Brian Sutherland, President

When Brian founded Highland Solutions in 1998, he set out to do what few IT companies had (and few do today): to make enterprise quality IT solutions understandable, accessible and affordable. Today, he leads the Highland team with those same objectives in mind.

 

Brian previously served as a quality assurance engineer for Raytheon Co., business development staff engineer for Impell Corporation, section manager and principal for Gensys Corporation, manager and principal of United Energy Services Corp., and vice president and principal of Decision Design Corp. Brian has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Cal Poly.

Michael Lane, Director of Business Solutions

An IT systems architecture specialist, Michael provides leadership to Highland’s development team and is responsible for planning, developing and deploying advanced, high-performance business automation solutions. He has over 25 years of experience providing professional consulting and systems development and integration to a variety of industries.

 

Before joining Highland, Michael served as senior project engineer for Sargent & Lundy Engineers and Fluor-Danial, Inc., senior engineer for United Energy Services Corporation, vice president and principal of Decision Design Corporation, and systems architect for Daugherty Systems. Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University.

Mark Snyder, Director of Technology Solutions

With over 22 years of IT consulting and engineering experience in small, mid-size, and Fortune 500 companies, Mark provides leadership to Highland’s technical support team and oversees strategic technology consulting, advanced enterprise IT deployments and forensic investigations.

 

Before coming to Highland, Mark served as a vice president for JPMorgan CHASE, a project manager for JPMorgan CHASE, and a corporate LAN administrator for AAA Chicago Motor Club. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Spring Arbor University and a master’s degree in computer science from DePaul University and is certified in MCSE 2003, RHCE, MCNE, A+, Network+.

Jon Berbaum, Client Engagement Manager

With over 10 years of operations and management skills in diverse settings, Jon uniquely blends deft interpersonal skills and process management. He is responsible for creating high-quality, trust-based relationships between Highland’s team and its clients and serves as a client advocate.

 

Jon holds a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College (Illinois) and a master’s degree from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Located on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago, Highland is always looking for team members who are exceptionally gifted both technically and personally. Our team members are business-minded, collaborative, and marked by their integrity and commitment to our clients’ success. Highland Solutions is a 10+ year old business consulting firm serving a large base of national clients. We develop agile and highly usable custom web applications for business process automation and integration with classic business systems. Our small but growing team will allow you to have a significant impact on our business success.

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Current Openings: Join a client-focused, high growth web development company in the Loop, in a position that provides the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technology.

» Web Application Developer
» Client Engagement Manager
» Administrative Coordinator
» Business Data Analyst Intern

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Job title: Web Application Developer

Position Classification :Full Time

Job Description: Mid-level developer comfortable working in multi-disciplined team and with organic project management methods.

Candidate Key Attributes: Adaptive, Agile and Exploring. Our developers create complex web applications in small teams, allowing each member to engage projects from design through implementation, and develop extremely wide skill sets in technical ability, business knowledge, and team development.

Responsibilities and Opportunities:

• Web Server Scripting: PHP 5, including API, libraries, frameworks, image manipulation and PDF output creation
• SQL Database: ANSI SQL programming, MySQL 5 features, data definition and administration, relational database technology
• Javascript, jQuery and AJAX Technologies: asynchronous data retrieval, rich web interface development, advanced form validation and security
• CSS/XHTML: advanced layout and design techniques, W3C standards compliance, application of frameworks
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): custom functionality and integration development
• E-Commerce Systems: custom development and integration, secure payment gateway interfaces
• Business Analysis: requirements gathering, use case modeling, prototyping skills and user viewpoint effectiveness reviews
• Web Publishing: integration with blog and networking platforms, commercial content management system template design

Specific Skills:

• apply technical and business knowledge in developing innovative business and consumer-focused distributed web systems;
• design, develop, integrate and implement application components relating to the background processing and user interface layers of complex database-driven AJAX-fronted systems;
• work hands-on in programming, maintenance, and support using iterative/rapid application development techniques;
• work with clients and other team members to determine business objectives, project timelines and appropriate resourcing;
• help establish and communicate processes, procedures and techniques.

Requirements:

• Full time, on-location only
• Bachelors degree in CS or equivalent training
• 2+ years working with PHP and MySQL or equivalent web scripting/database experience
• Solid HTML and CSS layout skills using non-visual tools and IDE’s
• Experience with AJAX, jQuery and other rich interface tools preferred
• Experience with CRM or e-Commerce OSS platforms highly desired
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Desire to work in agile development teams on multiple fast-track projects

Benefits:

• Great Chicago Loop/lakefront location
• Humane work schedule with training and development time
• 401K matching retirement program
• Health care and flex spending plans
• Competitive salary
• Holidays and paid vacation time
• Pre-tax public transportation cards

To Apply: Please include a cover letter with your resume. All applicants are requested to respond to the following questions within their cover letter.

