Contract Associate Engineer, Software Development

Sinclair Broadcast Group • Seattle, WA

3d

About The Position

Sinclair Digital is the innovation team transforming how local news and television are produced, distributed, and consumed. We're turning a broadcast-centric company into an every-platform enterprise, combining websites, mobile apps, over-the-top (OTT) apps, and our content publishing platform into one seamless experience, all while keeping an entrepreneurial, build-from-the-ground-up spirit.

Our Engineering team runs a structured early-career program designed to grow new engineers into strong cloud practitioners. You'll work across client, server, and cloud systems, and increasingly with the AI and machine-learning tools reshaping how media is built and delivered.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, a Full Stack Web Development certificate paired with an Applied Science degree, or equivalent practical experience.
• ~6 months of experience in application and/or web development (internships, co-ops, and project work count).
• Working familiarity with several of the following: JavaScript, Java, Node.js/Express, Python, ReactJS, MySQL, MongoDB/Mongoose, HTML5, and CSS.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.

Nice To Haves

• Exposure to Docker, microservices, Kubernetes, Terraform, Linux fundamentals, and serverless / event-driven architecture.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Hands-on experience with AI/ML concepts or tools — for example, calling LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector databases, prompt engineering, or basic ML model integration.
• Curiosity about applying AI responsibly to media, content delivery, and developer productivity.

Responsibilities

• Build and operate cloud services using CI/CD and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices.
• Learn full stack development across the full spectrum of software engineering.
• Design and build proof-of-concepts (POCs) for new content-delivery methods, including AI-assisted features such as automated content tagging, summarization, search, and personalization.
• Use AI-assisted development tooling (e.g., code assistants, LLM APIs) to accelerate prototyping and delivery, applying sound judgment about where these tools fit.
• Collaborate across teams, present your ideas, and iterate based on critical feedback.
• Follow engineering best practices while exploring new and emerging technologies.

Benefits

• Participation in a retirement plan
• Quarterly and annual incentive plan bonuses
• Life and disability insurance
• Health, dental and vision plans
• Flexible spending accounts
• 15 paid vacation days
• 2 paid personal days
• 9 paid holidays
• 401 hours of paid sick leave
• Parental leave
• Employee stock purchase plan

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Entry Level