Want to know if this job is worth applying to?
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Onsite
The Atlantic is looking for an innovative, analytical, and curious Engineer. We aim to support a more thoughtful American public by powering and expanding our Pulitzer Prize winning journalism. Guided by our readers and informed by data, you will build products to amplify our impact and reach in this role. We pride ourselves on maintaining an inclusive and diverse culture that values continuous learning, elegant problem solving, supportive teamwork, and delivering value.
Minimum Qualifications:
4+ years of full-stack software development experience, including 2+ years of full-stack web development (frontend and backend)
Professional experience with JavaScript/TypeScript and at least one backend language (Python preferred)
Experience deploying and maintaining production systems using cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP), containerization, and CI/CD pipelines
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience with React/React Native, Django, GraphQL, and infrastructure tools (Docker, Terraform)
Experience designing scalable systems and working with AWS/GCP cloud services
Background in media/publishing platforms with third-party integrations and data pipelines
Experience with managing advertising systems
As an Atlantic Engineer, you will:
Hit the ground running to write, test, debug, document, and deploy code across our full stack.
Partner with the Product and Design teams to collaboratively translate ambiguous requirements into well-scoped technical solutions.
Participate in and contribute to code reviews, stand-ups, sprint planning, retrospectives, and technical documentation.
Participate in on-call rotation (outside of standard business hours) to monitor, troubleshoot, and resolve production incidents, ensuring system reliability and uptime.
Research and recommend technical solutions for future product features, evaluating new technologies and presenting recommendations with clear tradeoff analysis.
Demonstrate technical leadership by mentoring engineers, establishing best practices, and helping maintain quality standards across the engineering department.
The role will at times include night, early-morning, and weekend work.
A talented programmer: You are proficient in modern full stack web development. You can design a RESTful or GraphQL microservice with proper error handling, wire it up to a data model, run the app locally in a Docker container, write a frontend service to consume the data, and deploy it to production. You write clean, maintainable code.
Knowledgeable: You work effectively within established architectures and follow industry best practices. You stay current with security, accessibility, and performance standards.
Flexible: Although you typically work with a suite of proven tools, you are curious and open to new solutions and industry trends. You can evaluate whether a new technology genuinely solves an existing problem.
A strong communicator: You communicate promptly, clearly, proactively, and empathetically with teammates and stakeholders. You can explain technical concepts to non-technical colleagues, provide constructive code review feedback, and surface risks early.
A pragmatic technologist: You gravitate towards the simplest viable solution that balances current and near-term needs. You value quality, but a desire for perfection doesn’t draw your work off of the critical path.
A critical thinker: You think creatively and innovatively when approaching your work. Given a product requirement, you can break it into technical tasks, identify dependencies and risks, and execute with minimal oversight.
Adaptable: You are excited to work on a variety of projects of different sizes, using different technologies. You are agile, a quick learner, and highly motivated to perform at the highest level.
A team player: You take initiative in offering help to team members, including pair programming and knowledge sharing. You encourage and support the development of your teammates. You value team camaraderie and thrive in an environment fueled by discussion and debate.
An interest in the pursuit of truth: You recognize the fundamental importance of journalism and have a desire to see it thrive.
Salary minimum: $100,000; Salary maximum: $135,000
This is a Guild position.
About The Atlantic:
The Atlantic has, for more than 160 years, advanced ideas that matter and sparked global conversation on the most important issues of our time. We aim to bring clarity and original thinking to questions of consequence, on topics ranging from politics, the economy, and global affairs to technology, science, and culture. As the third-longest-running magazine in America, we find ourselves at a remarkable moment: one of both continuation and transformation, of upholding our legacy while continuously reinventing ourselves for the future.
_____________
The Atlantic Monthly Group LLC ("The Atlantic") is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Atlantic is committed to diversity and encourages members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, LGBTQ people, people of color, and people with disabilities. We do not discriminate against our applicants because of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable law.
Job offers to work at The Atlantic are contingent upon the candidate’s successful completion of reference checks and compliance with The Atlantic's COVID-19 vaccination policy. The Atlantic requires all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, including subsequent boosters, and submit proof of vaccination status. Employees who cannot receive the vaccine because of a disability/medical contraindication or sincerely-held religious belief may request an accommodation (e.g., an exemption) to this requirement.