Senior Software Engineer I - Technical Operations & Quality Engineering

Overview
This role is an onsite role and requires work onsite in the NYC office three days a week.

NYPL Digital’s Quality Assurance team is undergoing a transformation from traditional manual testing to a modern technical operations function that enables engineering velocity. We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer with proven expertise in infrastructure automation, monitoring systems, and cross-departmental collaboration to lead critical technical initiatives that will standardize and modernize how our engineering teams work.

This role combines hands-on technical work with strategic influence. You'll architect solutions while building bridges between Digital and DevOps teams. You'll also champion the adoption of AI-powered tools and workflows to accelerate development and testing practices. Your work will directly impact how 30+ engineers across multiple departments collaborate, deploy, and monitor production systems.

We are looking for someone we can count on to:

Own:

• Infrastructure standardization initiatives across Digital and DevOps
• Monitoring and observability strategy implementation
• Technical documentation and training programs
• Cross-departmental collaboration workflows

Teach:

• Infrastructure-as-Code best practices to engineering teams
• Monitoring and observability techniques
• Automation strategies to reduce manual work
• Technical leadership through example
• AI-powered development and testing approaches

Learn:

• NYPL's unique technical landscape and organizational dynamics
• Public sector technology constraints and opportunities
• Advanced monitoring and infrastructure patterns

Improve:

• Cross-team collaboration between Digital and DevOps
• Infrastructure reliability and standardization
• Team technical capabilities through mentorship
• Operational excellence practices

Some expectations for this role are that within:

1 month, this person will:

• Understand current state of Terraform infrastructure and monitoring tools
• Build relationships with key stakeholders in Digital and DevOps
• Identify quick wins for infrastructure and deployment improvements
• Begin mentoring QA engineers on technical practices

3 months, this person will:

• Lead Terraform migration and refactoring initiative and establish new infrastructure-as-code workflows
• Begin consolidating monitoring tools
• Evaluate and pilot AI-assisted testing and development tools
• Demonstrate technical leadership to the QA team

6 months and beyond, this person will:

• Complete infrastructure standardization with full adoption
• Achieve monitoring consolidation with teams trained on new tools
• Establish themselves as the go-to expert for operational excellence
• Show measurable improvements in deployment reliability and team productivity

Responsibilities

• Partner with DevOps to migrate and refactor Terraform codebase to establish a single source of truth for infrastructure
• Lead consolidation of monitoring tools (Prometheus, Zabbix, Uptime.com, CloudWatch, NewRelic, SolarWinds) into a streamlined stack
• Implement standardized monitoring practices and define key metrics for each team
• Build and maintain internal tooling to reduce manual workflows and improve operational efficiency
• Lead evaluation and implementation of AI-assisted testing frameworks and developer tools (GitHub Copilot, etc.)
• Design AI-powered automation workflows for testing and development processes
• Create comprehensive documentation and training materials for new tools and practices
• Build strong working relationships between Digital and DevOps teams
• Drive adoption of new standards through effective change management
• Provide hands-on technical mentorship to QA engineers
• Own the reliability and accuracy of core operational processes

Required Education, Experience & Skills

Required Education and Certifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field
• OR 5-7 years of equivalent experience

Required Experience

• 4-7 years of professional software development experience

Required Skills

• Strong programming skills in Python and/or other languages
• Deep understanding of infrastructure-as-code principles and practices
• Expertise in monitoring, observability, and reliability engineering
• Experience with AWS and cloud infrastructure
• Proficiency with CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation
• Experience with or strong interest in AI-powered development and testing tools
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with ability to work across organizational boundaries
• Systems thinking approach to complex problems with track record of improving operational efficiency
• Strong project management skills with ability to drive organizational change

Managerial/Supervisory Responsibilities

• None

More...

Core Values
*All team members are expected and encouraged to embody the NYPL Core Values:*

• Be Helpful to patrons and colleagues
• Be Resourceful in solving problems
• Be Curious in all aspects of your work
• Be Welcoming and Inclusive

Work Environment

• Office setting
• Hybrid Work Environment; requires work in NYC office 3 days a week

Physical Duties

• Limited physical effort is required
• May require travel within NYC

Pre-placement Physical Required?

• No

Schedule

• Hybrid work environment; requires work in the NYC office three days a week
• Monday - Friday; 9AM - 5PM

Union/Non Union

• Non-Union

FLSA Status

• Exempt

*This job description represents the types and levels of responsibilities that will be required of the position and shall not be construed as a declaration of all of the specific duties and responsibilities for the role. Job duties may change if Library priorities change. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description as needed.*
*The New York Public Library**Salary Statement*

At the Library, we believe that pay transparency and pay equity are important to ensuring we source the best candidates and keep the best employees. When making a determination as to the appropriate salary for a candidate, we consider a variety of factors such, including, but not limited to, the position requirements, the skills, prior experience, and educational background required or preferred for the job, the scope and impact of the role within the organization, internal peer equity, and the candidate's specific training, experience, education level, and skills. No single factor is conclusive; the Library reserves the right to consider any and all relevant factors and make a decision consistent with its policies.

Union Salaries are determined by collective bargaining agreement(s).

About The New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves more than 18 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org.