Solution Architect

About the Role We are seeking a principal-level technical authority to own how the front‑end stack is architected, how it reaches the reader, and what "good" looks like at every layer between our systems and the browser. This hands‑on principal role sets technical direction, makes architectural decisions that other engineers build against, and upholds the standards that protect the reader experience. The role combines influence and direct technical contribution in an AI‑native environment. Responsibilities Lead front‑end architecture for our web application framework, deciding component design, state management, rendering strategy, and non‑negotiable stack requirements. Drive implementation of an island architecture with guardrails that keep the platform coherent as it scales across brands. Establish and defend performance budgets and SLOs for critical reader experiences (load, render, scroll, media, page transitions) and ensure the platform meets them. Own measurement of real reader experience: define Real User Monitoring and Core Web Vitals instrumentation, capture field data, and create a continuous feedback loop on front‑end and delivery health. Govern and define what reaches the page, surface third‑party call costs, set baselines, and enforce standards on the reader‑facing surface. Own the edge and delivery architecture: CDN strategy, caching, cloud infrastructure, and adapt to evolving CDN capabilities, edge compute, and bot traffic considerations. Raise the technical floor across the organization through design review, pairing, documentation, and principled decision‑making, and move into adjacent domains as needed. Treat AI as a default component; share effective AI‑assisted practices and assess limitations candidly. Ideate, build, launch agentic systems in production, and measure their impact. Translate reader‑experience goals into engineering constraints for non‑technical stakeholders and assert constructive objections when proposals impact performance, reliability, or the reader experience. Requirements Substantial experience as a senior individual contributor or technical leader on consumer‑facing web at scale, with deep hands‑on ownership of front‑end architecture. Experience with CDN configuration on a consumer‑facing public web system. Working knowledge of adversarial web delivery (bot and automated traffic) and its impact on architecture and cost. Fluency in modern browser behavior across mobile (priority) and desktop. Proficiency in profiling and debugging real performance (frame drops, slow renders, memory pressure) and the associated tooling. Hands‑on experience with Real User Monitoring and Core Web Vitals. Ability to operate amid ambiguity, translating business goals into defensible technical plans. Strong written and verbal communication skills. Nice to have: background in media or publishing platforms with high traffic and high editorial expectations. Familiarity with accessibility as a substantive engineering discipline. Tech Stack Languages & Frameworks: JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Astro, Node.js, GraphQL, REST. Delivery & Infrastructure: CDN/Edge, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes. Source Control: Git, GitHub. How We Work Infrastructure as code throughout. Pairing and other techniques to facilitate knowledge sharing and upskilling. Collaboration with peers and stakeholders across time zones (US, Europe, India). Teams own their applications, including on‑call responsibilities. AI‑native by default and customer‑obsessed, with a bias toward delivering value to readers and data‑driven decision making. Compensation Expected base salary range: $190,000 – $215,000. Equal Opportunity Condé Nast is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, familial status and other legally protected characteristics. #J-18808-Ljbffr