Staff Software Engineer, Cloud Platform

Job Description

Arc XP (https://www.arcxp.com/) is a cloud-based digital experience platform that empowers enterprise companies, retail brands, and media and entertainment organizations to create and distribute content, drive digital commerce, and deliver compelling multichannel experiences. As a division of The Washington Post, Arc XP has facilitated the digital transformation of customers worldwide, currently serving over 1,900 sites in more than 25 countries, reaching nearly 2 billion unique visitors monthly.

Fully leveraging AWS, the Arc platform is built upon a microservices architecture. Our software teams embrace DevOps principles to deliver and maintain products efficiently. With lightweight processes, our teams innovate rapidly, bringing new ideas to market with agility. New features and products are deployed daily to our customer base, operating as Software as a Service by Arc.

We're actively seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join the Content Delivery engineering team. In this role, you'll lead the design, implementation, and scaling of core platform components that enable Arc's customers to create and deliver exceptional digital experiences. Your responsibilities will span backend applications, identity management systems, and AWS infrastructure, driving initiatives to modernize and enhance the platform's capabilities. Collaborating closely with product owners, architects, and engineering teams, you'll play a critical role in shaping a suite of world-class applications, providing innovative solutions for development practices, scalability, and deployment strategies. This role is pivotal, offering opportunities to influence technical direction and mentor team members across multiple teams.

Motivation

• You demonstrate a passion for technical excellence through innovative solutions and continuous learning.

• You excel in leadership, mentoring teams, and fostering an inclusive, collaborative environment.

• You thrive on solving complex problems and designing solutions that have a meaningful impact on customers and end-users.

• You are a strategic thinker who balances technical depth with business needs, ensuring long-term scalability and maintainability.

• You are committed to innovation and staying at the forefront of modern technologies and best practices.

Responsibilities

Technical Responsibilities:

• Building secure and highly-scalable backend services to support customers using the Arc platform.

• Meeting goals using technologies like AWS ECS, Lambda, Docker, CloudFormation, Step Functions, DynamoDB, among others, with particular emphasis on Step Functions.

• Owning responsibility for running applications using CI/CD practices such as automated builds, deployments, and tests.

• Setting up and reacting to production application monitoring.

• Making technical decisions with consideration for reliability, performance, and cost, influencing others by example.

• Refining engineering best practices, architectural patterns, and promoting industry trends to improve our systems.

• Maintaining codebase consistency, participating in annual architectural and infrastructure scans, and ensuring security best practices are followed.

Leadership and Mentoring:

• Leading multi-team initiatives, persuading and planning strategic projects, and directing ongoing efforts across several teams.

• Driving strategic technical initiatives, including platform modernization, scalability, and infrastructure improvements.

• Leading epics of any size, including creating solution designs, detailed stories, and execution plans.

• Mentoring team members to improve their skills, industry knowledge, and alignment with best practices.

• Teaching effective ways to break down and scope work, reducing complexity to deliver more efficiently.

Collaboration and Process Improvement:

• Actively participating in team agile activities such as story refinement, planning work backlog, work estimation, sprint planning, retros, demos, etc.

• Managing tasks effectively within a distributed remote team, ensuring effective collaboration and communication across locations.

• Representing team goals, products, and projects in departmental discussions and decision-making processes.

• Collaborating across teams, driving consensus and alignment to achieve shared goals.

• Advocating for new technologies and performing functional prototyping to validate concepts.

• Proactively identifying opportunities to improve standards, tooling, and processes across teams.

• Ensuring OKRs are aligned across teams to drive performance and results.

• Advocating for quality, designing testable applications and architectures, and coaching team members on testing techniques.

• Driving efforts to reduce technical debt, customer issues, and operational costs through iterative improvements and Savings Roadmap projects.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• BA/BS in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field or equivalent practical experience.

• 8+ years of experience in designing and building highly-scalable, customer-facing applications.

• Proven expertise in server-side programming languages with a preference for Python and Node.js, but considering Go, or Java.

• Experience in front-end technologies such as React, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

• Strong understanding of AWS services including Lambda, Step Functions, CloudFormation, IAM, ECS, and DynamoDB.

• Deep knowledge of identity management protocols and systems (e.g., SAML, SSO, MFA, OAuth) and familiarity with solutions like Okta.

• Hands-on experience with web service proxy components such as NGINX and AWS API Gateway.

• Extensive experience with database systems and event-driven architectures.

• Demonstrated ability to lead technical projects from inception to delivery.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of and experience with building automation tools for standardizing repetitive tasks.

• Experience integrating with third-party services and APIs.

• Familiarity with CDNs such as Akamai or CloudFront.

• Expertise in building applications on AWS and leveraging serverless architecture.

• Proficiency with end-to-end testing frameworks and methodologies.

• Experience working in DevOps environments, managing the full engineering lifecycle.

• Expertise in production monitoring and performance analysis of cloud environments.

• Strong track record of collaborating with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.

Why Arc XP?

At Arc XP, you’ll have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge technologies, impact millions of users, and shape the future of digital experiences. Join us in shaping innovative solutions that make a difference, and become a leader in an environment that values innovation, collaboration, and growth.

The Washington Post’s policy for employees is five days per week in the office, with exceptions for newsgathering and general business travel.

Compensation and Benefits

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:

131,500.00 - 219,100.00 USD Annual

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.

The Post strives to provide its readers with high-quality, trustworthy news and information while constantly innovating. That mission is best served by a diverse, multi-generational workforce with varied life experiences and perspectives. All cultures and backgrounds are welcomed. 

The innovation doesn’t end in the Newsroom – dozens of teams power The Washington Post.  We are now hiring the next innovator – how will you Impact Tomorrow?

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