Senior Software Engineer

Join one of Baltimore's Best Places to Work! About this role: The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to help build scalable, high-performing digital products that power our journalism and reader experience. This is a highly impactful role for an experienced engineer who enjoys solving complex problems, building modern web applications, and working across frontend, backend, product, and infrastructure. You will help develop the systems that deliver fast, reliable, and engaging content experiences to our growing audience. The ideal candidate is imaginative, thoughtful, technically strong, and excited by the opportunity to build with a mission-driven organization in a fast-paced, high-growth environment. ***Relocation is not offered for this role*** What you'll do: In this role, you will build modern frontend and backend solutions that support content delivery, fast rendering, and high-quality user experiences. Your work may include: Develop user interfaces and backend APIs for high-performance web applications. Use JavaScript application frameworks, preferably React and Node.js, to build complete, scalable solutions. Design and implement reliable integrations with third-party software, platforms, and service providers. Participate in technical design, architecture discussions, and engineering decision-making. Build scalable solutions on public cloud infrastructure, preferably AWS. Collaborate with product managers, engineers, designers, and other cross-functional partners in an agile environment. Work effectively with distributed team members across locations and time zones. Help improve engineering standards, development practices, documentation, and overall technical quality. What you'll bring: 5+ years of professional software development experience. 3+ years of experience building websites and highly scalable web applications. Strong experience with JavaScript frameworks such as React, Angular, Vue, or similar technologies. Experience with Node.js and modern backend development practices. Experience building frontend interfaces and backend APIs for web-based products. Familiarity with cloud architectures; AWS experience is strongly preferred. Experience working with database technologies such as SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, MySQL, or similar systems. Familiarity with caching technologies such as Redis, Memcached, Varnish, or similar tools. Experience working on distributed engineering teams. Strong problem-solving skills, sound technical judgment, and the ability to communicate clearly with technical and non-technical partners. A collaborative mindset and comfort working in a fast-moving, product-focused environment. Nice to Have: Experience with content management systems such as Arc XP, WordPress, or similar platforms. Experience working in media, journalism, publishing, subscription, or other digital consumer product environments. Experience with performance optimization, content delivery, personalization, or audience engagement products. Familiarity with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and observability tools. Experience contributing to architecture decisions for high-traffic web applications. Education and Experience: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience. 5+ years of overall software development experience. What Success Looks Like: Success in this role means helping The Banner deliver fast, reliable, and engaging digital experiences for readers. You will contribute to the technical foundation of our products, ship meaningful features, improve system performance and scalability, and help build the engineering culture of a growing mission-driven organization. Salary Range: $125,000 - $155,000. Individual pay may vary from the target range and is determined by several factors, including experience, internal pay equity, and other relevant business considerations. This role is not eligible for corporate bonus opportunity. We constantly review all teammate pay to ensure a great compensation package that is fair and equitable across the board. Our amazing benefits include: Flexible Paid Time Off Retirement savings - 401K plan offered through Human Interest, with a company match Student Loan Debt Repayment Assistance for qualified employees Full health benefits - medical, dental, vision, prescription, FSA/HSA., and coverage for family/dependents Sick Leave eligible for rollover Commuter Benefits 11 Paid National Holidays Employee Assistance Program Generous Parental Leave Company paid access to a wellness platform to support mental, financial and physical wellbeing Our Core Values: Do what’s right. Honesty, morality, respect and the mission guide our actions and decisions. By doing the right thing, we inspire others to believe. Work together. We collaborate to create something special. Together we challenge assumptions, trust each other, take risks, and foster transparent and direct communication. Listen to be heard. Our stories are trustworthy. They are inspired by and created for our readers. Their story is our story. Communities are at the center of our journalism, and everything we do. Deliver impactful results. Acting as one accountable team and driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, we deliver bold and innovative results. We act fast, execute and learn. We celebrate great outcomes. Be inclusive. We celebrate the uniqueness of each individual and act by curating a culture that leverages diverse perspectives as the key to fulfilling our mission. The Banner is for all of us. Why Join Us? At The Banner, your work will directly support the future of local journalism. You will have the opportunity to build technology that helps readers access trusted information, discover important stories, and stay connected to their community. This is a chance to join a collaborative, ambitious, and mission-oriented team where engineering plays a central role in product growth, audience engagement, and long-term impact. If you are excited by the opportunity to solve meaningful technical challenges and build products with a public-service mission, we would love to hear from you. The Venetoulis Institute embraces diversity and inclusion, and we are wholeheartedly committed to being proactive in inspiring a culture of inclusion across our organization. We are dedicated to establishing an organization that reflects the fundamental respect for different ways of working and living, and we assure every employee the opportunity to reach their full potential. We are dedicated to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process. If you require accommodation due to a disability to participate in the application process, please contact View email address on click.appcast.io to request accommodation. Reasonable accommodations may include, but are not limited to, adjustments in the application process, modifications or assistance regarding job interviews, and accommodations to enable access to our facilities. We appreciate the value that individuals with disabilities bring to our workforce and encourage applicants with disabilities to disclose their needs for accommodation to facilitate a smooth and inclusive recruitment experience.