Career Center

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

The University of Washington’s Information School is seeking a Web Application Developer to design, implement, document, maintain, and test custom-built web applications and packaged system solutions in support of iSchool needs. The Web Application Developer also collaborates in the management, operation, design, configuration, deployment, backup, performance monitoring, security, and evolution of web infrastructure and applications including usability, user experience, process enhancements, architecture, idea generation, and other general overarching improvements for the applications or sites created by the Web Development Team.

The Web Application Developer is responsible for making platform and technology recommendations to the Web Development Technical Manager and are a key participant in application and website development in support of organizational goals. Applications built by the Web Development Team are crucial as the school continues to scale in size and reach. They are a key contributor in the ongoing evolution of web infrastructure and core software application development.

The person in this role will work directly with other units at the Information School to gather business requirements, analyze business processes, and design solutions to address security, operation performance, integration, and maintainability considerations. They are expected to maintain professional relationships with units that are directly supported by the applications and sites they work on and directly support them. The web applications they work on will serve as line of business tools for units within the iSchool as well as public portals granting access to various iSchool services and data.

At the iSchool, we create an environment that fosters appreciation, mutual respect, and engagement among and between members of the iSchool, UW community, and beyond, with special attention to the needs of people from historically marginalized communities. We envision a university in which all students, faculty and staff participate fully and meaningfully in campus life without being subjected to discrimination, bias or microaggressions. We condemn any expressions of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, or any other instance of bias and discrimination against marginalized individuals and groups.

In line with the iSchool’s vision for leadership, there is an expectation that the person in this position will contribute meaningfully by bringing new ideas and identifying opportunities for improvement whenever possible and lead by taking actions that exemplify the iSchool’s core values. This leadership may be expressed in diverse ways, reflecting the variety of styles and cultures that are represented by iSchool faculty and staff.

What You’ll Be Doing:

Full Stack Web Development:
•Implement requirements by writing code.
oCreate and support operation of test scenarios. Develop test scripts. Engage in usability testing as required.
oSupport and enhance existing applications and sites in compliance with specifications and security standards.
•Design and develop functional, unit, and other automated and usability tests.
•Review and rewrite previously-written code to improve and/or adapt code to changes.
•Design, creation, and manipulation of database schema in support of applications and sites.
•Design and create technical and training documentation.
•Review system logs and messages to identify events and errors proactively.
•Provide follow-up routine technical assistance for problem diagnosis, resolution and ongoing maintenance activities for web applications developed by the Web Application Developer.
•Collaborate in the deployment, operation, security, and maintenance of web application stack infrastructure.
•Research and analyze web infrastructure capacity, utilization, backup, cloud opportunities, and disaster recovery.  Plan and implement necessary improvements.
•Incorporate UW Information School policies regarding security, data encryption, and user access management into the web applications and sites.
•Monitor and optimize performance of web server equipment and software.
•Take an active role regarding security in support of web infrastructure.

Project Management:
•In collaboration with the Web Development Technical Manager gather user needs, schedule and attend fact-gathering sessions.
•Assumes primary ownership of projects through the entire project lifecycle, from build to ongoing evolution and maintenance, and future retirement of the application.
oOngoing communication with stakeholders to identify optimization opportunities as well as changes as processes evolve.
oAssesses change requests in relation to current state of project to determine best strategy to integrate new features and changes.
•Manage complex projects.
oDraft specifications and propose timelines.
oDevelop data flow diagrams, process models, and system documentation.
oDocument the project from start to finish.
•Develop and conduct software application and system operational training for staff such as explaining features and functionality; training users on use of applications; developing effective help screens and other training mechanisms.
•Transition users in other units into the systems built by this team. This includes guiding them through the change management process and providing training and resources so they can effectively leverage their new software.

Other duties:
•Represent the Information School on campus-wide committees related to web and custom applications development.
•Attend School meetings and University meetings relating to web and server infrastructure technologies.
•Attend regularly scheduled IT meetings and all iSchool staff meetings.
•Participate in professional development opportunities to expand knowledge base for the position.
•Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications
•Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in informatics, computer science, management information systems or related technical field.
•Minimum two years web application development experience with PHP, JavaScript or another OO language.
•Professional experience using web frameworks.
•Experience with current versions of PHP, JavaScript, and MySQL Deep understanding of HTML, CSS, and web standards.
•Experience with command line Linux and revision-control software, such as Git or Mercurial.
•Strong knowledge of web stacks, including installation, support & troubleshooting, security, deployment, and performance monitoring.
•Familiarity with RESTful Web Services, JS frameworks, cross-platform/browser compatibility issues.
•Familiarity with usability practices, user interface design, accessibility (508).
•Ability to deliver projects on time and within specifications.
•Detail oriented, possess strong organizational skills and have a good sense of algorithms and code principles such as SOLID, DRY, and encapsulation.
•Strong verbal and written communication skills with exceptional interpersonal communication skills.
•Demonstrated ability to work both independently, and as part of a collaborative team.
•Demonstrated success working with diverse populations.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.

Desired Qualifications
•Experience developing on Laravel or another MVC framework, such as Symfony, Django, or Rails.
•Experience with VueJS, NPM, NodeJS, and webpack.
•Experience using and extending a Content Management System (CMS), Drupal experience a plus.
•Experience creating database schemas to support the storage of complex data.
•Strong understanding of usability and accessibility principles.
•Experience with Docker, Docker compose, and working on a Docker Swarm or Kubernetes cluster.
•Broad experience deploying and managing various types of servers.

What’s in it for you
•Full benefits, including medical and dental insurance and retirement plan.
•Paid vacation and sick leave, as well as 10 paid holidays a year and one personal day.
•Subsidized transit.
•Work for an exciting, cutting-edge school within the University of Washington.

Conditions of Employment
•A satisfactory outcome of a reference check of previous employment.

Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.