Software Engineer

Slate is hiring a software engineer to help us build the next iteration of Slate.com. The ideal candidate will have experience with full stack web development as well as experience in content publishing and scaling.

As a software engineer, you’ll be part of a small dev team (think between five and 10) of talented software engineers as well as a larger team of product managers and designers. You will be on the ground floor in choosing and implementing technologies that power Slate.com and other Slate-related products and services. This position is located in DC (preferred) or New York and is not remote. This position is one for an individual contributor and does not require managing other developers.

Tech you’ll encounter at Slate:

As an engineer at Slate, you’ll encounter loads of interesting technologies including but not limited to NodeJS, ElasticSearch, Express, Vue.js, Python, Django, Redis, Postgres, Gulp, Docker, and more.

Desired qualities of a software engineer:

For this position to be a good fit, you MUST:

• Have several years of experience building websites (apps are good, but websites are important). You should also know the difference!
• Have significant experience in JavaScript and/or Python. You’re able to explain and talk through the changes coming along in ECMAScript but don’t mind writing jQuery when you need to fix something. Alternatively (or additionally!) you can talk about pip and tell someone they “really should be using a virtual env.”
• Have experience with scaling web content—you know when to use the CDN vs. a cache, where that cache should live, key-value stores, and load balancers
• Have strong git skills—you know when and where to rebase and understand the value of branching
• Have experience with continuous integration (Jenkins, Travis CI, etc.)
• Have significant experience with the command line
• Have an interest in Slate/the news/publishing content that lots of users see
• Have empathy (especially for users of websites and software)

For this position to be a good fit, you SHOULD:

• Have experience with agile development
• Have once tried to build your own CMS and understand how complicated of an idea that is
• Have knowledge of the current web landscape. Why is React so popular? Why is it so hard for people to just switch to Python3 sometimes? What’s the difference between CommonJS and AMD and did ECMAScript 6 make it obsolete? Why can’t all the things be handled by Babel?
• Be located in D.C. (preferred) or New York (we cannot pay relocation for this position)

To Apply For This Position, You MAY:

• Include a brief statement about yourself and why you think Slate would be a good fit for you
• Include links as you see fit (github? a thing you’ve built?)