Software Architect
Job Description
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A Software Architect exemplifies technical expertise and excellence at NPR. Working alongside engineering leadership and cross-functional discipline teams, you will guide strategic technology decisions, design scalable solutions, and build robust pipelines, services, and tools that support NPR and our Member Station Network.
In this role, you will lead technology strategy across our most complex engineering initiatives—those impacting multiple product lines, distributed systems, and mobile platforms simultaneously. Responsible for end-to-end architecture from platform services to client applications and downstream data pipelines, you will balance system performance, developer velocity, data privacy, and cost-efficiency to deliver exceptional public media experiences at scale.
Responsibilities
Architectural Strategy & System Design
- Architect Unified Mobile & Cross-Platform Systems: Define and implement shared architectural patterns and modular design systems across native iOS and Android codebases and cross-platform integrations to maximize code reuse and development velocity.
- Design Scalable Personalization & Delivery Pipelines: Lead platform-to-client architecture for personalized content delivery, supporting high-traffic, localized media experiences across owned digital properties and member station networks.
- Drive Technology Standards & Evaluation: Conduct technical evaluations for custom builds versus vendor solutions; introduce modern technologies and establish architectural standards across divisions.
Cross-Team Collaboration & Governance
- Lead Multi-Team Engineering Initiatives: Provide technical oversight and direction across cross-divisional product roadmaps, project proposals, and OKR planning cycles for multi-team initiatives.
- Establish Quality & Code Governance: Conduct architectural proposals and code reviews, providing substantive feedback on system designs, security protocols, workflows, and peer-written software.
- Integrate Compliance & Cost Controls: Architect solutions with explicit focus on privacy compliance (GDPR/CPRA), security standards, CDN caching strategies, and cloud cost optimization frameworks.
Operational Excellence & Mentorship
- Support Deployment & Operational Resilience: Participate in automated deployments across QA, UAT, and production environments; join the developer on-call rotation to diagnose and resolve critical incidents.
- Contribute High-Quality Code: Author documented, resilient code and reusable core libraries aligned with department standards and sprint commitments.
- Foster Technical Mentorship & Team Growth: Assist in onboarding, training, and interviewing software engineering staff, advocating for efficient agile processes and inclusive team practices.
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.
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NPR (National Public Radio) is a premier, globally recognized multimedia broadcasting and digital journalism ecosystem engineered to orchestrate high-fidelity audio storytelling and real-time news syndication. Operating as a massive, decentralized public media network, the organization connects hundreds of independent member stations into a highly synchronized content distribution infrastructure. Moving beyond traditional radio broadcasting, NPR leverages a sophisticated digital audio architecture and high-velocity podcasting engine to deliver award-winning investigative journalism, cultural programming, and critical daily briefings to millions of listeners worldwide. Under the hood, their robust editorial pipelines and omni-channel distribution platforms ensure that complex global narratives are distilled into accessible, deeply contextualized insights without the friction of commercial bias. What sets NPR apart is its uncompromising dedication to independent, public-service journalism; acting as a trusted information arbiter, the network empowers a highly engaged, global audience to navigate an increasingly complex media landscape with clarity, depth, and rigorous factual integrity.
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