Washington Post

Staff Software Engineer, iOS

Washington Post • $131K — $219K *
Consumer Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.
  • 3+ years of iOS SDK experience required; similar role experience preferred.
  • Strong foundation in computer science fundamentals, including algorithms and design principles.
  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
  • Strong problem-solving capabilities.
  • Experience with Apple SDKs and prototyping.
  • Proficiency in Swift and working with advertising tools like Google Ad Manager.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and enhance iOS applications with a focus on advertising technology.
  • Research and implement native advertising patterns for mobile apps.
  • Build measurement pipelines for ad performance analytics.
  • Advise on iOS privacy standards and capabilities to advertising partners.
  • Identify and resolve complex issues impacting app performance and user experience.

Benefits

  • Competitive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
  • Company-paid pension and 401(k) match.
  • Three weeks of vacation plus three weeks of paid sick leave.
  • 20 weeks paid parental leave available to all new parents.
  • Robust mental health resources and support services.
Full Job Description
The Washington Post is looking for a Staff Software Engineer to serve as the technical authority and architectural anchor for our flagship mobile applications, with a dedicated focus on advancing our advertising technology (AdTech) platform. In this role, you will set the technical strategy, drive system architecture, and lead the long-term evolution of our mobile monetization infrastructure. You will work across product, platform, and executive stakeholders to deliver performant, privacy-first ad experiences to millions of global readers while raising the engineering bar across the organization.

What Motivates You
  • Architecting mission-critical consumer systems that sustain and amplify independent journalism worldwide.
  • Setting technical vision and navigating ambiguous problem spaces to deliver long-term, high-impact business outcomes.
  • Influencing platform roadmaps by leveraging bleeding-edge Apple technologies and shaping industry-standard AdTech patterns.
  • Mentoring and sponsoring senior, mid-level, and early-career engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence.
  • Driving organizational consensus across product, engineering, data science, and commercial partnerships.


How You'll Support the Mission
  • Define the overarching architectural roadmap for iOS monetization, bridging native ad rendering, programmatic auctions (RTB/header bidding), and low-latency measurement systems.
  • Establish organization-wide technical standards for third-party SDK integration, sandboxing, and performance profiling to protect app stability, memory footprint, and battery life.
  • Direct technical strategy around Apple platform privacy initiatives (ATT, Private Relay, SKAdNetwork), safeguarding user privacy while optimizing commercial viability.
  • Partner with engineering leadership and product executives to translate high-level business goals into resilient, multi-quarter technical initiatives.
  • Spearhead incident prevention, lead root-cause analyses for critical production outages, and continuously optimize core app vitals (cold start time, frame rates, and render latency).


The Skills and Experience You Bring
  • Architect modular, extensible frameworks and shared libraries across multiple native iOS applications and platforms.
  • Lead cross-functional alignment across backend, data, client, and product teams to establish robust API contracts and distributed system boundaries.
  • Drive engineering-wide best practices for automated testing, CI/CD delivery pipelines, and comprehensive platform monitoring.
  • Evaluate, benchmark, and audit vendor SDKs and internal systems for security risks, thread safety, and resource efficiency.
  • Identify high-leverage opportunities to modernize codebases, deprecate legacy debt, and introduce next-generation development patterns.


Qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, engineering, or related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
  • 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with 6+ years specializing in native iOS development at enterprise or multi-million MAU scale.
  • Proven track record as an architectural lead or technical anchor guiding multi-engineer initiatives from conception to long-term maintenance.
  • Deep mastery of modern Swift, runtime dynamics, memory management, concurrency, and Apple core frameworks.
  • Deep domain expertise in mobile AdTech, including client-side header bidding, SSP/DSP ecosystems, server-driven UI for native ads, and platforms like Google Ad Manager and Nimbus.
  • Extensive experience navigating platform privacy frameworks, telemetry pipelines, and mobile telemetry/profiling tools (Instruments, LLDB, metric collection).
  • Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, influence executive roadmaps, and communicate complex architectural tradeoffs to non-technical stakeholders.

Collaboration makes us stronger. That's why our offices are designed with open layouts, modern technology, and easy access to transportation. With certain exceptions for newsgathering and business travel, we work on-site five days a week.

Compensation and Benefits

Wherever you are in your life or career, The Washington Post offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits for every step of your journey:
  • Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage
  • Company-paid pension and 401(k) match
  • Three weeks of vacation and up to three weeks of paid sick leave
  • Nine paid holidays and two personal days
  • 20 weeks paid parental leave for any new parent
  • Robust mental health resources
  • Backup care and caregiver concierge services
  • Gender affirming services
  • Pet insurance
  • Free Post digital subscription
  • Leadership and career development programs


Benefits may vary based on the job, full-time or part-time schedule, location, and collectively bargained status.

The salary range for this position is:
$131,500 - $219,100 Annual

The actual salary within this range will depend on individual skills, experience, and qualifications as they relate to specific job requirements. This position may be eligible for a bonus or incentive program, and a member of the Talent Acquisition team will discuss bonus payment terms and conditions during the interview process.

About Washington Post

The Washington Post is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most-widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large international audience. Daily broadsheet editions are printed for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The newspaper has won the Pulitzer Prize 65 times for its work, the second-most of any publication. It is considered a newspaper of record in the U.S. Post journalists have also received 18 Nieman Fellowships and 368 White House News Photographers Association awards. The paper is well known for its political reporting and is one of the few remaining American newspapers to operate foreign bureaus. The Post was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. Financier Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy in 1933 and revived its health and reputation, work continued by his successors Katharine and Phil Graham, who bought out several rival publications. The Post's 1971 printing of the Pentagon Papers helped spur opposition to the Vietnam War. Subsequently, in the best-known episode in the newspaper's history, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the American press's investigation into what became known as the Watergate scandal, which resulted in the 1974 resignation of President Richard Nixon. The advent of the internet expanded the Post's national and international reach. In October 2013, the Graham family sold the newspaper to Nash Holdings, a holding company owned by Jeff Bezos, for $250 million.
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