Django/Python Web Developer

Summary

National Journal is a research, insights, and media company serving government affairs, communications, and political research audiences. The mid-level Django/Python Web Developer will build, test, deploy, and maintain full-stack digital products, datasets, content-management tools, and automation systems, with a primary focus on backend development and quality software practices.

Responsibilities

• Build, test and deploy a wide range of web-based tools, developed in Django and Python, that National Journal's members use every day in their jobs as government affairs professionals and policy advocates
• Support a digital platform that provides the data, tools, and news our audience will use to understand and navigate the 2026 U.S. elections
• Help maintain large datasets in a variety of formats (PostgreSQL, MySQL, APIs) drawing from both internal and third-party content and data sources
• Make improvements to Ada, the custom content management system we use internally
• Create and support tools that help other product teams automate their work, making use of AI when appropriate
• Tackle a full-stack mix of back-end and front-end tasks, with a focus on back-end work
• Be well-informed about trends in software development tools, frameworks, programming languages, AI coding assistants, and workflow, and arrive with opinions you are eager to discuss
• Be willing to learn a sophisticated technical stack

Skills

• Full-time telework/remote arrangements are offered for U.S. candidates residing in the following locations: Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, or California
• You are an experienced web developer: You have at least 1 year of web development experience in a professional setting using Python (preferably with Django)
• You write clean HTML, CSS, and JavaScript even without an AI coding assistant, with front-end framework experience a plus
• Using Git is second nature to you
• The idea of getting immersed in campaign finance data, election visualizations, and politics is compelling to you (rather than a turn-off)
• You don't have to be a wonk to be effective, but as keepers of the data, becoming experts in the minutiae is essential
• You've contributed to significant software projects, or at least significant components of one, and demonstrated that you can do quality work under a deadline
• You have opinions about good software architecture and with some learning curve, can find your way around a complex codebase
• In your work, you demonstrate best practices for software development and reinforce good habits that promote quality as part of a team
• You're familiar with writing documentation, doing peer code review, crafting automated tests, watching performance, and taking advantage of tools that maintain consistent code across team members
• You are an opinionated user of AI coding assistants and readily push back on LLM suggestions when they're off the mark
• You are organized, focused, and detail-oriented
• You exhibit good communications skills and collaboration habits, both written and verbally, by providing accurate time and effort estimates and working to ensure the team meets agreed-upon deadlines
• You are comfortable working with product and project managers to plan weekly sprints, capable of prioritizing and undertaking multiple projects at once, and familiar with Agile development methodologies
• When needed, you are cool under pressure
• Colleagues can count on you to apply critical thinking to tasks and find creative ways to solve problems
• You appreciate both short-term and long-term implications when making decisions and act as a responsible gatekeeper when critiquing new code, whether hand-written or AI-suggested
• We value having a team with diverse skills and experiences
• Passion for learning new things (whether technology-related or not) is most welcome
• You keep high standards and work hard, yet know when to take breaks, switch gears, and unplug, with the ability to manage your time effectively to preserve those boundaries
• Experience with one or more LLM-based coding assistants is strongly encouraged, such as: Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor
• Experience with some of the following technologies is a plus, but not required: Microsoft Azure, Linux systems administration, Vue.js, TypeScript, Elasticsearch, Docker, PostgreSQL, Jenkins, Salesforce, Sentry, HubSpot, or Celery/RabbitMQ

Qualifications

Must Haves

• Full-time telework/remote arrangements are offered for U.S. candidates residing in the following locations: Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, or California
• You are an experienced web developer: You have at least 1 year of web development experience in a professional setting using Python (preferably with Django)
• You write clean HTML, CSS, and JavaScript even without an AI coding assistant, with front-end framework experience a plus
• Using Git is second nature to you
• The idea of getting immersed in campaign finance data, election visualizations, and politics is compelling to you (rather than a turn-off)
• You don't have to be a wonk to be effective, but as keepers of the data, becoming experts in the minutiae is essential
• You've contributed to significant software projects, or at least significant components of one, and demonstrated that you can do quality work under a deadline
• You have opinions about good software architecture and with some learning curve, can find your way around a complex codebase
• In your work, you demonstrate best practices for software development and reinforce good habits that promote quality as part of a team
• You're familiar with writing documentation, doing peer code review, crafting automated tests, watching performance, and taking advantage of tools that maintain consistent code across team members
• You are an opinionated user of AI coding assistants and readily push back on LLM suggestions when they're off the mark
• You are organized, focused, and detail-oriented
• You exhibit good communications skills and collaboration habits, both written and verbally, by providing accurate time and effort estimates and working to ensure the team meets agreed-upon deadlines
• You are comfortable working with product and project managers to plan weekly sprints, capable of prioritizing and undertaking multiple projects at once, and familiar with Agile development methodologies
• When needed, you are cool under pressure
• Colleagues can count on you to apply critical thinking to tasks and find creative ways to solve problems
• You appreciate both short-term and long-term implications when making decisions and act as a responsible gatekeeper when critiquing new code, whether hand-written or AI-suggested
• We value having a team with diverse skills and experiences
• Passion for learning new things (whether technology-related or not) is most welcome
• You keep high standards and work hard, yet know when to take breaks, switch gears, and unplug, with the ability to manage your time effectively to preserve those boundaries

Nice to Haves

• Experience with one or more LLM-based coding assistants is strongly encouraged, such as: Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor
• Experience with some of the following technologies is a plus, but not required: Microsoft Azure, Linux systems administration, Vue.js, TypeScript, Elasticsearch, Docker, PostgreSQL, Jenkins, Salesforce, Sentry, HubSpot, or Celery/RabbitMQ

Benefits

• Full-time telework/remote arrangements are offered for U.S. candidates residing in Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, or California.
• Local candidates have the option to work in-person (currently 3 days per week) in Washington, DC.