Senior Mobile Software Architect

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field, OR equivalent practical work experience demonstrating equivalent technical architecture capability.

• Multi-Team System Architecture: 7+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including demonstrated success designing and leading technical architecture for complex, multi-team platform environments.
• Polyglot Backend Systems: Familiarity with modern backend languages such as Go or PHP in event-driven or microservice architectures.
• Advanced Caching & Open Source: Experience optimizing edge media caches, working with relational databases/SQL, or contributing to open-source software initiatives.
• NPR Remote-Permitted: This is a remote-permitted role. This role is based out of our Washington, D.C. office, but the employee may choose to work on a remote basis from a location that NPR approves. You will have the option of working (a) remotely from a location of your choosing within the United States that is supported by NPR; (b) on-site at an NPR facility, based on the availability of desks and approval from NPR; or (c) a combination of both. Regardless of where you choose to work from, you may be expected to travel to other locations from time to time to perform the duties of your position.

Job Type

• This is a full-time, exempt position.
• Deep technical proficiency in native mobile architecture (iOS and Android) using languages such as Swift, Kotlin, Java, or Objective-C.
• Scalable Platform & API Design: Proven track record designing high-traffic, resilient distributed systems, RESTful/GraphQL APIs, and client-server integration patterns.
• Media Delivery & Infrastructure: Practical experience architecting media playback, streaming protocols, CDN configurations, and cloud infrastructure ecosystems (e.g., AWS or GCP).
• Data Privacy & Cost Optimization: Hands-on experience integrating data privacy and compliance standards (GDPR, CPRA) alongside cloud cost optimization frameworks in high-availability environments.
• CI/CD & Quality Automation: Demonstrated experience with modern version control systems (Git), continuous integration pipelines, and automated testing frameworks.
• Cross-Functional Technical Governance: Ability to translate complex business and product requirements into clear, practical architectural designs accepted across multiple engineering teams.
• Technical Mentorship & Code Quality Advocacy: Strong commitment to promoting engineering best practices, conducting empathetic code reviews, and elevating overall code quality.
• Operational Resilience & Diagnostic Vision: Ability to systematically isolate, diagnose, and resolve production incidents under high-urgency conditions during on-call rotation.
• Structured Stakeholder Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills to present software architecture proposals, trade-offs, and technical roadmaps to non-technical stakeholders.
• Mission-Driven Innovation: Passion for leveraging modern technology to advance public media, accessibility, and audience engagement.