Software Engineer III - Python

Application Deadline: 25 November 2024

Department: Digital

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

Reporting To: Sarang Joshi

Compensation: $115,000 / year

Description

This is not a remote role; requires a minimum of 2 days onsite in NYC office.

Overview

The New York Public Library is looking for a new backend software engineer to expand our eReading team. The focus of this role will be on building and improving on backend systems that enable our patrons to seamlessly checkout and interact with ebooks. This will involve building data ingest pipelines for integrations with 3rd party ebook providers, as well as designing and building scalable and performant web services that enable our client apps to provide a great experience for our patrons.

We are looking for someone we can count on to:

Own :

• APIs and data pipelines that power the library’s eReading offerings

• Technical approaches to integrating metadata from different sources and in different formats

• The design and development of individual features, working with product and frontend developers to come up with practical solutions

Teach :

• Support and mentor other engineers, helping them understand both this engineers area of expertise and engineering best practices in general

• Present on their work to technical and non-technical stakeholders

Learn:

• Gain an understanding of library science practices, especially around metadata standards and formats

• Connect the dots between different applications to understand how metadata and records can be shared between them

• Help the department keep up with new developments in software development

Improve :

• Grow as a team member, collaborating with other NYPL engineers to solve problems

• Seek to retire legacy applications and replace them with modern, streamlined solutions

Some expectations for this role are that within:

1 month , this person will:

• Develop an understanding of our infrastructure, environments and deployment practices

• Implement unit and integration tests for all the code that they write

• Complete software development tasks independently and collaboratively in line/accordance with our engineering workflows

3 months , this person will:

• Gain an understanding of the eReading code base

• Regularly perform code review of other engineers’ work

• Actively participate in design and architecture discussions

6 months and beyond , this person will:

• Actively contribute to eReading code bases and understand code bases around NYPL Digital

• Provide technical advice and weigh in on decisions that impact our reading platforms and help realize implementation of new features and bugfixes

• Regularly influence design and architecture discussions

• Understand decisions and constraints in the wide scope pertaining to the whole of the solution at hand. This includes the ability to abstract problems into general solutions

Responsibilities:

• Design and implement scalable, optimized, and maintainable APIs and other applications

• Collaborate with multiple teams working on reading platforms to build innovative and forward-looking applications for our patrons

• Build software following industry best practices and NYPL values ( https://github.com/NYPL/engineering-general )

• Develop functional/unit tests to ensure the creation of accurate, reliable, and robust code

• Create technical documentation and specifications

• Identify and tackle tech debt before it becomes large enough to require standalone work to address it; Remediate existing tech debt within their projects

• Identify and help resolve ambiguities and/or problems with requirements and roadmap items on adjacent teams and projects, not just those being worked currently

• Help other engineers and provide actionable feedback during code reviews

• Communicate effectively across disciplines, including through detailed and effective technical writing

• Assume additional responsibilities as required by the organization

Required Education, Experience & Skills

Required Education & Certifications

• Bachelor’s Degree - OR - 4+years of Python application development and web frameworks

Required Experience

• 6 years of related development experience

Required Skills

• 4+ years in Python application development

• Production experience with one or more Python web frameworks (Flask, Django, etc.)

• Experience with Python packaging and dependency management tools (setuptools, pip, poetry, pipenv, etc.)

• Proficiency in SQL and relational databases such as mySQL, Postgres, etc.

• Proficiency with version control systems and git

• Experience with CI/CD tools like Travis, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, etc.

• Familiarity with agile methodologies such as Scrum & Kanban

• Familiarity with a major cloud computing platform (e.g. AWS, Azure, GCP, etc)

Managerial/Supervisory Responsibilities

• N/A

Preferred Skills

• Proficiency in discovery layers such as ElasticSearch and/or Solr

• Experience working with containerized software

• Experience with creating / managing containers (defining, building, and testing images)

• Experience maintaining shared modules and/or working with a private package repository

• Basic understanding of the software lifecycle for cloud deployment (CI/CD, build/test/deploy pipelines)

• Familiarity with REST and stateless service design

• Experience writing integration and load tests

• Understanding of deployment infrastructure, either for machine images on EC2 or containers on ECS / EKS

• Familiarity with common library metadata standards

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 Setting

• Hybrid Work Environment: Requires a minimum of 2 days onsite in NYC office

Physical Duties

• Some light lifting/moving may be required

Pre-Placement Physical Required?

No

Union/Non Union

Non-Union

FLSA Status

Exempt

Schedule

• Monday - Friday; 9-5

• Some weekends & nights may be required

• Hybrid role; requires a minimum of 2 days onsite in NYC office

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).