Who: The Stranger
Position: Dev – Web Developer
Where: Seattle
What: The Stranger is uniquely positioned at the intersection of new and old media. The news industry is changing every day, and we’re looking for an entry-level editorial web developer with the skills, creativity, and passion to help us keep our publications’ websites stable and innovative as we navigate these waters.
The person we’re looking for will be responsible for maintaining and developing The Stranger and The Portland Mercury’s websites. That means implementing new features, responding to support requests from our editorial, calendar, sales, production, and other departments at both papers, working on special projects, and more.
You’ll be working with HTML/CSS/Javascript and our proprietary web framework called Gyrobase. It’s something like Drupal or Plone. If you’ve used those, or other things in that arena, that’s good. If you haven’t, but you’re a fast learner, you’ll be able to pick it up.
We’re looking for someone with technical skills, of course, but you should also have a sense of our paper’s editorial voice, our place in the Seattle and Portland communities, and who our readers are. Everything we do comes back to our readers. Know them, love them.
Responsibilities:
Maintaining, developing, and supporting The Stranger and The Portland Mercury’s web sites.
Supporting both papers’ staffs in the use of our web systems.
Implementing and supporting our use of Google Analytics, Doubleclick For Publishers, and other third-party tools and integrations.
Staying on top of what’s happening in the world of online media – Instant Articles, AMP, etc. – and helping us decide which shiny new baubles to chase, and which to ignore.
Evaluating feature requests and bug reports from staff and readers.
Working with the publisher and the editorial and tech departments to create, maintain, and implement our feature roadmap.
Requirements:
You have skills. You know HTML, CSS, Javascript. We want to see what you’ve done and hear about what you’re interested in. Please send URLs of projects that show off your code, design sense, and attention to detail. If you worked on a team, please describe your level of involvement.
You are inventive. We use a proprietary framework. Experience in languages like PHP, Perl, Ruby, et al will apply and inform your work, but you won’t be using those languages day-to-day. Without a large developer community to rely on, we invent solutions ourselves. We’re looking for a creative problem-solver.
You care about doing it right. We’re always trying to work smarter, not harder, and focus on the quality of the result. You must care about what we’re doing, care about your role in it, and care about doing it well.
You take ownership. While you will be fully supported by the rest of our team, you will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of our newspapers’ sites.
You communicate clearly. Support is a crucial aspect of this position, so clarity of communication and the ability to discuss technical topics with non-technical staff are key.
You’re organized. You’ll be taking support requests from a wide range of stake-holders and non-stake-holders, and be responsible for managing and analyzing those requests and discussing them with the rest of the team as needed.
This is a permanent position that reports to the CTO. The Stranger offers a competitive salary, a great work environment and excellent benefits.
