Software Engineer III
Department: Digital
Employment Type: Full Time
Location: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Reporting To: Sophie Byerley
Compensation: $110,000 - $115,000 / year
Description
Overview
The New York Public Library is seeking a Software Engineer III to join our Digital Asset Preservation and Access (DAPA) team, where they will have a major impact on NYPL's ability to make more of its extensive collections available online. This includes assets available on NYPL's Digital Collections (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org) site, as well other discovery platforms, staff management tools and the systems that support them.
This will involve major contributions to an ongoing initiative to modernize the systems that provide access to these collections, and from there continue to expand them in collaboration with our partners in NYPL's Research libraries. This strategic work will underlie much of NYPL's objectives in this area, and is an exciting opportunity for an engineer to identify improvements that will impact all of our patrons. Some early goals will include building new OCR processes for better search, improving the stability of vital data pipelines and designing new methods of delivering high resolution images to patrons.
To deliver these strategic priorities, we are seeking an engineer who can help us proactively improve our engineering practices generally, develop solutions to longstanding engineering problems (and deploy them), and be an advocate for change on the team. As NYPL's engineering teams have grown recently we are also looking for a candidate who is interested in collaborating with a wide range of partners to both learn about practices across the library and teach others about our work on DAPA. In all this is an exciting opportunity for an engineer to join an already successful team and help bring it to the next level.
Some expectations for this role are that within:
1 month , this person will:
Complete software development tasks collaboratively in accordance with our engineering workflows
Begin to understand the product requirements for our DAM systems and how they connect to larger strategic objectives
Review code and provide feedback during code reviews
Develop and execute unit tests for own/team's code to ensure accuracy, reliability and robustness
3 months , this person will:
Develop an understanding of our DAM infrastructure, systems and the challenges facing them
Contribute to new projects and open issues, ensuring that implementation is completed in a maintainable, observable and testable manner
Own your project's technical decisions that will impact the team and organization, especially around streamlining asset and metadata flows
Take ownership of existing systems
6 months
Consistently contribute to code bases and understand repositories across NYPL Digital
Participate in design and architecture discussions and demonstrate an ability to abstract problems into general solutions
Develop and maintain scripts to automate testing processes
12 months and beyond , this person will:
Own significant components of NYPL's DAM ecosystem, including their design, implementation and maintenance
Participate in department-wide initiatives, such as the adoption of new testing frameworks, etc
Work well without strong support structures, either between teams or without one
Provide guidance to more junior software engineers regarding applications they own as well as on best practices in general
Collaborate with Engineering leadership on overall direction of team/project
Responsibilities
Understand project needs and how to implement specific technical solution
Take ownership of specific systems and ensure their maintenance/support
Partner with other engineers to design new software systems and improve existing ones
Collaborate with Senior Engineers to help realize new projects
Build software following industry best practices and NYPL values ( https://github.com/NYPL/engineering-general )
Contribute to test suites to ensure the creation of accurate, reliable, and robust code
Create technical documentation and specifications for all delivered code
Understand how to identify and remediate tech debt
Identify and resolve ambiguities/issues with requirements for team and org-wide projects
Provide actionable feedback during code reviews
Assume additional responsibilities as required by the organization
Required Education, Experience & Skills
Required Education and Certifications
Bachelor's Degree - OR - 4+ years of experience developing software applications at scale
Required Experience
Equivalent 4 years hands-on development experience on relevant tech stack
3-5 years in backend development
Required Skills
3+ years in back-end application development in Python or Ruby
Proficiency with one or more Python web frameworks (Flask, Django, etc.)
Strong experience in SQL and relational databases such as mySQL, Postgres, etc.
Proficiency with version control systems and git
Experience with CI/CD tools, especially GitHub Actions
Strong working experience with other languages (PHP or Java preferred)
Familiarity with agile methodologies such as Scrum & Kanban
Familiarity with a major cloud computing platform, especially AWS
Managerial/Supervisory Responsibilities
N/A
More...
Core Values
All team members are expected and encouraged to embody the NYPL Core Values:
Be Helpful to patrons and colleagues
Be Resourceful in solving problems
Be Curious in all aspects of your work
Be Welcoming and Inclusive
Work Environment
Office Environment
Hybrid Work Environment; 3 days in office in NYC; 2 remote (subject to change)
Physical Duties
Limited physical effort is required
May require travel within NYC
Pre-Placement Physical Required?
No
Union/Non Union
Non-Union
FLSA Status
Exempt
Schedule
Monday - Friday; 9-5
This job description represents the @types and levels of responsibilities that will be required of the position and shall not be construed as a declaration of all of the specific duties and responsibilities for the role. Job duties may change if Library priorities change. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description as needed.
The New York Public Library Salary Statement
At the Library, we believe that pay transparency and pay equity are important to ensuring we source the best candidates and keep the best employees. When making a determination as to the appropriate salary for a candidate, we consider a variety of factors such, including, but not limited to, the position requirements, the skills, prior experience, and educational background required or preferred for the job, the scope and impact of the role within the organization, internal peer equity, and the candidate's specific training, experience, education level, and skills. No single factor is conclusive; the Library reserves the right to consider any and all relevant factors and make a decision consistent with its policies.
Union Salaries are determined by collective bargaining agreement(s).
