Career Opportunities

Full Stack Web Developer
Austin, TX

Kirkus Media is hiring a Full Stack Web Developer for its Austin, TX team. Kirkus is best known for publishing Kirkus Reviews, a highly regarded magazine that has served the publishing and film industries since 1933. As the result of launching innovative new products and services, Kirkus is experiencing its most successful years yet in its 83-year history. The new developer will be responsible for building, testing, debugging, and troubleshooting clean, web standards compliant code and Python/Django development. The ideal candidate should be comfortable working independently, within a small, cross-disciplinary team. This position reports to the Vice President of Marketing and is a particularly exciting opportunity for someone with an interest in books and publishing.

Benefits include health, dental, vision, 401k, PTO, and more.

Job Overview

We are currently searching for a full-stack Python/Django developer ready to bring their skills to our team. As a developer at Kirkus, your work will truly span the full stack. You’ll be building brand new, mobile-ready pages from scratch, but you’ll also be responsible for maintaining, building upon, and updating our existing code base as well.

Job Responsibilities

  • Plan, architect, integrate, and develop back-end and database driven features using the Python language and Django framework.
  • Create decoupled, interactive web UIs using JavaScript. Aid us in abstracting and decoupling existing, inline JavaScript.
  • Develop code that is cross-browser and cross-platform friendly
  • Aid us in modernizing our HTML and CSS. We’re moving towards SUIT CSS naming conventions.
  • Support ongoing development for existing projects. Efforts here may include simple updates to marketing landing pages or diving deep into our scripts that augment our book editing business to develop new features.
  • Support and maintain a complex set of scheduled tasks that power our business.
  • Fix bugs and resolve ongoing issues. You may be tracking down a pesky mobile CSS bug or tracking down erroneous carriage returns in XML files generated for our customers.
  • Write clean, efficient code with corresponding tests
  • Provide proper documentation for each project. Continue helping us in our effort to document legacy code.
  • Manage CMS, staging, and production environments and deployments via AWS ElasticBeanstalk.
  • Collaborate with project stakeholders to ensure all requirements are met. Communicate daily progress, potential roadblocks, and needs to teammates and stakeholders.
  • Provide technical advice and recommendations for language and software choices.
  • Evaluate technologies and manage technical planning. This is particularly important when opportunities arise to replace legacy choices with modern day best practices.

Technical Requirements

  • At least 5+ years experience developing and deploying web sites and applications
  • Experience with Django
  • Experience with Agile practices
  • Experience setting up and managing servers with AWS ElasticBeanstalk
  • Experience hand-coding HTML and CSS
  • Experience with MV* JavaScript development
  • Experience with web services and API consumption
  • Custom web based application development experience
  • Comfortable collaborating with designers and other team members

 

This is a full-time paid position commensurate with experience including salary and benefits. Candidates can work in our Austin, TX office or work remotely. For remote employees, adherence to our business hours is required. To apply, please email your resume to Sarah Kalina at skalina@kirkus.com




Book Reviewer
Freelance/Project Basis (Anywhere)

Kirkus Media is looking for experienced book reviewers of English and Spanish-language titles to review for Kirkus Indie, the book review magazine's section dedicated to self-published authors. Reviews are in the same format and held to the same high standards as other sections of Kirkus Reviews.

Reviews are about 350 words due two weeks after the book is assigned. Kirkus currently reviews nearly all genres for books of all lengths, in digital, hardcover and paperback format.

To apply, please submit your resume, writing samples and a list of reviewing specialties to Kirkus Indie Editor David Rapp at Drapp@kirkus.com.


Copywriter
Freelance/Project Basis (Anywhere)

Kirkus Media is seeking experienced copywriters to create promotional copy for a large publishing house. Copy will include book descriptions, back cover copy, and author biographies. Ideal candidates will have solid credits and copywriting experience with major trade publishers. Experience writing promotional copy for best-selling books a plus.

To apply, please email your resume, credits, and any genre specialties to bookediting@kirkus.com.


Book Editor
Freelance/Project Basis (Anywhere)

Kirkus Media is seeking experienced book editors to join our network of freelancers. Ideal candidates will have solid credits as a book copyeditor for one or more major trade publishers, notable small presses, or educational publishers. Experience editing best sellers or working with best-selling authors a plus. Requirements include a proven ability to meet or exceed deadlines, an extensive knowledge of the Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster, and proficiency in MS Word. Please note this is not an entry-level position and that passing an editing test is a hiring requirement.

To apply, please e-mail your resume—including credits—and your genre specialties to editingdirector@kirkus.com