• How many years of experience do you have interfacing directly with clients?
• What do you think are your greatest strengths in this position as described?
• What about this position do you find most attractive?
• What do you bring to this position that other applicants may not?
• What word would your co-workers use to describe you?

Ability to communicate effectively is important to us and your letter counts!  Resumes without portfolio/links/references will not be considered, sorry.

» Apply now
» Back to Current Openings

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Job title: Client Engagement Manager

Position Classification: Full Time

Job Description: Manage the creation and customization of complex web applications utilizing Adaptive Software Development. Work closely within small teams and  with various clients. Guide the development team in working in budget and on time.

Candidate Key Attributes: Holistic thinker, peacemaker, honest and straightforward, self-motivated, organized, detail-oriented, and empathetic

Responsibilities and Opportunities:

• Gain intimate knowledge of the client, their business and their project.
• Work with clients from pre-sale through project completion.
• Organize project tasks, details and expectations and communicate them to the client and the team.
• Provide remote and on-site training, consultation, and project management.
• Adjust priorities based on input from both the client and Highland’s development team.
• Take responsibility for the quality of deliverables

Requirements: People, project and management skills, knowledge of computers, professional verbal and written communication skills

Benefits:

• Great Chicago Loop/lakefront location
• Humane work schedule with training and development time
• 401K matching retirement program
• Health care and flex spending plans
• Competitive salary
• Holidays and paid vacation time
• Pre-tax public transportation cards

To Apply: Please include a cover letter with your resume. All applicants are requested to respond to the following questions within their cover letter.

• How many years of experience do you have interfacing directly with clients?
• What do you think are your greatest strengths in this position as described?
• What about this position do you find most attractive?
• What do you bring to this position that other applicants may not?
• What word would your co-workers use to describe you?

Ability to communicate effectively is important to us and your letter counts!  Resumes without portfolio/links/references will not be considered, sorry.

» Apply now
» Back to Current Openings

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Job title: Administrative Coordinator

Position Classification: Full Time

Job Description: The administrative coordinator handles the important internal functions of Highland Solutions. This includes general office administration as well as supporting other staff members. The position requires the ability to be self-directed while working closely with senior management. 

Candidate Key Attributes: Detail-oriented, organized, self-motivated, dependable, assertive, adaptable

Responsibilities and Opportunities:

• Answer telephones and transfer to appropriate staff member.
• Meet and greet clients and visitors.
• Create and modify documents using Microsoft Office.
• Perform general clerical duties to include but not limited to: photocopying, faxing, mailing, and filing.
• Maintain hard copy and electronic filing system.
• Sign for and distribute UPS/Fed Ex/Airborne packages.
• Research, price, and purchase office furniture and supplies.
• Support staff in assigned project based work.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements: Knowledge of Microsoft Office, telephone protocol and office machinery. Duties require professional verbal and written communication skills.

Benefits:

• Great Chicago Loop/lakefront location
• Humane work schedule with training and development time
• 401K matching retirement program
• Health care and flex spending plans
• Competitive salary
• Holidays and paid vacation time
• Pre-tax public transportation cards

To Apply: Please include a cover letter with your resume. All applicants are requested to respond to the following questions within their cover letter.

• How many years of experience do you have interfacing directly with clients?
• What do you think are your greatest strengths in this position as described?
• What about this position do you find most attractive?
• What do you bring to this position that other applicants may not?
• What word would your co-workers use to describe you?

Ability to communicate effectively is important to us and your letter counts!  Resumes without references will not be considered, sorry.

» Apply now
» Back to Current Openings

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Job title: Business Data Analyst Intern

Position Classification: Part Time

Job Description: Flexible, part time data analyst assisting our Business Solutions consulting group manage client business information for customer relationship and e-commerce information systems. Your will be working with cutting edge web and mobile business systems . The position requires the ability to be self-directed while working closely with our consultants and system developers.

Candidate Key Attributes: Detail-oriented, analytical and accurate.

Responsibilities and Opportunities:

• Load and verify client customer account, contact, lead data into customized CRM systems
• Analyze and de-duplicate CRM records
• Use internal CRM reporting tools to present data loading results
• Perform customizations of CRM system data fields and layouts
• Load and verify product information records and image file into customized e-Commerce electronic catalogs
• Review and apply product information categorization schemas and application information
• Perform and assess general data quality reviews
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements: Knowledge of spreadsheets and data analysis techniques from college work or applied experience. Exposure to relational databases and Structured Query Language is strongly desired.

Benefits:

• Great Chicago Loop/lakefront location
• Humane / flexible work hours
• Chance to learn and grow business skills

To Apply: Please include a cover letter with your resume. All applicants are requested to respond to the following questions within their cover letter.

• What work or training have you experienced managing or analyzing business data?
• Describe your proficiency with spreadsheets, text editors, databases and other data management tools?
• What are your short term career and education goals?

Ability to communicate effectively is important to us and your letter counts!

» Apply now
» Back to Current Openings

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