NEWSWELL is seeking a project-based AI-proficient WordPress developer who can work on contract and help us dream up and build innovative tools for local newsrooms.
The ideal candidate is a creative and technically skilled developer with a strong background in WordPress and AI integrations. We’re looking for someone who thrives at the intersection of journalism, automation and innovation. You will help build tools that streamline newsroom workflows, surface valuable local information and enhance storytelling through AI-powered features.
NEWSWELL helps newsrooms become nonprofit and for-community. It provides strategic guidance, innovative solutions and wrap-around operations so local journalists can focus on local news, and newsrooms can best serve their communities. NEWSWELL partners with Arizona State University, the nation’s most innovative 10 years in a row, to offer game-changing ideas, tools and research. NEWSWELL transforms local news to help communities and democracy thrive.
Essential functions
WordPress Development & Integration
Build and maintain custom WordPress plugins and themes to support editorial workflows
Develop integrations for tools such as story budgeting, content republishing and Adobe InDesign
Create REST API connections between WordPress and third-party platforms
AI & Automation
?Lead the design and implementation of AI-driven systems that enhance data workflows, print product efficiency and other new internal or external-facing tools.
?Collaborate cross-functionally to identify, evaluate, and integrate cutting-edge AI models that improve NEWSWELL tools and processes.
?Conduct experiments with diverse datasets to determine optimal presentation formats and seamless integration into WordPress posts and newsletters.
Apply LLM technologies to retrieve, analyze and improve published work to present as printed or archived tool outputs.
Data Scripting and Processing
?Write Python scripts to clean, transform, and analyze structured and unstructured datasets.
?Automate the conversion of raw data into structured formats suitable for WordPress ingestion.
?Develop pipelines that combine scraping, AI summarization, and publishing workflows.
Quality Assurance
?Write clean, maintainable code with appropriate documentation.
?Test and debug features across multiple browsers and devices.
?Ensure AI-generated output meets editorial standards and ethical guidelines.
?Establish editorial guardrails and review protocols to ensure all AI-assisted content meets internal standards before publication or delivery.
?Collaborate with editorial and product teams to define criteria for human oversight, ensuring responsible and transparent use of AI across NEWSWELL workflows.?
Innovation & Prototyping
Ability to build development plans that focuses on iterative features, and using stakeholder inputs in creating minimum viable products.
Participate in active listening sessions to identify key pain points, and prototype innovative automations that can build efficiencies in workflow.
Qualifications
Required Education & Experience
??5+ years of experience and proficiency in PHP, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and RESTful APIs.
?2+ years of direct demonstrated experience with AI/ML tools (e.g., OpenAI, Azure products, Hugging Face, LangChain) and APIs, and projects integrating them into web applications.
Degree or equivalent education focused on engineering or computer science.?
Required Skills and Abilities
???Demonstrated experience leading complex projects that involve multiple teams.
Proven ability in developing custom WordPress plugins or working in a WordPress environment.
Proven track record of delivering AI-based projects from prototype to final product, where you played a key role in the use of AI technologies.
Strong Python skills for scripting, data manipulation, and automation.
Familiarity with web scraping tools and techniques (e.g., BeautifulSoup, Puppeteer).
Experience in developing and implementing robust evaluation methods to assess the quality, accuracy, and relevance of AI-generated outputs.
Strong problem-solving skills and a creative, experimental mindset.
Skilled in writing clean, efficient, well-documented code in Github.
Comfortable refactoring CSS and extracting website components to be more modular.
Experience building tools with site performance and accessibility standards in mind.
Ability to manage and communicate clearly about deadlines.
Excellent documentation skills that include technical specifications, processes and best practice.
Preferred Education and Experience
??Experience in journalism, civic tech, or local news environments.
?Experience in learning and testing new tools and technologies in the past year.
?Strong understanding of evolving tools in generative AI, machine learning, and other AI techniques that has been implemented in at least one project?.
Experience or familiarity with print design tools such as InDesign.
Compensation and Details: Hourly ($80/hour) or project-based, DOE. The duration of this contract will be at least 10 months.
This is a fully remote contract role, allowing you to work from anywhere in the U.S. while collaborating virtually with our team. We are looking for someone who can start immediately; applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the position will remain open until filled.