BACKEND DEVELOPER GENERALIST - RHIZOME
Full-time, salaried / Deadline: open until filled
Location: NYC preferable, working remotely is a possibility
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR:
Rhizome seeks a talented and personable backend developer generalist to join our core software development team. The backend developer will have a hand in maintaining and improving a variety of projects, including the Rhizome.org site, various software emulation deployments, Webrecorder, and additional projects as they come up.
This is a great opportunity for a strong, emerging generalist interested in having a hand in many different projects and making a significant impact on Rhizome’s online presence and cloud-based infrastructure. About half the time will be spent developing and maintaining other aspects of Rhizome.org, while the other half is spent contributing to the backend infrastructure of the Webrecorder project.
**Rhizome is an Equal Opportunity Employer and candidates from groups generally underrepresented in technical fields are especially encouraged to apply.**
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Managing all aspects of Rhizome’s website (rhizome.org)
- Working as part of the Webrecorder development team to implement and test new features, fix bugs and improve the Webrecorder platform
- Managing Rhizome's cloud-based infrastructure, including software emulation deployments
- Developing and assisting with special projects, online and off.
REQUIREMENTS
- Experience as a backend or full-stack developer on at least one medium-to-large scale web project
- Strong knowledge of Python, experience with JS, HTML, CSS
- Experience managing and deploying to at least one cloud-based service
- A passion for building great open-source software to make a positive difference
- Willingness to work with a small but geographically dispersed team
- Excellent communication skills
- Interest in pushing web technology to the limit for the greater good of the user
BONUS FOR:
- Interest or experience in internet art
- Proven ability to find and share interesting links
- Previous experience in Web Archiving or digital preservation
- Experience with Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud
- Experience with Docker containers, locally or on a cloud-based service
- Familiarity with Django, or at least one other Python web framework
- Experience with search technologies (Solr, ElasticSearch)
- DevOps experience
- A deep engagement with digital culture and emerging technologies
These are general guidelines and not hard requirements; the more of these the better.
ABOUT RHIZOME
Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2016, Rhizome is an organization based on the internet that commissions, presents, preserves, and critically addresses digital art. Founded in 1996 as an intimate email list connecting some of the first artists to work online and now—twenty years later—a thriving nonprofit with robust, multi-tiered programming, Rhizome has played an integral role in the history, definition, and growth of art engaged with technology and the internet
Since 2003, Rhizome has been an independent affiliate in residence at the New Museum in New York City. Although Rhizome has staff in California and Germany, its offices are housed in NYC at the New Museum's NEW INC - the first museum-led incubator for art, technology and design. In addition to working alongside New Museum staff, and with Rhizome's close-knit team, you'd work in a brand new office and shared workspace, among a group of members, and with access to intimate, internal-only talks, workshops and seminars by some of art and technology's leading figures.
ABOUT WEBRECORDER
Webrecorder is a groundbreaking tool to archive the "dynamic" web. The web once delivered documents, like HTML pages. Today, it delivers complex software customized for every user, like individualized social media feeds. Current digital preservation solutions were built for that earlier time and cannot adequately cope with what the web has become. Webrecorder, by contrast, is a human-centered archival tool to create high-fidelity, interactive, contextual archives of social media and other dynamic content, such as embedded video and complex javascript, addressing our present and future. Major support of the Webrecorder initiative is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
To apply, send a resume, cover letter and links to code samples, projects and/or github account, to [email protected]
Please note this position is only available to those already eligible to work in the US.
