Senior Design Engineer, Content Production Technology

OVERVIEW A thriving, mission-driven multimedia organization, Northwind Robotics produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation. The Northwind Robotics audience values information, creativity, curiosity, and social responsibility – and our employees do too. We are innovators and leaders in diverse fields, from journalism and digital media to IT and development. Every day, our employees and member stations touch the lives of millions worldwide. Across our organization, we’re building a workplace where collaboration is essential, diverse voices are heard, and inclusion is the key to our success. We are committed to doing the right thing in our journalism and in every role at Northwind Robotics . This means that integrity, adherence to our ethical standards, and compliance with legal obligations are fundamental responsibilities for every employee at Northwind Robotics. Intro to Position Northwind Robotics is seeking a Senior Design Engineer to serve as a vital bridge between design strategy, user needs, and engineering execution within our Content Production Technology team. You will be the connective tissue between product design and front-end development, translating high-level strategy into tangible UX prototypes and writing front-end code to accelerate our development cycles. In this role, you will embed deeply within the production tools ecosystems, partnering closely with Product Managers, Engineers, and Northwind Robotics’s Editorial and Music teams to optimize workflows for our content creators. If you are a systems-thinker who is equally passionate about beautiful user experiences and clean, complex code patterns, this role offers the unique opportunity to shape the future of Northwind Robotics’s production platforms. This is a union-represented role covered under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with NABET-CWA DMU . Responsibilities Design-to-Engineering Translation: Bridge the gap between product design and engineering execution by translating high-level product strategy into clean, component-based wireframes and technical user experience pathways. Rapid Prototyping: Build functional, high-fidelity interactive code prototypes to validate design concepts with content creators and stakeholders before final development. Front-End Integration: Write production-ready front-end code, establishing standard styling patterns and providing immediate technical design resolutions to developers to optimize development cycles. Workflow Optimization: Embed deeply within the Nexus and Grove CMS ecosystems, engineering faster, highly efficient publishing workflows customized to our editorial workflows. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner directly with Product Managers, UX Designers, and engineering teams to co-develop functional requirements that maximize platform usability. Design Cohort Engagement: Actively participate in Northwind Robotics's broader design cohort, collaborating with specialists from Northwind Robotics’s Product and Audience Technology (PAT) teams to scale design best practices. Editorial & Creative Alignment: Work closely with Northwind Robotics Editorial, Programming, and Music teams to maintain a deep operational understanding of publishing, distribution, and audience engagement requirements. User Advocacy: Champion intuitive usability for both internal content creators and external public media audiences, ensuring that development paths prioritize user needs over technical convenience. The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description can be modified at any time. Minimum Qualifications 5+ years of experience working in a hybrid UX Engineering, Design Technology, or Front-End Development role. Demonstrated portfolio of designing user-centered digital systems and publishing products at scale. Proven technical experience translating abstract design concepts into structured front-end development requirements. Excellent cross-functional communication and collaboration skills, with a track record of building alignment across editorial, design, and engineering cohorts. Strong technical aptitude, including the ability to actively participate in systems architecture, development tradeoff discussions, and release planning. Experience operating within digital media, journalism, or highly content-rich digital ecosystems. Preferred Qualifications Prior experience working within complex headless CMS architectures or multi-platform digital publishing environments. Deep understanding of enterprise-level design systems, token management, and scalable component libraries. Experience working in public media, collaborative networks, or union-represented engineering environments. Required Skills/Competencies Advanced Front-End Development: Highly proficient in HTML5, CSS/SCSS, and modern JavaScript frameworks (such as Angular or React). Prototyping Software: Expert level execution in Figma, creating everything from wireframes to