Software Developer for Newsroom Technology Platform

Title: Software Developer for Newsroom Technology Platform Company: Folded News Job Type: Freelance, Contract, Project Based Location: Remote About Folded News Folded News is building a modern independent newsroom and media technology platform. Our work includes digital publishing, breaking news, video, podcasts, live updates, investigations, newsletters, social media workflows, audience tools, internal newsroom systems, automation, and data driven reporting tools. We are looking for a skilled software developer who can help build the technology foundation for a growing newsroom. This role is not limited to basic website work. We need someone who can build practical, reliable, secure, and scalable tools that help journalists, editors, producers, and newsroom staff work faster and better. Role Summary We are hiring a Software Developer to build, improve, and maintain newsroom technology systems for Folded News. The developer will work on a mix of CMS features, internal tools, publishing workflows, APIs, automation systems, media tools, cloud storage, dashboards, frontend templates, backend services, and integrations. The ideal candidate understands how to build software that is useful for real people, especially non technical newsroom staff. We need someone who can think through the full system, from the editor writing an article, to the video team uploading media, to the audience reading the final story on mobile. This role is best for a developer who is comfortable with WordPress, PHP, JavaScript, TypeScript, APIs, databases, cloud storage, performance optimization, security, documentation, and modern software development practices. Core Responsibilities 1. Build newsroom software tools * Build tools that help journalists, editors, producers, and managers do their work. * Create internal dashboards for assignments, publishing, review, analytics, media, and operations. * Build custom newsroom workflows for articles, videos, podcasts, live updates, and special coverage. * Create systems that reduce manual work and improve newsroom speed. * Build tools that are easy for non technical staff to understand and use. 2. Build and improve CMS and publishing systems * Customize and improve a WordPress based newsroom CMS. * Create custom post types for articles, videos, podcasts, live updates, explainers, investigations, and special projects. * Build custom fields, editorial metadata, review statuses, approval workflows, and publishing tools. * Improve draft, preview, schedule, publish, update, revision, and archive workflows. * Build clean admin interfaces for journalists, editors, contributors, and contractors. 3. Develop custom plugins and backend features * Build custom WordPress plugins or modular PHP features. * Create secure admin panels and settings pages. * Build role based permissions for admins, editors, contributors, journalists, social media staff, and contractors. * Add audit logs for important actions. * Build reusable backend components that can be maintained over time. * Avoid unnecessary plugin bloat when custom code is the better option. 4. Frontend and user experience development * Build fast, responsive templates for articles, videos, podcasts, topic pages, archive pages, landing pages, and homepages. * Use clean HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and TypeScript where needed. * Make pages mobile friendly, accessible, and easy to navigate. * Build user facing features that feel modern, polished, and reliable. * Support layouts for breaking news, investigations, explainers, feature stories, video hubs, podcast hubs, and live coverage. 5. Media and production tools * Build workflows for images, videos, audio, thumbnails, captions, transcripts, graphics, and documents. * Integrate cloud storage such as Cloudflare R2, S3 compatible storage, or similar systems. * Support video and podcast publishing workflows. * Help create systems for organizing, storing, and delivering newsroom media. * Optimize media delivery for speed, cost, and reliability. 6. APIs and integrations * Build and connect REST API endpoints where needed. * Integrate with newsletter tools, analytics tools, Stripe, advertising systems, video players, podcast RSS feeds, cloud storage, AI tools, and automation systems. * Create clean documentation for each integration. * Make sure integrations fail safely if an external service is unavailable. * Avoid building fragile systems that break the newsroom workflow. 7. Automation and internal operations * Build automation tools for repetitive newsroom tasks. * Support future systems for RSS ingestion, source tracking, article outlines, social post generation, media processing, and internal alerts. * Build tools that can help organize newsroom data and content. * Create background jobs, queues, cron tasks, or worker processes when needed. * Make internal tools reliable, understandable, and easy to monitor. 