Software Engineer II, Android Ad Tech

We’re on a mission to deliver riveting storytelling for all of America. At The Washington Post, you’ll help reinvent news. Our work is driven by a deep investigative spirit and enhanced by innovation to bring audiences closer to the stories that matter most.

The Washington Post is powered by the passion and talent of our people. It takes all of us to reinvent news. Beyond our award-winning Newsroom and Opinions teams, we work across many departments, including Brand & Events, Communications, Customer Care, Engineering & Product, Finance, Human Resources, Legal, Marketing & Advertising, Print Operations, and Sales.

The Washington Post is looking for a Software Engineer to support our flagship apps engineering team. Under general supervision, you will perform technical analysis, design and development or enhancement of Android applications and play an integral role in helping deliver increasingly smarter mobile apps to our users. You will participate in all facets of the agile development process and will have the opportunity to contribute to products that will be used by millions of people. We are looking for someone with strong interest in all things mobile and a passion for delivering high quality, solid applications.

What Motivates You

• You want to help bring our award-winning journalism to people every day.
• You are passionate about delivering high-quality products.
• You have opinions about leveraging the latest technology from Google and other solution providers to enhance the news-reading experience.
• You enjoy collaborating with colleagues across disciplines to solve problems and deliver new functionality.
• You have opinions about what makes for a good native app experience.
• You enjoy breaking down complicated problems into distinct workable pieces.

How You'll Support the Mission

• Own the intersection of native ad format development, real-time bidding (RTB/header bidding) integration, and ad measurement on Android.
• Research and apply native advertising patterns proven out by leading Android social and content apps (in-feed cards, native video units, sponsored content styled to match organic posts) to our own app surfaces.
• Build and maintain measurement pipelines around ad viewability, click-through rates, and latency to support data-driven partnership decisions.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on Android privacy standards (Privacy Sandbox, advertising ID policies) and modern Android capabilities, advising advertising partners on platform constraints and opportunities.
• Identify, troubleshoot, and solve complex problems, including those affecting ad display latency, battery usage, and app stability across a fragmented device ecosystem.

The Skills and Experience You Bring

• Design and develop advanced applications for Android platform
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define API contracts, design and ship new features.
• Design high-level mobile solutions to meet product requirements and following established development methodologies and standards.
• Understand the complexities of and help integrate different third-party SDKs
• Identify, troubleshoot, and solve complex problems
• Participate in agile software development practices and peer/code reviews.
• Unit-test code for robustness, including edge cases, usability and general reliability
• Stay on top of latest technologies/ mobile trends and recommend appropriate design solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, engineering or related technical field or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of 2 years of experience with Android SDK required; prior experience in a similar role preferred.
• Strong analytical, evaluation and problem-solving skills
• Experience working with Android SDK
• High level of proficiency in Java/Kotlin with an understanding of code optimization and application performance
• Experience working on and releasing one or more applications to Google Playstore and/or Amazon Appstore
• Experience implementing, optimizing, and maintaining mobile advertising frameworks and SDKs within native Android applications.
• Experience leveraging AI tools and automated platforms (e.g., AI pair-programmers, automated testing, or code-generation assistants) to improve engineering productivity, accelerate code delivery, and optimize development workflows across the lifecycle.
• Strong grasp of computer science fundamentals
• Solid understanding of Version Control principles, preferably using Git and Pull Requests
• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum methodologies
• Knowledge of testing and quality assurance practices including unit testing and code documentation.
• Excellent verbal/written communication and collaboration skills.
• Ability to deliver quality solutions within established timelines.
• Additional knowledge of RESTful services and other server-side principles is a plus

Wherever you are in your life or career, The Washington Post offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits for every step of your journey:

• Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage

• Company-paid pension and 401(k) match

• Three weeks of vacation and up to three weeks of paid sick leave

• Nine paid holidays and two personal days

• 20 weeks paid parental leave for any new parent

• Robust mental health resources

• Backup care and caregiver concierge services

• Gender affirming services

• Pet insurance

• Free Post digital subscription

• Leadership and career development programs

Benefits may vary based on the job, full-time or part-time schedule, location, and collectively bargained status.

The salary range for this position is:

The actual salary within this range will depend on individual skills, experience, and qualifications as they relate to specific job requirements. This position may be eligible for a bonus or incentive program, and a member of the Talent Acquisition team will discuss bonus payment terms and conditions during the interview process.