Back to jobs

Software Engineer 2 - Early Career Technology Leadership Track

Chicago, IL (Elmhurst)

Who We Are
McMaster-Carr is a leading e-commerce company offering products that help keep operations running smoothly, innovators designing the next generation of solutions, and makers creating and manufacturing. Our customers have trusted us for over 120 years.

We earn and keep that trust by offering the right products, making them easy to find, and delivering them fast, so our customers can solve problems with greater speed, precision, and ease. Our industry-leading e-commerce experience, indispensable product selection, and world-class service bring hundreds of thousands of customers to McMaster.com each day.

Our curious, exceptional people are at the heart of our evolution and customer experience. They turn new challenges and disruptive technologies into opportunities to refine our operations, expand our product offering, and deliver a better experience for every customer.

Our Culture
We intentionally cultivate a culture focused on clear execution and long‑term growth. We are responsible for building systems that endure for decades and support the company’s long-term growth. That responsibility means engineering work starts with a deep understanding of the problem and its impact, grounded in clear ownership, open communication, and direct feedback. Our teams are trusted to make thoughtful decisions about how work gets done, balancing a high bar for quality with practical execution. As an engineering leader here, you'll have significant autonomy with end-to-end ownership where you make product decisions while building things real people interact with directly.

How You'll Make an Impact
As part of our software engineering team, you'll develop the high-scale production software that powers our e-commerce experience and our world-class operations. From customer-facing web features to distribution center automation, we design and scale critical systems that enable McMaster-Carr to deliver same-day or next-day orders reliably and efficiently. This is a track to grow into technical leadership roles that include people, project, and technology management responsibilities. Your progression is driven by the impact of your work.

As a software engineer, you'll work on projects like:

  • Improve how customers find what they need on our website - You will build and evolve the systems that help our customers find, evaluate, and understand millions of industrial products across our digital publications. This includes improving search relevance with LLMs and simplifying navigation across our product offering that makes our website faster and easier to use.
  • McMaster.ai: Build and scale our domain-expert AI assistant that turns McMaster’s product data and customer history into a continuously learning assistant that interprets intent, narrows options, explains tradeoffs, and carries context across sessions to make complex industrial work feel effortless.
  • Make fulfillment smarter and help us plan ahead - Design systems that improve how we pick, pack, and ship orders so thousands of customers each day get what they need, faster.


What You'll Do

  • The first 30 days are about learning with purpose: understanding our goals, getting a clear picture of the customer journey, and building fluency in the codebase. As you onboard, you'll develop features that are small enough to help you ramp quickly, but substantial enough to matter.
  • As you continue to design, implement, and deliver features, you’ll start taking on less‑defined challenges where you’ll sharpen requirements in addition to developing thoughtful solutions that meaningfully improve the customers' experience. In doing so, you'll create clarity and momentum that enables you and your teammates to deliver exceptional experiences.
  • As you progress you will begin to coach others and broaden your collaboration. This can look like participation in code reviews, mentoring more junior engineers, and contributing to team-wide engineering quality. You will continue to work across teams as you design and implement features that can impact our customers.
  • Throughout your career you will drive your development. You will develop domain expertise, explore new technologies, and bring new perspectives to the challenges your team is tackling. In doing so, you'll create clarity and momentum that enables you and your teammates to deliver exceptional experiences.


How You'll Grow

  • You will start by diving into assignments that require thoughtful solutions and a deep understanding of the customer benefit or business need, not just execution. You will develop larger features with open questions that require you to do research and think through and discuss tradeoffs before implementation.
  • Throughout your career you will drive your development. You will develop domain expertise, explore new technologies, and bring new perspectives to the challenges your team is tackling. In doing so, you'll create clarity and momentum that enables you and your teammates to deliver exceptional experiences.

 

Who You Are
We’re looking for December 2026 - Summer 2027 graduates who are curious, driven engineers who thrive in collaborative environments and are energized by solving hard problems.

Ideal candidates will have:

  • Contributed to live projects or deployed applications used by real users.
  • Strong proficiency in compiled languages such as C#, Java, C++, or Rust.
  • A thoughtful, analytical approach to problem-solving and software design.
  • Ability to write high-quality, maintainable, and scalable code with Systems Design and SOLID principles.
  • Experience improving system architecture, testing, and monitoring to ensure reliability and performance.
  • Clear, confident communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Interest in growing as a mentor, coach, and leader.


Cash Compensation

  • Starting base pay is $147,800
  • Total cash compensation is generally around $185,000 to $200,000 and includes a profit sharing based on company profitability.
  • You will also receive a signing bonus and relocation stipend


Benefits

Growth & Learning

  • 100% tuition reimbursement
  • Informal and formal mentorship
  • Employee resource groups

Health & Wellbeing

  • Medical, dental, pharmacy, and vision plans with no monthly premiums
  • Inclusive, all-gender benefits

Family & Future

  • Paid parental leave for all new parents
  • Adoption and surrogacy assistance
  • First-time home buyer assistance
  • Industry-leading company-funded retirement accounts

Time Off

  • Paid vacation and personal time

#BI-DNI

 

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and dedicated to providing employees a workplace with reasonable accommodations and free of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. At McMaster-Carr, we do not make employment decisions based on age, ethnicity, citizenship status, military status, gender identity and expression, race, religion, disability status, marital status, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected group.

This position is not eligible for work authorization sponsorship by McMaster-Carr.

Data We Collect

We may collect professional, education and employment-related data, and any assessments made throughout the recruiting process, to evaluate candidacy for employment. To communicate with job applicants, we may collect applicant names, contact information, and other personal identifiers, including those outlined in the California customer records statute. Through voluntary disclosure, we may also collect protected classifications under federal or California law (e.g., race, gender, etc.). For additional details about the personal information we collect and its uses, please click here.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Education

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

 

Applicant Statement

I certify that all information and the resume I have provided in order to apply for and secure work with McMaster-Carr is true, complete and correct. I understand any information provided by me that is found to be false, incomplete or misrepresented in any respect, will be sufficient cause to (i) cancel further consideration of this application, or (ii) immediately discharge me from McMaster-Carr's service, whenever it is discovered.

McMaster-Carr is an Equal Opportunity Employer. I understand that McMaster-Carr does not unlawfully discriminate in employment, and no question on this application is used for the purpose of limiting or excusing any applicant from consideration for employment on a basis prohibited by applicable local, state or federal law.

If I am hired, I understand I am free to resign at any time, with or without cause and without prior notice, and McMaster-Carr reserves the same right to terminate my employment at any time, with or without cause and without prior notice, except as may be required by law. This application does not constitute an agreement or contract for employment for any specified period or definite duration. I understand that no supervisor or representative of McMaster-Carr is authorized to make any assurances to the contrary and that no implied, oral or written agreements contrary to the foregoing express language are valid unless they are in writing and signed by McMaster-Carr's president. 

DO NOT SIGN UNTIL YOU HAVE READ THIS APPLICANT STATEMENT.

I certify that I have read, fully understand and accept all terms of the foregoing Applicant Statement.

I understand that this application remains current for only 30 days. At the conclusion of that time, if I have not heard from McMaster-Carr and still wish to be considered for employment, it will be necessary to reapply and fill out a new application.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in McMaster-Carr Job Board’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.