8. Performance optimization * Optimize public pages and admin workflows for speed. * Reduce slow database queries. * Improve caching, image loading, script loading, style loading, and page rendering. * Make sure the platform can handle publishing growth and traffic spikes. * Test against Core Web Vitals and PageSpeed standards where appropriate. 9. Security and reliability * Follow secure coding practices. * Sanitize and validate all inputs. * Escape all outputs. * Use nonces, permission checks, and capability checks in WordPress. * Protect admin tools from unauthorized access. * Avoid exposing private drafts, unpublished content, internal data, source data, API keys, tokens, or credentials. * Document security sensitive areas clearly. 10. Testing and documentation * Test all major features before delivery. * Provide clear setup documentation. * Provide admin documentation for non technical users. * Provide developer documentation for future maintenance. * Explain technical decisions and tradeoffs. * Create handoff notes for future developers. Required Skills The freelancer should have experience with most of the following: * WordPress development * PHP * Custom WordPress plugins * Custom themes * JavaScript * TypeScript * HTML and CSS * REST APIs * MySQL or MariaDB * Git and GitHub * Cloudflare, S3, R2, or similar cloud storage * Website performance optimization * Secure coding practices * Responsive design * Accessibility basics * Technical documentation * Debugging and troubleshooting production issues Preferred Skills These are not required, but strongly preferred: * Experience building software for media, publishing, newsrooms, or editorial teams * Experience with Laravel or Laravel style PHP architecture * Experience with Bedrock, Sage, Roots, Composer, or modern WordPress development * Experience with video players such as Video.js * Experience with podcast RSS feeds * Experience with Stripe * Experience with Redis, queues, cron jobs, or background workers * Experience with Docker * Experience with automated testing * Experience with SEO technical implementation * Experience building admin dashboards * Experience building tools for non technical users * Experience with AI API integrations * Experience with data dashboards, scraping, RSS ingestion, or reporting tools Required Deliverables The selected freelancer must be able to deliver: 1. Working software features based on the agreed project scope. 2. Clean, organized, maintainable code. 3. Custom plugins, theme files, scripts, APIs, or backend services as needed. 4. A documented setup process. 5. Admin user documentation. 6. Developer documentation. 7. Performance testing notes. 8. Security notes and any known limitations. 9. GitHub or packaged code delivery. 10. Final handoff explaining how to use, update, and maintain the system. Required Performance Metrics The freelancer will be evaluated based on the following metrics: Development Quality * Code must be readable, organized, and maintainable. * Code must follow WordPress coding standards where applicable. * Custom features must be modular and not fragile. * Features must be built in a way that can be updated later without breaking the entire system. * No hardcoded credentials, API keys, private tokens, or secrets. * No unsafe copied code or unlicensed code. * Code must be documented well enough for another developer to understand. Product Usefulness * Tools must solve real newsroom workflow problems. * Non technical users must be able to use the tools without constant developer help. * Admin screens must be clearly labeled and organized. * Workflows must reduce confusion and unnecessary steps. * Features must support journalists, editors, video staff, podcast staff, social media staff, and managers. Performance Targets * Public pages should target a Google PageSpeed score of 85 or higher on mobile when realistically possible. * Public pages should target a Google PageSpeed score of 90 or higher on desktop when realistically possible. * Largest Contentful Paint should target under 2.5 seconds on key templates. * Cumulative Layout Shift should target under 0.1. * Interaction to Next Paint should stay within accepted Core Web Vitals ranges. * The platform should avoid unnecessary JavaScript and CSS bloat. * Images and media should be optimized and lazy loaded where appropriate. * Custom database queries should be reviewed and optimized. Security Metrics * All user input must be sanitized and validated. * All frontend output must be escaped. * Admin actions must include permission checks. * Sensitive tools must only be available to authorized users. * Public users must not be able to access drafts, unpublished content, private files, or internal system data. * API keys, tokens, credentials, and secrets must