The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world's population sees AP journalism every day.

Role Overview:

We are looking for an experienced Engineering Manager to lead our Platform team. This role will focus on the back-end development in the AP News CMS, building new editorial workflows and experiences, integrating third party tools, and exposing APIs and data for front-end development. This role also involves responsibility for content ingestion services and cloud infrastructure. This role offers an opportunity to drive strategy within a fast-growing team and make a significant impact in a dynamic media environment.
 

Responsibilities:

• Architect scalable solutions to support high-traffic environments.

• Manage and mentor an agile team of engineers.

• Design, implement, and maintain APIs, services, and integrations.

• Lead performance optimization efforts to enhance user experience.

• Collaborate on the development and implementation of platform architecture and strategies.

• Utilize and integrate the Brightspot CMS platform to meet content management needs.

• Work closely with cross-functional teams to align technology with business goals.

• Ensure compliance with industry regulations, standards, and security practices.

• Leverage analytics and data-driven insights to inform decisions.

• Collaborate closely with front-end development teams for seamless user experience.

• Engage with vendors and third-party services as needed.

• Contribute to long-term strategic planning for the platform.

Qualifications & Requirements:

• Core Java 8 or above experience

• Database Management (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL)

• RESTful API development

• Server-Side Templating (e.g., JSP - JavaServer Pages)

• Tomcat Server deployment 

• Version Control (e.g., Git)

• Unit Testing and Test-Driven Development (TDD)

• Collaboration and Communication

• Experience in managing an innovative and scalable technology stack, leading a small team to enhance consumer experiences in digital media. This includes a focus on multimedia content, video processing, advertising integration, and first-party data.

• Work closely with cross-functional teams such as developers, product managers, and QA engineers to ensure seamless integration of backend systems with other components of the application.

• Contribute to the development of the overall architecture of the application, providing input and suggestions to ensure that the backend systems are designed to meet the needs of the application.

• Experience with social media network integration challenges (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc) and expertise in search technologies, SEO, web analytics tools (like Google Analytics) etc.

• Experience in containerization technologies like container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes for managing and scaling CMS applications.

• Expertise in optimizing the performance of backend systems, including database, Solr queries, caching mechanisms, and server-side processing to ensure fast response times.

• Proficient in identifying and resolving backend issues, debugging code, and conducting root cause analysis.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities to address complex technical challenges and find innovative solutions.

• Experience with the Brightspot CMS platform or other common CMS platforms a plus

• Experience developing mobile-first optimization

• Experience integrating programmatic advertising tools and general understanding of monetization strategies.

• Understanding of news media trends and how technology can enhance news delivery.

• Strong communicator with the ability to work with cross-functional stakeholders in revenue, on the editorial team, and experience working directly with product.

• Experience in agile project management and ability to lead cross-functional teams.

• Collaboration with UX/UI design teams to create user-friendly interfaces.

• Experience with DevOps practices including continuous integration, continuous deployment (CI/CD), automation tools and understanding of microservices architecture.

• Strong experience in database management, including both SQL and NoSQL databases.

• Excellent collaboration skills with cross-functional stakeholders.

• Understanding of the news media landscape and how technology can enhance news delivery.

• Advanced-level professional competency in written and spoken English language is required. 

• Authorization to work in the US for any employer is mandatory.

Education: Master’s or bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field (or equivalent experience).

Work Location: Hybrid work environment, with the office located in New York, NY.
 

Compensation & Benefits: Base salary range of 160,000 – 175,000, contingent on experience and other job-related factors. Employees are eligible to participate, according to the terms of the official plan documents, in a 401(k) plan, employer-sponsored health insurance plan, and are eligible for paid time off and holidays in accordance with AP policy.

Application deadline is 11:59pm EST on April 30, 2024.

AP seeks to build an inclusive organization grounded in respect for differences. We support all aspects of diversity and provide equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or status as a veteran. We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply.