Senior Backend Software Engineer

Join the future of news

We’re on a mission to deliver riveting storytelling for all of America. At The Washington Post, you’ll help reinvent news. Our work is driven by a deep investigative spirit and enhanced by innovation to bring audiences closer to the stories that matter most.

About Our Team

The Washington Post is powered by the passion and talent of our people. It takes all of us to reinvent news. Beyond our award-winning Newsroom and Opinions teams, we work across many departments, including Brand & Events, Communications, Customer Care, Engineering & Product, Finance, Human Resources, Legal, Marketing & Advertising, Print Operations, and Sales.

Why This Role Matters

The Washington Post is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to support our flagship apps engineering team. You will be responsible for the design and development or enhancement of Android applications as well as for building and maintaining the infrastructure, back end services and publishing pipelines for native iOS and Android applications. You will play an integral role in helping deliver increasingly smarter mobile apps to our users.

What Motivates You

• You want to help bring our award-winning journalism to people every day.

• You are passionate about delivering high-quality products.

• You have opinions about leveraging the latest technology from Google and other solution providers to enhance the news-reading experience.

• You enjoy collaborating with colleagues across disciplines to solve problems and deliver new functionality.

• You have opinions about what makes for a good native app experience.

• You have opinions about what makes for creating scalable, secure, and efficient backend services and microservices.

• You enjoy breaking down complicated problems into distinct workable pieces.

How You'll Support The Mission

• Design and develop advanced applications for Android platform.

• Design, develop and maintain scalable, secure, and efficient backend services and microservices to support mobile applications, following established development methodologies and standards.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define API contracts, design and ship new features. 

• Understand the complexities of and help integrate different third-party SDKs.

• Optimize the underlying AWS infrastructure for subscription services for performance and cost.

• Identify, troubleshoot, and solve complex problems.

• Participate in agile software development practices and peer/code reviews.

• Stay on top of latest technologies/ mobile trends and recommend appropriate design solutions.

• Plan, develop, and conduct unit testing; assist in planning and conducting other testing (e.g., integration, system, etc.).

• Perform impact assessment in all system/application changes as needed; follows appropriate change management and control procedures.

The Skills and Experience You Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, engineering or related technical field or equivalent experience.

• Minimum of 5 years of experience with Android SDK required; prior experience in a similar role preferred.

• High level of proficiency in Kotlin and Java with an understanding of code optimization and application performance.

• Desirable experience, but not required, in:

  • Python and Node JS

  • Back-end technologies such as Java EE, Sprint Boot, Junit

  • Relational databases such as Oracle, MySQL, Postgres

  • Application servers such as Wildfly, Glassfish, Tomcat

  • Web servers such as httpd and Nginx

  • Message/event buses such as JMS, Active Mq, SQS/SNS (AWS)

  • Engineering tools such as Datadog, Splunk, and Catchpoint

  • DevOps technologies such as Docker and Jenkins

  • Amazon Web Services such as S3, ECS, EC2, and Cloudwatch

• Experience working on and releasing one or more applications to Google Playstore and/or Amazon Appstore.

• Strong analytical, evaluation and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to develop solutions by applying relevant technologies and ensuring maintainability, extensibility and code reuse.

• Solid understanding of Version Control principles, preferably using Git and Pull Requests

• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum methodologies.

• Knowledge of testing and quality assurance practices including unit testing and code documentation.

• Excellent verbal/written communication and collaboration skills.

• Ability to deliver quality solutions within established timelines.

Collaboration makes us stronger. That’s why our offices are designed with open layouts, modern technology, and easy access to transportation. With certain exceptions for newsgathering and business travel, we work on-site five days a week.

Compensation and Benefits

Wherever you are in your life or career, The Washington Post offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits for every step of your journey:

• Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage

• Company-paid pension and 401(k) match

• Three weeks of vacation and up to three weeks of paid sick leave

• Nine paid holidays and two personal days

• 20 weeks paid parental leave for any new parent

• Robust mental health resources

• Backup care and caregiver concierge services

• Gender affirming services

• Pet insurance

• Free Post digital subscription

• Leadership and career development programs

Benefits may vary based on the job, full-time or part-time schedule, location, and collectively bargained status.

The salary range for this position is:

The actual salary within this range will depend on individual skills, experience, and qualifications as they relate to specific job requirements. This position may be eligible for a bonus or incentive program, and a member of the Talent Acquisition team will discuss bonus payment terms and conditions during the interview process.