never be exposed in code or frontend source. * Security issues discovered during testing must be fixed before final delivery. Reliability Metrics * Core publishing workflows must work without errors. * Draft, edit, preview, schedule, publish, update, delete, and archive workflows must be tested. * Custom post types and internal tools must work on both backend and frontend where applicable. * Features must fail safely when an external API or service is unavailable. * Bugs must be documented before delivery. * Critical bugs must be fixed before milestone approval. Communication Metrics * Freelancer must provide regular project updates. * Freelancer must explain blockers early. * Freelancer must ask clear technical questions when needed. * Freelancer must not disappear during active milestones. * Freelancer must document what was completed in each delivery. * Freelancer must be honest about what is working, what is incomplete, and what needs future improvement. Testing Metrics * Each delivered feature must be manually tested. * Major user roles must be tested. * Mobile and desktop layouts must be tested. * Admin workflows must be tested. * API integrations must be tested. * Known bugs must be listed before delivery. * Critical bugs must be fixed before final milestone approval. Suggested Milestones Milestone 1: Technical Planning and Architecture * Review requirements. * Recommend software architecture. * Define CMS structure, plugins, backend services, database needs, storage needs, and integrations. * Provide an implementation plan. Milestone 2: Core Newsroom Platform Setup * Set up the development structure. * Create core CMS features. * Create user roles and permissions. * Create core admin settings. * Establish theme, plugin, API, or backend service structure. Milestone 3: Editorial and Publishing Tools * Build draft, review, approval, metadata, and publishing workflows. * Add custom fields and editorial tools. * Add audit logging where needed. * Improve the editing and publishing experience. Milestone 4: Public Facing Templates and Features * Build article, video, podcast, topic, archive, and homepage templates. * Optimize mobile and desktop layouts. * Add SEO and structured data where needed. * Improve frontend speed and usability. Milestone 5: Media, Storage, and Integrations * Connect cloud storage. * Add media workflows. * Connect video, podcast, newsletter, payment, analytics, AI, or other required services. * Test integrations and document setup. Milestone 6: Internal Tools and Automation * Build internal dashboards or automation tools. * Add workflow helpers for newsroom staff. * Create background jobs, queues, alerts, or reports where needed. * Test internal tools with realistic use cases. Milestone 7: Performance, Security, and QA * Run performance testing. * Fix major speed issues. * Review security. * Test user roles and publishing workflows. * Document known limitations. Milestone 8: Final Handoff * Provide final code. * Provide setup instructions. * Provide admin guide. * Provide developer notes. * Provide known limitations and future recommendations. What We Are Not Looking For We are not looking for someone who only installs a generic theme and calls it done. We are not looking for someone who stacks plugins without understanding the system. We are not looking for fragile demo code. We are not looking for copied, undocumented, unmaintainable code. We are not looking for someone who ignores performance, security, or usability. We are not looking for someone who cannot communicate clearly. Application Instructions Please include the following in your proposal: 1. Examples of software, WordPress, CMS, publishing, media, dashboard, or internal tool projects you have built. 2. A brief explanation of how you would approach this project. 3. Your recommended tech stack. 4. Your experience with WordPress, custom plugins, APIs, or backend systems. 5. Your experience with performance optimization. 6. Your experience with security best practices. 7. Your experience building tools for non technical users. 8. Whether you work alone or with a team. 9. Your availability and estimated timeline for the first milestone. 10. Any questions you have about the project. 11. Your hourly rate or fixed price recommendation. Strong applicants will explain their approach clearly instead of sending a generic proposal. Ideal Candidate The ideal candidate is a software developer who can think like a product engineer and understand the needs of a newsroom. You should care about how journalists use the system, how fast the public website loads, how secure the admin area is, how reliable integrations are, and how maintainable the code will be six months from now. We want someone who can help build serious newsroom technology that supports publishing, media production, internal operations, automation, and future growth.