Newsela

Lead Software Engineer – Writing Team

Newsela

full-time

Posted on:

Location Type: Remote

Location: Latvia

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Job Level

Senior

Tech Stack

JavaScriptNext.jsPythonReact

About the role

  • Own architecture decisions for the writing-app and evaluate technical trade-offs that balance speed, quality, and maintainability.
  • Define and evolve the team's technical standards (coding patterns, testing expectations, dependency management) and drive technical debt reduction alongside feature work.
  • Lead triage and technical coordination during incidents. Drive root cause analysis and propose preventive measures. Be the first responder when production issues arise for the writing product.
  • Actively drive technical discussions in grooming, planning, standups, and retros. Ensure technical decisions are documented where appropriate.
  • Review significant PRs and provide substantive feedback, catch architectural issues before they merge, and ensure PRs are appropriately sized and scoped.
  • Drive obstacle resolution during sprints - unblock engineers, make technical calls, escalate when needed. Identify and flag risks early.
  • Translate between product requirements and technical implementation for the team. Communicate technical status, risks, and trade-offs clearly to the Engineering Manager and stakeholders.
  • Leverage AI/LLM-powered workflows and code-generation tools (e.g., Claude Code, Copilot) to stay efficient and productive, with code reviews to ensure quality and security.

Requirements

  • 5+ years building modern web applications in a SaaS environment, with significant full-stack experience.
  • Strong proficiency in React/Next.js (frontend) and Python (backend). Comfortable with database design, API architecture, and frontend state management.
  • Experience with CI/CD pipelines, deployment processes, and monitoring (Datadog or similar).
  • Experience with rich text editors, document collaboration, or ProseMirror/similar frameworks is a strong plus.
  • Comfort using AI-assisted coding tools (Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor) responsibly with security and license awareness.
  • Demonstrated ability to self-direct - picks up work, drives it to completion, and identifies what needs to be done without being told.
  • Code review discipline - history of providing substantive, constructive feedback (not just approvals).
  • Experience in making technical decisions under ambiguity and communicating the reasoning.
  • Strong communication & collaboration skills: active in meetings, clear async writing in Slack/Jira/documentation, comfortable giving and receiving direct technical feedback.
Benefits
  • Health benefits
  • Remote work options
Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools
ReactNext.jsPythondatabase designAPI architecturefrontend state managementCI/CD pipelinesmonitoringrich text editorsProseMirror
Soft Skills
self-directiontechnical decision-makingcommunicationcollaborationconstructive feedbackproblem-solvingrisk identificationtechnical documentationincident managementroot cause analysis