InDesign Automation Developer

About the Role

We're looking for an InDesign Automation Developer to join The N2 Company's engineering team and help modernize how their print publications get built. N2 produces roughly 900 print publications a month — averaging about 40 pages each, around 33 million pages a month — out of their own Dallas print shop. Today, an InDesign scripting pipeline (run in partnership with an external vendor) takes structured content and slams it into a rough first-draft layout, which a human designer then finishes by hand.

You'll dig into that existing pipeline, debug and stabilize the scripts causing intermittent layout errors, and build new automation to push the first draft closer to print-ready — reducing the manual design work and the team's reliance on outside scripting help.

This role starts InDesign-heavy. As you ramp up, you'll grow into real backend ticket work alongside N2's Rails engineering team — no specific framework required on day one, just genuine coding aptitude and the motivation to grow into it.

What You'll Do

• Build and maintain InDesign automation using ExtendScript and/or UXP (.idjs) to generate print-ready layouts from structured content (IDML, data-merge, JSON).
• Debug and stabilize existing production scripts — including root-causing intermittent text-sizing and layout errors in the current publication pipeline.
• Work with InDesign Server / headless rendering to run automation at production scale, not just through the desktop InDesign client.
• Collaborate with N2's design and engineering teams to reduce manual layout work and shrink reliance on outside scripting vendors.
• As you ramp up, pick up real backend tickets alongside N2's engineering team, growing your skills in a modern backend stack.
• Communicate clearly and proactively in a fully remote, US-based team environment.

Requirements (Must-Haves)

• Strong, hands-on Adobe InDesign scripting experience — ExtendScript and/or UXP (.idjs).
• Genuine coding aptitude and motivation to grow into backend development (Ruby, Python, Java, or similar — no specific framework required on day one).
• Comfortable with Git and PR-based code review today — not starting from zero on version control.
• Demonstrated ability to debug and troubleshoot someone else's automation, not just build new scripts from scratch.
• Able to work independently and ramp into unfamiliar proprietary APIs/DOMs with limited documentation.
• Advanced to fluent English (C1–C2), written and spoken — client is US-based and communication is evaluated closely.
• Central Time zone overlap.

Preferred Qualifications

• InDesign Server / headless production experience — SOAP job queues, automated rendering pipelines, running scripts at real print-shop scale rather than through the desktop client. This is the biggest differentiator we're screening for.
• Real automation/production experience at meaningful scale (IDML generation, data-merge) — not manual layout/design-only work.
• Print production background (CMYK, bleed, PDF/X, preflight).
• Self-taught or career-changer path into code — bootcamp, side projects, non-traditional background is a strong positive signal here.
• Familiarity with background job queues (Sidekiq, SOLID Queue, or similar) for async rendering work.

Hard Disqualifiers

• Pure graphic/DTP designer with no interest in or aptitude for backend coding — this role is meant to grow into engineering, not stay print-only.
• No InDesign automation/scripting experience at all (manual layout only).
• No coding aptitude or experience with any backend language — some backend exposure is required, even though no specific framework is.
• Cannot demonstrate independent problem-solving into unfamiliar or proprietary systems.

Current Tech & Production Environment

• Scale: ~900 publications/month, ~40 pages average, ~33M pages/month printed out of N2's Dallas print shop.
• Current pipeline: a "build pub script" assembles articles and ads into a rough first-draft layout; human designers finish the formatting by hand.
• Known pain point: "article template" scripts intermittently throw text-sizing/layout errors that haven't been root-caused yet — a concrete, real problem you'd be stepping into.
• Vendor relationship: N2 currently works with an external InDesign scripting vendor and will keep them in the loop initially — the goal is to reduce reliance on their (expensive) hours over time, not replace them day one.
• Growth-path stack: Ruby on Rails, React, Kafka, Docker, ElasticSearch (N2's existing engineering stack) — what you'll grow into as you pick up backend tickets.
• AI vision: long-term goal is combining scripting with AI so the first-draft layout comes out close to final, greatly reducing manual design work.