about 45% on-site, about 40% hybrid, and about 10% remote.

• Financial services and regulated enterprise tech (high): This is the biggest concentration locally; financial services account for about 30% of postings, and active employers include Northern Trust Corp, Capital One, and J.P. Morgan SE.
• Defense, healthcare, and complex enterprise platforms (moderate): Northrop Grumman Corp. and AbbVie Inc. show up among active employers, pointing to openings where reliability, compliance, and security matter as much as feature speed.
• Remote-first generalist software roles (limited): This is the thinnest slice of the current market because only about 10% of sampled postings are remote.

Where to focus: Focus first on hybrid enterprise roles where software, cloud, automation, and security overlap.

Roles worth searching next

• Business systems analyst: It lets software or IT candidates use technical fluency plus process knowledge without competing only for pure engineering seats.
• Solutions consultant or implementation specialist: This is a good move for people who understand software products but are stronger in client delivery than deep product engineering.
• GRC analyst: For candidates with cyber interest but not deep hands-on engineering, governance, risk, and compliance work can be a realistic entry point.
• Technical project coordinator: This fits candidates who have delivered technical work but are stronger at execution, coordination, and cross-team follow-through.

What postings ask for

• Python (table_stakes | immediate): Python appears in about 35% of local postings, making it the clearest common language across application, automation, and security-adjacent work. Who: Software engineers, QA automation candidates, DevOps engineers, and career switchers with scripting exposure.
• Java (table_stakes | immediate): Java shows up in about 25% of local postings, which fits Chicago's enterprise-heavy employer mix. Who: Back-end, full-stack, and internal-platform candidates targeting banks, large corporates, and consulting environments.
• AWS and Kubernetes (differentiator | immediate): AWS and Kubernetes each show up in about 20% of local postings, signaling strong demand for cloud-native operations and platform depth. Who: Mid-career engineers, SREs, DevOps candidates, and sysadmins moving up-stack.
• CI/CD and Git (differentiator | immediate): CI/CD appears in about 20% of local postings and Git in about 15%, which tells you employers want delivery discipline, not just coding skill. Who: Anyone applying to software engineering, QA automation, platform, or internal-tools roles.
• SQL (table_stakes | immediate): SQL appears in about 20% of local postings, so database fluency still matters even in application and infrastructure roles. Who: Software engineers, application-support candidates, QA analysts, and career switchers from business systems work.
• CISSP (premium | near-term): CISSP is the certification most often explicitly required locally, appearing in about 5% of postings, which is meaningful in a broad category where many jobs ask for no formal cert at all. Who: Security engineers, security analysts, IAM candidates, and experienced IT professionals moving into cyber-heavy roles.

Questions about this market

What do Software, IT & Cybersecurity roles pay in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN?

Observed local pay is solid, but the cleanest direct anchor here is software developers rather than the full software/IT/cyber category: the Chicago metro median is $134,380/year. Local posting data point to current advertised ranges centered on about $115k to $165k, with a broader band of about $92k to $200k, while hourly roles center on about $46 to $60 / hour. As a statewide cross-check, Revelio Public Labor Statistics puts the mean offered salary on new Illinois openings for software, it & cybersecurity at about $120,780 in August 2026 (n=2,958), versus about $79,688 across all Illinois occupations. Chicago pays well for experienced technical work, especially compared with the broader Illinois market, but the strongest compensation sits in enterprise roles with real specialization.

Where is demand for Software, IT & Cybersecurity roles in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN concentrated?

Real opportunity in Chicago is spread across a long tail of employers, not one or two dominant tech giants. Over the last 90 days, the market showed more than 1,100 postings across more than 550 companies, and the employer mix was fragmented. The most-active industries were financial services at about 30%, then technology at about 15%, software development at about 15%, IT services and consulting at about 10%, and finance at about 10%. That matters because hiring is concentrated in enterprise modernization, infrastructure, security, and internal product work inside regulated organizations rather than pure consumer-app startups. The most consistently active named employers included Northern Trust Corp, Capital One, J.P. Morgan SE, Northrop Grumman Corp., AbbVie Inc., Deloitte, and Tradermath. The local mix also leans toward experienced candidates and location-bound work, with about 35% mid-level, about 40% senior, about 15% lead+, about 45% on-site, about 40% hybrid, and about 10% remote.

Which employers are hiring the most Software, IT & Cybersecurity talent in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN?

Recent postings show the most activity from Northern Trust Corp (20 postings), Capital One (15 postings), J.P. Morgan SE (15 postings), Northrop Grumman Corp. (15 postings), AbbVie Inc. (15 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Software, IT & Cybersecurity roles in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 10% are remote and 40% hybrid, with 45% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

Browse Illinois openings by job title

• General Manager: 86 open roles statewide
• Senior Manager: 61 open roles statewide

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