Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. NPR is a mission-driven multimedia organization producing news, information, and music programming for public audiences. The Mobile Software Engineering Manager will lead a team building, testing, and delivering features for NPR’s flagship mobile applications while partnering with Product, Design, Data, and Editorial teams. The role focuses on people leadership, technical excellence, Agile delivery, developer experience, and production support.
Responsibilities
- Manage, mentor, and coach a team of Mobile Software Engineers, actively investing in their career growth, professional development, and psychological safety
- Lead recruitment and hiring efforts for software engineering vacancies on your team, and manage the structured onboarding and training of new engineering staff
- Partner with product managers, UX designers, data analysts, and editorial partners across all stages of the product development lifecycle
- Lead the technical planning, scoping, and execution of future software projects, facilitating Agile ceremonies (stand-ups, backlog refinements, sprint planning, and retrospectives) as needed
- Conduct thorough software design and code reviews, providing constructive and substantive feedback to maintain code health, architectural integrity, and security standards
- Analyze, propose, and implement engineering workflow improvements to enhance the speed, safety, and quality of software delivery
- Identify common engineering blockers and pain points, writing helper tools or automation scripts to optimize team developer experience (DX)
- Oversee and coordinate the team's response to critical mobile production bugs or infrastructure incidents
- Coordinate workflows, code standards, and deliverables for external contributors and specialized development vendors
Skills
- 2+ years of experience directly managing, mentoring, or leading mobile software engineers within an agile organization
- Prior experience as an individual contributor in engineering, testing, and shipping robust code for at least one large-scale mobile application
- Hands-on proficiency in modern mobile platform languages, specifically Swift/Objective-C (iOS) or Kotlin/Java (Android)
- Strong working knowledge of native mobile release infrastructures (such as Apple App Store Connect/provisioning profiles or Google Play Console/staged rollouts)
- Hands-on experience working with modern version control systems (primarily Git)
- Demonstrated experience collaborating within cross-functional Agile/Scrum product teams
- **Technical Design & Communication:** Ability to translate complex technical concepts, system architectures, and engineering trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders
- **Inclusive Leadership:** Demonstrated competency in fostering an equitable, supportive, and inclusive team culture
- **Systemic Problem Solving:** Strong analytical skill set with an "automation-first" mindset for resolving manual bottlenecks and production issues
- **User-Centric Empathy:** A strong focus on quality and empathy for end-users, ensuring highly performant, accessible mobile application experiences
- **Agile Operations:** Deep fluency in Agile methodologies and software project delivery management
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical work experience
- **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
- Professional experience managing both internal employees and external agency vendors/contractors
- Experience with native mobile media streaming frameworks (such as AVKit/AVFoundation for iOS, or Media3/ExoPlayer for Android)
- Familiarity with modern responsive design architectures (SwiftUI/Combine or Jetpack Compose/Coroutines), design patterns (MVVM), and automotive platforms (CarPlay/Android Auto)
Benefits
- Remote-permitted work arrangement, with the option to work remotely from an NPR-supported location within the United States, on-site at an NPR facility, or in a combination of both.
- Regular, full-time employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in NPR’s benefits options.
- Access to health and wellness benefits.
- Paid time off.
- Financial well-being benefits.
- Medical insurance for eligible NPR employees.
- Dental insurance for eligible NPR employees.
- Vision insurance for eligible NPR employees.
- Life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance for eligible NPR employees.
- Long-term disability insurance for eligible NPR employees.
- Short-term disability insurance for eligible NPR employees.
- Voluntary retirement savings for eligible NPR employees.
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