OVERVIEW

A thriving, mission-driven multimedia organization, NPR produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation. The NPR audience values information, creativity, curiosity, and social responsibility – and our employees do too. We are innovators and leaders in diverse fields, from journalism and digital media to IT and development. Every day, our employees and member stations touch the lives of millions worldwide.

Across our organization, we’re building a workplace where collaboration is essential, diverse voices are heard, and inclusion is the key to our success. We are committed to doing the right thing in our journalism and in every role at NPR. This means that integrity, adherence to our ethical standards, and compliance with legal obligations are fundamental responsibilities for every employee at NPR.

Intro to Position

NPR is seeking a Senior Design Engineer to serve as a vital bridge between design strategy, user needs, and engineering execution within our Content Production Technology team. You will be the connective tissue between product design and front-end development, translating high-level strategy into tangible UX prototypes and writing front-end code to accelerate our development cycles. In this role, you will embed deeply within the production tools ecosystems, partnering closely with Product Managers, Engineers, and NPR’s Editorial and Music teams to optimize workflows for our content creators. If you are a systems-thinker who is equally passionate about beautiful user experiences and clean, complex code patterns, this role offers the unique opportunity to shape the future of NPR’s production platforms.

This is a union-represented role covered under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with NABET-CWA DMU.

Responsibilities

Design-to-Engineering Translation: Bridge the gap between product design and engineering execution by translating high-level product strategy into clean, component-based wireframes and technical user experience pathways.
Rapid Prototyping: Build functional, high-fidelity interactive code prototypes to validate design concepts with content creators and stakeholders before final development.
Front-End Integration: Write production-ready front-end code, establishing standard styling patterns and providing immediate technical design resolutions to developers to optimize development cycles.
Workflow Optimization: Embed deeply within the Nexus and Grove CMS ecosystems, engineering faster, highly efficient publishing workflows customized to our editorial workflows.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner directly with Product Managers, UX Designers, and engineering teams to co-develop functional requirements that maximize platform usability.
Design Cohort Engagement: Actively participate in NPR's broader design cohort, collaborating with specialists from NPR’s Product and Audience Technology (PAT) teams to scale design best practices.
Editorial & Creative Alignment: Work closely with NPR Editorial, Programming, and Music teams to maintain a deep operational understanding of publishing, distribution, and audience engagement requirements.
User Advocacy: Champion intuitive usability for both internal content creators and external public media audiences, ensuring that development paths prioritize user needs over technical convenience.

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description can be modified at any time.

Minimum Qualifications

5+ years of experience working in a hybrid UX Engineering, Design Technology, or Front-End Development role.
Demonstrated portfolio of designing user-centered digital systems and publishing products at scale.
Proven technical experience translating abstract design concepts into structured front-end development requirements.
Excellent cross-functional communication and collaboration skills, with a track record of building alignment across editorial, design, and engineering cohorts.
Strong technical aptitude, including the ability to actively participate in systems architecture, development tradeoff discussions, and release planning.
Experience operating within digital media, journalism, or highly content-rich digital ecosystems.

Preferred Qualifications

Prior experience working within complex headless CMS architectures or multi-platform digital publishing environments.
Deep understanding of enterprise-level design systems, token management, and scalable component libraries.
Experience working in public media, collaborative networks, or union-represented engineering environments.

Required Skills/Competencies

Advanced Front-End Development: Highly proficient in HTML5, CSS/SCSS, and modern JavaScript frameworks (such as Angular or React).
Prototyping Software: Expert level execution in Figma, creating everything from wireframes to highly interactive, micro-interaction models.
Systems Thinking: Strong ability to conceptualize, scale, and document complex web layouts, information architectures, and modular component structures.
Web Accessibility Standard Compliance: Thorough understanding of WCAG 2.1 AA standards and semantic front-end coding best practices to ensure digital accessibility.
Strategic Collaboration: Excellent listening and facilitation skills to negotiate requirements between technical engineers and creative editorial staff.

Education Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Science, Interaction Design, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience).

Work Location & Requirements

NPR Remote-Permitted: This is a remote-permitted role. This role is based out of our Washington, D.C. office, but the employee may choose to work on a remote basis from a location that NPR approves. You will have the option of working (a) remotely from a location of your choosing within the United States that is supported by NPR; (b) on-site at an NPR facility, based on the availability of desks and approval from NPR; or (c) a combination of both. Regardless of where you choose to work from, you may be expected to travel to other locations from time to time to perform the duties of your position.

Job Type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Compensation

Salary Range: The U.S.-based anticipated salary range for this opportunity is $125,646.49 - 140,046.59 plus benefits. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salaries NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

NPR Benefits: NPR provides comprehensive benefits for employees and dependents. Regular, full-time employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in NPR’s benefits options. Benefits include access to health and wellness, paid time off, and financial well-being. Plan options include medical, dental, vision, life/ accidental death and dismemberment, long-term disability, short-term disability, and voluntary retirement savings to all eligible NPR employees.

Does this sound like you? If so, we want to hear from you. All applications must include a resume and cover letter to be considered.

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