Job Description

Job Description

Research & Development at The New York Times explores how emerging technologies can be applied in service of journalism. We collaborate with designers, developers, reporters, photographers and editors to bring new forms of storytelling to life, from prototyping to publishing.

The Times is committed to advancing 3D and spatial storytelling that helps our readers better understand the world. Technologists in R&D are on the forefront of this effort, developing capabilities for immersive journalism like mapping, 3D data visualization, augmented reality, and interactive storytelling.

We’re looking for a software engineer with a background in immersive media and computer graphics to join us in this mission.

Who You Are

• You’re interested in applying engineering skills to solve journalistic problems. We aim to build new experiences that will shape the way we do journalism in 2020 and beyond.
• You’re both curious and skeptical of emerging technologies.
• You understand the importance of deadlines; we’ll trust you to deliver.
• You’re comfortable building projects by yourself and enjoy collaboration with a larger team.
• You’re comfortable guiding development from prototype stage to deployment in a production environment.
• You’re excited to apply new tools, but aim to do so in service of solving important problems and making a difference for users.
• You enjoy the process of defining what an application does, and its mechanics.
• You’re excited about working on interdisciplinary teams.
• You take pride in your craft and understand the need to capture patterns and support future development.
  

What You’ll Do

• Work with your team to run experiments and turn forward-looking concepts into production-ready reality.
• Take ownership over the technical parts of projects and check in with team members to ensure all aspects of the project are covered sufficiently.
• Prepare technical components of projects for open sourcing.
• Incorporate regular project feedback from key stakeholders in the newsroom.
• Document and write maintenance manuals for completed projects and internal projects.
  

What You’ll Bring

• Portfolio of personal and professional work in 3D and spatial formats (AR, VR, XR, and 3D Web).
• 4+ years professional experience working with teams and delivering projects.
• Understanding of rendering, shading and mathematics used to develop computer graphics software, including using shading languages such as GLSL, HLSL.
• High proficiency with JavaScript.
• Hands-on experience with some of: using WebGL and libraries (e.g. three.js, regl), 3D development engines (Unity, Unreal), AR frameworks and platforms (ARKit, ARCore, SparkAR, Lens Studio), 3D authoring software and optimization of assets, creative coding frameworks (e.g. openFrameworks, Cinder, Processing), contributing to open source software projects, developing reusable software tools and practices.
• Experience in seeing a project from start to finish.
• A real passion for The New York Times’s mission.
  

To apply, please provide work samples (code snippets, URLs, project summaries) describing your most relevant work for this position and how it expresses your approach to software engineering.

This is a temporary position that is expected to last about 6 months.

About The R&D Team

At The Times, technology permeates every aspect of our business, from our thought-provoking coverage of technological trends to the digital-first transformation of our own business to the changing world of our readers. The R&D team explores the new opportunities that emerging technologies may provide media organizations over the next 12-18 months.

We want to improve our team by better reflecting our broad audience — if you’re a member of a community underrepresented in technology, we encourage you to apply.

The New York Times is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce, one that reflects the varied global community we serve. Our journalism and the products we build in the service of that journalism greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which can only come from diversity of all types, across our ranks, at all levels of the organization. Achieving true diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing for our business. So we strongly encourage women, veterans, people with disabilities, people of color and gender nonconforming candidates to apply.

The New York Times Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does 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 New York Times Company will consider qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local "Fair Chance" laws.