Design Developer, Opinion

The New York Times; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 114,000 - 136,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision benefits

Company 401(k) with match

Employee stock purchase plan

Paid vacation

Paid sick days

Paid parental leave

Tuition reimbursement

Professional development programs

Job summary

The New York Times is seeking a Digital Design Developer to craft digital storytelling experiences for a global audience. You will bridge creative vision with code, collaborating with designers, editors, and engineers to build storyboard-driven, performant front-end features.

You’ll also build tools and templates, architect complex multi-part systems, and work on newsroom-critical projects with occasional remote flexibility within departmental guidance.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of front-end development with HTML, CSS, JS and Figma.
• Strong visual design sense including typography and motion.
• Experience with Git and modern front-end workflows; willingness to learn AI toolsets.
• Experience or interest in rapidly evolving digital technology and storytelling.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with art directors, editors, and engineers to build responsive, pixel-perfect user experiences and product features.
• Assess designs for technical feasibility, accessibility, and performance, offering constructive feedback and alternatives when needed.
• Create interactive prototypes to validate ideas and propose responsive layouts, animations, and transitions for static wireframes.
• Integrate, debug, and optimize multimedia assets (video, audio, animations) for fast load times across devices and browsers.
• Conduct thorough QA to ensure typography, spacing, colors, and micro-interactions match visual specs across screen sizes.
• Build and maintain reusable templates, tools, and documentation for recurring editorial workflows.
• Onboard and guide designers on front-end systems to streamline asset handoffs and workflow integration.
• Demonstrate support and understanding of journalistic independence and our mission to seek the truth.
• You will report to the Deputy Editor, Design.

Skills

HTML/CSS/JS

Figma

Visual design fundamentals

Git

AI tooling familiarity

Tools

React

Svelte

WebGL

three.js

Cinema4D

Blender

Maya

After Effects

Job description

The mission of The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. That means independent journalism is at the heart of all we do as a company. It’s why we have a world-renowned newsroom that sends journalists to report on the ground from nearly 160 countries. It’s why we focus deeply on how our readers will experience our journalism, from print to audio to a world-class digital and app destination. And it’s why our business strategy centers on making journalism so good that it’s worth paying for.

About The Role

The New York Times Opinion desk is looking for a Digital Design Developer to join our award-winning design team. In this role, you will create digital storytelling experiences for our global audience of readers with web development. As an expert front-end engineer with great visual and editorial instincts, you are equally comfortable building out storyboards as you are collaborating with designers and editors to refine ideas. You will also build tools and templates and architect complex multi-part systems and features on deadline.

Bridging creative vision and functional code, this role requires exceptional collaboration and communication. You will partner closely with technical and non-technical stakeholders, clearly articulating processes, constraints, and performance trade-offs. We’re looking for a proven track record of collaborating with art directors and designers, alongside a portfolio that demonstrates meticulous attention to visual craft.

This is an in-office position, based in New York City and includes regular attendance in the office four days each week. There may be some flexibility to work remotely per your departmental guidance.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with art directors, editors, and engineers to build responsive, pixel-perfect user experiences and product features
• Assess designs for technical feasibility, accessibility, and performance, offering constructive feedback and alternatives when needed
• Create interactive prototypes to validate ideas and propose responsive layouts, animations, and transitions for static wireframes
• Integrate, debug, and optimize multimedia assets (video, audio, animations) for fast load times across devices and browsers
• Conduct thorough QA to ensure typography, spacing, colors, and micro-interactions match visual specs across screen sizes
• Build and maintain reusable templates, tools, and documentation for recurring editorial workflows
• Onboard and guide designers on front-end systems to streamline asset handoffs and workflow integration
• 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
• You will report to the Deputy Editor, Design

Basic Qualifications

• 5+ years of creative front-end development using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Figma
• Strong grasp of visual design fundamentals, including typography, layout, motion, and interaction.
• Familiarity with Git and collaborative coding workflows and demonstrated ability to learn new technologies and front-end languages such as emerging A.I. API toolsets
• Experience and interest in rapidly evolving digital technology, such as emerging A.I. API toolsets

Preferred Qualifications

• Passion for journalism and visual storytelling
• Experience or familiarity with Svelte, WebGL, three.js, canvas, React, After Effects, Cinema4D, Blender or Maya
• Experience with motion design, data visualization, video and audio work
• Strong understanding of design details regarding layout hierarchy, visual consistency, motion timing, and typography
• Comfortable in a fast-paced newsroom with flexibility for occasional breaking-news hours (nights/weekends).
• Interest in audience analytics

This position is represented by the NewsGuild of NY.

REQ-018097

Additional Compensation And Benefits

For roles in the U.S., dependent on your role, you may be eligible for variable pay, such as an annual bonus and restricted stock. Benefits may include medical, dental and vision benefits, Flexible Spending Accounts (F.S.A.s), a company-matching 401(k) plan, employee stock purchase plan, paid vacation, paid sick days, paid parental leave, tuition reimbursement and professional development programs.

For roles outside of the U.S., information on benefits will be provided during the interview process.

The annual base pay range for this role is between: $113,945.85 - $136,000 USD

Candidate Use Of GenAI Tools

We’re excited to learn more about you and your experience. To keep our hiring process as fair and authentic as possible, we ask that you submit your own work and not use GenAI tools to generate substantive content during the application and interview process.

If you’re an engineering candidate, we’ll let you know what specific GenAI tools you are permitted to use for your technical assessment.

The New York Times Company is committed to being the world’s best source of independent, reliable and quality journalism. To do so, we embrace a diverse workforce that has a broad range of backgrounds and experiences across our ranks, at all levels of the organization. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate on the basis of an individual's sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s Know Your Rights Poster is available here.

The New York Times Company will provide reasonable accommodations as required by applicable federal, state, and/or local laws. Individuals seeking an accommodation for the application or interview process should email [e-mail]. Emails sent for unrelated issues, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.