Senior Visuals Developer

Role Overview

• Develop interactive graphics, visual stories and digital experiences for breaking news, enterprise journalism and major planned events.
• Partner with editors, reporters and designers early in the reporting process to identify the strongest storytelling approaches and determine where custom development can add value.
• Create engaging storytelling experiences using 3D models and photogrammetry, including interactive maps, explanatory models, animations and immersive formats.
• Build responsive, accessible and performant experiences that work effectively across devices and platforms.
• Develop reusable components, templates and tools that help CNN’s Visuals team move more quickly and consistently across the news cycle.
• Collaborate with data and graphics editors to integrate live data, automated feeds and visual analysis into interactive experiences.
• Contribute to editorial brainstorming, prototyping and experimentation with emerging technologies.
• Work closely with product, engineering and platform partners when projects require broader technical coordination.
• Review code, document workflows and share skills with colleagues across the Visuals team.
• Help maintain high standards for accessibility, performance, reliability and user experience.

Requirements

• At least 7 years of experience in interactive development, creative technology, visual journalism or a comparable digital storytelling environment.
• A strong portfolio of published interactive work that demonstrates excellent technical execution, visual judgment and audience-centered thinking.
• Experience with modern front-end frameworks, component-based development and Git-based workflows.
• Demonstrated experience building 3D or spatial storytelling experiences using tools such as WebGL, Three.js, Mapbox GL, MapLibre, deck.gl or similar technologies.
• Fluency in HTML, CSS and JavaScript is required; familiarity with Python is a plus.
• Experience incorporating AI-assisted tools into development workflows, or an interest in thoughtfully using AI to improve coding, prototyping and production practices.
• A strong understanding of responsive design, accessibility, browser performance and cross-platform testing.
• Experience collaborating closely with designers, editors, reporters and data journalists from concept through publication.
• Ability to work on both deadline-driven news coverage and more complex medium
• and long-term projects.
• Strong communication skills and an ability to explain technical possibilities and tradeoffs clearly to non-technical partners.
• Familiarity with data visualization libraries, automated data pipelines or newsroom publishing workflows is a plus.
• Experience with motion design, animation, computer graphics or creative coding is a plus.
• Experience building interactive election features, results displays or other data-driven news products – or an interest in applying development skills to elections coverage – is a plus.

Tech Stack

• JavaScript
• Python

Benefits

• Health insurance coverage
• Employee wellness program
• Life and disability insurance
• Retirement savings plan
• Paid holidays and sick time
• Vacation