Software Engineer - Core Services

Job Description

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.

NPR designs and delivers experiences that grow and engage NPR's audience across all of our platforms. Each month, 129 million people engage with NPR via digital platforms – via our websites, smart speakers, podcasts, mobile applications, and more. These represent the fastest-growing segments of public radio listeners. Our purpose is to identify and explore new directions for the renewal of public radio's value proposition to the next generation of our audience.

The Audience Technology group is looking for an experienced, talented and knowledgeable Software Engineer to join the Core Services team responsible for developing, supporting and maintaining our microservices and core backend APIs. These are the API's and services that drive innovation and engagement across NPR's audience facing digital platforms and Member Station touch points.

Examples include our Content Distribution Service (Content API that helps power NPR One, our mobile applications and our website), Identity and Authorization Service, as well as the APIs and tools that support our digital newscasts, newsletter signup, content search, member station integrations, and much more.

RESPONSIBILITIES

A day in the life:

Each day you will work with a cross-functional team of brilliant professionals combining business, design/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.
Our team has a passion for Agile development and continuous improvement. We are diverse, lifelong learners and read omnivorously, regularly listen to Tiny Desk Concerts, tell coding jokes, have off-site happy hours (or perhaps only virtual for now), and optionally present at conferences. Plus we have great work-life balance - seriously.

The NPR Developers Blog is a great place to learn more about our team, who we are, what we do, and how we do it.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required Technology Skills:
• Fluent in JavaScript/TypeScript and/or PHP.
• Experience working with SQL.
• Comfortable writing unit and other automated tests.
• Experience working with a version control system (Git preferred).
• Ability to create and communicate practical technical designs.

Required Experience:
• Experience adding and maintaining features within a large codebase.
• Familiarity with integrating with external API's / Services.
• Experience developing features on an Agile / Scrum team.

Bonus Points For:
• Experience with designing APIs.
• Familiarity with programming for Serverless functions or other similar cloud technologies.
• Every additional programming language and framework you are fluent in (Python, etc.).
• Exposure to NoSQL databases (Elasticsearch, DynamoDB).
• Willingness to contribute to open-source projects.

The best candidates share these traits with our team:
• Honesty, a friendly attitude, a good sense of humor, and a voracious hunger to learn and improve.
• Creativity, curiosity, and flexibility -- tempered by pragmatism, patience, and acute attention to detail.
• Vigor and Passion - for crafting well-tested, well-documented and elegantly structured code as well as standards-based web development and polyglot programming..
• Love of -- bordering on obsession with -- Agile culture.

What else?
• This role may elect to work remotely from a US-based location supported by NPR, with minimal requirements for traveling into the main NPR Headquarters in DC on occasion for larger get-togethers and meetings.
• We believe that investment in the right methods and tools, combined with attention to people and culture, is the best way to deliver great work as happily and efficiently as possible. We constantly try to improve how we do what we do.
• We are located in DC's NoMa district in LEED Gold Certified building. We are 5 minutes to the metro and within 15 minutes of a great range of restaurants, retail, and culture (Union Station, H Street Corridor, and Union Market).

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-r09xkm-34-204-174-110-42 in your application.