Job Description
Job Summary
The University of Michigan is seeking a qualified Developer to play an active role in the software development team in the newly established Digital Innovation Greenhouse, a strategic initiative managed by the Office of Digital Education & Innovation (DEI). The Digital Innovation Greenhouse applies software development expertise in support of digital education tools and technologies to find pathways to enable personalization at scale across the U-M community and beyond.
Digital Education is a strategic priority for the University of Michigan. Through curricular innovation, leadership in learning analytics, and digital infrastructure at scale, DEI aims to transform the way we educate and engage our residential students. For more information about DEI please visit our website: digitaleducation.umich.edu/
This new position is an exciting role, working within a start-up environment to design and develop digital education-related applications that are aimed at both enhancing the residential education experience and facilitating engaged and personalized learning through collaboration with the world-class faculty of the University of Michigan. In addition, there will ample opportunity for this position to participate in a variety of academic research projects related to these applications. This position will report to the Director of Policy and Operations within DEI and will collaborate closely with world-class faculty, as well as other academic, technology, and administrative staff at the University. For more information, please visit our Digital Innovation Greenhouse website:digitaleducation.umich.edu/about/dig-digital-innovation-greenhouse/
Note: This is a three year, term-limited appointment with the possibility of renewal.
Responsibilities*
-Design and development of digital education applications that have originated from a research idea or a seeded effort
-Collaborate closely with other developers within U-M, including instructional designers, faculty, and students to define and prioritize innovative functionalities optimized for various platforms
-Support software development "sprints" in line with requirements and project timelines
-Build application programmer interfaces (APIs) to extract data from data warehouses
-Provide input on the architecture of scalable and reliable systems from back-end services to front-end web apps
-Turn design requirements into usable software
-Maintain and debug production applications and resolve application bottlenecks and inefficiencies
-Employ a pragmatic approach by understanding the trade-off between a perfect solution and a working solution
-Work closely with the team to solve problems, transfer knowledge, and develop overall product architecture, where required.
Additional Info & Requirements
Additional Information
Excellent benefits are available, for details, see benefits.umich.edu/
Position receives 24 days of vacation a year, and 15 days of sick leave a year with provisions for extended benefits, as well as opportunities for professional development and travel. TIAA-CREF and Fidelity Investments retirement options available.
Application Deadline
Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.
Applications will be reviewed as received throughout the posting period and continue until the position is filled.
U-M EEO/AA Statement
The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
Required Qualifications
-Possess a solid foundation in principles and fundamentals of computer science
-Experience working in a multi-platform, multi-OS environment and leading cross-functional teams of developers
-Hold strong attention to detail and concern for information accuracy
-Ability to work well in a multicultural and collaborative environment
-Strong analytic and problem solving skills with special emphasis on experimental design and hypothesis testing
Desired Qualifications
One to two years of professional software development experience
-Experience working with at least one common server-side/scripting languages (Python, PHP, Ruby, Java, etc) and an associated web application development framework (Symfony/Laravel, CherryPy/Flask, Ruby on Rails, JSP/Servlets)
-Knowledge of Javascript (web API) and a JavaScript frameworks such as jQuery
-Ability to take design specifications and create working, valid HTML5/CSS, LESS or SASS
-Experience with Programming Languages & OS: C, C++, and Go
-Experience working with relational database platforms (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle), emerging NoSQL platforms (CouchDB, Reddis). A strong commitment to software configuration management and version control systems (Git, Mercurial, etc.)
-Committed to Test Driven Development and testing frameworks (Testing JS, Jasmine, Mocha, Handlebar)
-Working knowledge of graphics tools (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite, Camtasia) and familiarity with e-learning authoring tools (e.g. Adobe Captivate)
-Familiarity with load-testing methodologies and standards
-Familiarity with IMS standards (e.g., Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), Caliper)
-Some ECMAScript 6 knowledge
-Experience with "big data" processing systems such as Hadoop/MapReduce
HR Info
A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position, include your salary requirements, and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position. If possible, please include a link to your electronic portfolio/dossier as part of your resume.