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Senior Software Engineer

Morningstar · Chicago, IL · Full time

Posted May 26, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

How do you run a design review, and what do you look for?

What they are checking: Whether they can set standards and help others build maintainable systems.

Tell me about a time you set architectural guidelines that others followed.

What they are checking: Whether they can lead technically beyond their own code.

What would you do

A business team wants an AI feature that you think isn't ready for clients. How do you handle it?

What they are checking: Whether they can balance business needs with responsible AI practices.

About the work

How would you design a FastAPI service that handles many concurrent requests to an LLM-backed workflow?

What they are checking: Whether they understand async programming and how to handle slow external calls.

Walk me through how you'd build a retrieval-augmented generation system for financial research content.

What they are checking: Whether they understand chunking, embeddings, retrieval and grounding answers in sources.

How do you choose between storing embeddings in PostgreSQL with pgvector versus a vector database like Weaviate or Pinecone?

What they are checking: Whether they can weigh scale, cost and operational complexity.

How do you reduce hallucinations in an AI product where accuracy really matters?

What they are checking: Whether they take accuracy seriously in a financial setting and know practical guardrails.

How would you build a SQL agent safely so it can't run harmful or expensive queries?

What they are checking: Whether they think about security and resource limits when giving AI access to data.

A PostgreSQL query is slow in production. How do you investigate?

What they are checking: Whether they can use query plans and indexes to fix real performance problems.

How do you evaluate whether an AI feature is working well before and after launch?

What they are checking: Whether they build evaluation into AI work instead of relying on demos.

Practice this interview out loud.

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The full job description

As published by Morningstar.

Job Duties: Architecting, optimizing and developing Python-based applications and APIs (FastAPI, Flask, RESTful services), including asynchronous programming and event-based architectures using cloud-native services (20%). Architecting, optimizing relational and vector databases (PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy, query optimization, indexes, replicas, migrations, Weaviate, Pinecone) and working with dataframes for data processing and analysis (SQL-based agents) (20%). Driving AI security, compliance, and governance strategies (hallucination mitigation, ethical AI practices, AI guardrails) (10%). Architecting, researching and reviewing AI-driven enterprise platforms (retrieval-augmented generation, LLM fine-tuning, AI governance, model optimization) (20%). Defining and reviewing technical documentation, setting architectural guidelines, enforcing best coding practices, conducting design reviews, and ensuring maintainability and scalability of codebases (10%). Collaborating with cross-functional teams to align AI strategies with business needs and technical requirements (20%). **Remote work requests will be considered consistent with company's remote work policy. Job Requirements: This position requires a bachelor's degree in computer science, or a related field, or foreign equivalent and 5 years of relevant experience as a Software Engineer, Application Development Associate, or in a related position. In alternative, we accept a Master's degree in Computer Science, or a related field, or foreign equivalent and 3 years of relevant experience as a Software Engineer, Application Development Associate, or in a related position. This position also requires database engineering management through RDBMS (SQL Server, PostgreSQL) including design, normalization, optimization, sharding, ACID transactions, and migrations. Python Development: Production applications, APIs (calling and invoking, Rest API’s) for data preprocessing. Object-oriented programming in Python/Java, including OOP design patterns and UML architecture. Data processing and visualization by using QlikView and Python (Pandas, Plotly, Matplotlib). Agile development practices with emphasis on customer-centric delivery. Cloud and infrastructure management by using various cloud services such as AWS S3, Aurora, RDS, API Gateway, and AWS Lambda. Machine learning and statistical methods, including natural language processing (NLP) and embeddings. Version control and CI/CD (Git, application deployment and monitoring tools). Authoring technical documentation for developers, technical, and non-technical users. Vector Databases & Retrieval: Weaviate, Pinecone, GraphQL-based querying, AI-powered retrieval. Scalability & Performance: Queuebased request handling (SQS, Celery), event-driven architectures, caching using in-memory data structures such as Redis. AI Adoption: Driving AI tool adoption within enterprises. Multiprovider integration (OpenAI, Anthropic, MistralAI, etc.), Retrieval augmented generation, function calling, structured outputs, conversational memory. Prompt Engineering: Chain-ofthought prompting, prompt caching, zero-shot prompting. Agentic Frameworks: LangGraph or AutoGen for building agentic orchestrations. Feature Flagging tools such as Split or CloudBees. Financial AI Applications: Investment-related AI, financial data analysis. Contributions to Python open-source projects or packages. LLM Understanding & Safety: Transformers, attention mechanisms, fine-tuning, hallucination mitigation, AI safety guardrails. **Will accept any suitable combination of education, training, and experience. Must possess unrestricted right to work in the U.S. in this position Base Salary Compensation: $153,317.00 Morningstar is an equal opportunity employer. Compensation and Benefits At Morningstar we believe people are at their best when they are at their healthiest. That’s why we champion your wellness through a wide range of programs that support all stages of your personal and professional life. Here are some examples of the offerings we provide: • Financial Health • 100% 401k match up to 6% of salary • Stock Ownership Potential • Company provided life insurance - 1x salary + commission • Physical Health • Comprehensive health benefits (medical/dental/vision) including potential premium discounts and company-provided HSA contributions (up to $500-$2,000 annually) for specific plans and coverages • Additional medical Wellness Incentives - up to $300-$600 annual • Company-provided long- and short-term disability insurance • Emotional Health • Trust-Based Time Off • 6-week Paid Sabbatical Program • 6-Week Paid Family Caregiving Leave • Competitive 8-24 Week Paid Parental Leave • Adoption Assistance • Leadership Coaching & Formal Mentorship Opportunities • Annual Flex Stipend - $1000 annually to cover personal education & well-being expenses • Tuition Reimbursement • Social Health • Charitable Matching Gifts program • Dollars for Doers volunteer program • Paid volunteering days • 15+ Employee Resource & Affinity Groups Morningstar's hybrid work environment gives you the opportunity to collaborate in-person each week as we've found that we're at our best when we're purposely together on a regular basis. In most of our locations, our hybrid work model is four days in-office each week. A range of other benefits are also available to enhance flexibility as needs change. No matter where you are, you'll have tools and resources to engage meaningfully with your global colleagues. 001_MstarInc Morningstar Inc. Legal Entity

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