Design Developer, Opinion

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

Job summary

The New York Times is seeking a Digital Design Developer to join our award-winning design team in New York City. You will craft digital storytelling experiences for our global audience, bridging visual craft with front-end engineering and collaborating with designers and editors to refine ideas.

This in-office role requires building tools and templates, architecting complex systems, and delivering on deadline while maintaining journalistic independence and a strong mission to seek the truth.

Qualifications

• Strong grasp of visual design fundamentals including typography, layout, motion and interaction.
• Familiarity with Git and collaborative coding workflows; ability to learn new frontend languages and AI toolsets.
• Experience with rapidly evolving digital tech and AI API toolsets.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with art directors, editors, and engineers to build responsive, pixel-perfect user experiences and features.
• Assess designs for feasibility, accessibility, and performance, offering feedback and alternatives when needed.
• Create interactive prototypes to validate ideas and propose responsive layouts, animations and transitions.
• Conduct QA to ensure typography, spacing, colors, and micro-interactions match specs across breakpoints.
• Build and maintain reusable templates, tools, and documentation for editorial workflows.
• Onboard and guide designers on front-end systems to streamline asset handoffs and workflow integration.
• Support journalistic independence and commitment to seek the truth in all work.
• Report to the Deputy Editor, Design.

Skills

Front-end development

Visual design

Collaboration

Typography & layout

Tools

Svelte

WebGL

three.js

Canvas

React

After Effects

Cinema 4D

Blender

Maya

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
• 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:

• 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).

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.

Individuals seeking employment are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation. To ensure compliance with equal employment opportunity requirements, we invite you to complete the Voluntary Disclosure form below. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. Whether you decide to disclose or not, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

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