Digital Design Developer

Job Description: 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

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