Senior Software Engineer, Messaging Platforms

The New York Times•New York, NY

17h•Hybrid

About The Position

The New York Times is seeking a senior front-end developer with experience in agentic AI development to join one of several teams that make up the Messaging Platforms group. Your work will directly empower the Times to deliver breaking news and engage millions of readers worldwide. As we expand and replatform the core tools used by our editors and partners, you will have a unique opportunity to build significant new capabilities within a mission-driven organization. You'll join a collaborative group of engineers, designers, and product managers who prioritize empathy, innovation, and a shared responsibility for our collective success. Our front-end code is written in React, while most of our backend code is Go. Services are deployed using CI/CD tools like GitHub Actions, and our infrastructure, which is hosted in Google Cloud (GCP) and Amazon Web Services (AWS), is provisioned with Terraform.

Requirements

5+ years of experience with front-end fundamentals (HTML/CSS/JavaScript/TypeScript), performance, accessibility, and best practices
Expertise in modern frameworks (eg. React, Redux, CSS modules, ReactDOM)
Proficiency with JavaScript tooling (eg. Vite, Babel, pnpm, Webpack) and Node.js/GraphQL
2+ years of full-stack experience, including back-end languages (Go preferred) and SQL
Hands-on experience with agentic or AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., Claude Code or Cursor) including the ability to effectively direct, iterate on, and verify AI-generated output

Nice To Haves

Experience developing and maintaining custom AI agents or automated developer workflows
Experience with evaluation frameworks for AI-generated code, including the use of automated checks, regression testing, or LLM-based grading to ensure architectural consistency at scale
A nuanced understanding of the trade-offs and complexities involved in LLM orchestration, including a focus on cost, token usage, and the limitations of current agentic frameworks in front-end environments
Experience building, operating, and monitoring web systems in GCP or AWS
Experience with Prosemirror and/or Apollo

Responsibilities

Help lead the effort to modernize front-end tools using agentic workflows to accelerate development cycles while maintaining high architectural standards.
Provide front-end expertise and coaching on AI-assisted development, helping the team adapt their workflows to spend more time on system design and less on routine implementation.
Contribute to the full development lifecycle of our products, performing activities related to design, development, testing, deployment, monitoring, within a collaborative, distributed team.
Partner with engineers, designers, and product managers across the organization to build user-friendly messaging capabilities.
Ensure code quality and architectural health through static analysis, automated testing, and optimization for agentic development patterns.
Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.