Senior Software Engineer, Content Production Technology

OVERVIEW

A thriving, mission-driven multimedia organization, NPR produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation. The NPR audience values information, creativity, curiosity, and social responsibility – and our employees do too. We are innovators and leaders in diverse fields, from journalism and digital media to IT and development. Every day, our employees and member stations touch the lives of millions worldwide. 

Across our organization, we’re building a workplace where collaboration is essential, diverse voices are heard, and inclusion is the key to our success. We are committed to doing the right thing in our journalism and in every role at NPR. This means that integrity, adherence to our ethical standards, and compliance with legal obligations are fundamental responsibilities for every employee at NPR.

Intro to Position

Each day you will work with a cross-functional team of brilliant professionals combining business, design, product, user experience and engineering expertise, working relentlessly to push the boundaries of what’s possible and paving the road for the future of news and entertainment media.

The Content Production Technology group is looking for an experienced, talented and knowledgeable Senior Software Engineer to join the team responsible for developing, supporting and maintaining our internal technologies for planning and producing our multi-platform content. This suite of software is the core toolset for our content division and is ever-evolving to meet the changing needs of our production staff.

As a Senior Software Engineer on our team, you will be met with exciting challenges to iterate on existing systems and contribute to the architecture and development of the next generation of tools. The products we build from scratch as well as those with which we integrate are used by editorial staff around the world. Our stakeholders include NPR staff as well as journalists at member stations around the country who collaborate to create content for our audiences and fulfill our critical mission.

This is a union represented role covered under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with  NABET-CWA DMU. 

Responsibilities

• Support the NPR Content Production Technology (CPT) team’s efforts to build planning and production tools for our journalists
• Write clean, efficient and reusable code based on product requirements
• Participate in all phases of quality assurance and defect resolution
• Aid in the development and maintenance of CI/CD pipeline implementations
• Knowledge share, write technical designs & participate in code reviews
• Mentor and coach mid-level engineers on code quality and best practices
• Consult with lead and senior engineers while designing comprehensive solutions 
• Provide input on system design and architecture within the feature areas and services owned by the team
• Work closely with other software engineers, partner teams, infrastructure engineers, product designers, QA engineers, engineering managers and product managers
• Improve team/development processes
• Join agile ceremonies, including daily stand-ups, sprint retros, sprint reviews and more
• Participate in after-hours on-call rotation in a 24/7/365 environment

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description can be modified at any time.

Minimum Qualifications

• Fluency in JavaScript / TypeScript
• Fluency in C# and the .NET framework
• Familiarity with SQL and RDBMS technologies
• Minimum five years of experience as a software engineer or developer
• Experience in developing and working with RESTful APIs that utilize cloud infrastructure such as AWS
• Familiarity with orchestration and automated workflows with tools like Conductor or ORKES
• Experience with NoSQL databases (e.g. Elasticsearch, DynamoDB)
• Ability to develop software that is resilient and performant.
• Strong Object-Oriented programming skills 
• Familiarity with deploying and monitoring production systems
• Experience writing unit and other automated tests using tools like Postman and Jest.
• Knowledge of web development best practices, coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, deployment, rollback, testing, monitoring
• Excellent problem solving, analysis and troubleshooting skills in an environment where downtime is not an option

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced experience with Amazon AWS or equivalent cloud computing platform, especially for multi-region solutions
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Github Actions, Bamboo, or equivalent)
• Experience using observability and log aggregation platforms (Datadog)
• A passion for NPR’s content and/or familiarity with our digital products

Work Location & Requirements

• Remote-Permitted: This is a remote-permitted role. This role is based out of our Washington, DC office but the employee may choose to work on a remote basis from a location that NPR approves. You will have the option of working (a) remotely from a location of your choosing within the United States that is supported by NPR; (b) on-site at an NPR facility, based on the availability of desks and approval from NPR; or (c) a combination of both. Regardless of where you choose to work from, you may be expected to travel to other locations from time to time to perform the duties of your position.

Job Type

• This is a full-time, exempt position.

Compensation

Salary Range: The U.S. based anticipated salary range for this opportunity is $126,541-$137,604 plus benefits. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salaries NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

Benefits: NPR offers access to comprehensive benefits for employees and dependents. Regular, full-time employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in NPR’s benefits options. Benefits include access to health and wellness, paid time off, and financial well-being. Plan options include medical, dental, vision, life/ accidental death and dismemberment, long-term disability, short-term disability, and voluntary retirement savings to all eligible NPR employees. 

Does this sound like you? If so, we want to hear from you.

NPR is an Equal Opportunity Employer. NPR is committed to being an inclusive workplace that welcomes diverse and unique perspectives, all working toward the same goal – to create a more informed public. Qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, age, religion, religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, lactation, and reproductive health decisions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, transgender status, gender non-conforming status, intersex status, sexual stereotypes, nationality, citizenship status, personal appearance, marital status, family status, family responsibilities, military status, veteran status, mental and physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, genetic characteristics of yourself or a family member, political views and affiliation, unemployment status, protective order status, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or any other basis prohibited under applicable law.

If you are a person with a disability needing assistance with the application process, please reach out to employeerelations@npr.org.

You may read NPR’s privacy policy to learn about how NPR may handle information you submit with any application.

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